The NC Museum of history is celebrating the centennial year of Girl Scouting with At the Speed of a Girl — Celebrating 100 Years of Girl Scouting. The exhibit, which opened Friday, was developed by the Girl Scouts-North Carolina Coastal Pines.
Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scout meeting on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga. Two years later, North Carolina’s first troop met in Eden. Today, nearly 70,000 North Carolina girls participate in Girl Scouts.
The At the Speed of a Girl exhibit will include items like Girl Scout badges from 1912 to 1928, uniforms, canteens and the Knife and Axe Skills Book from 1953. There is also an official Girl Scout box-type camera from the 1950s and a bugle that was advertised as a “must” for every troop in the 1920s and 1930s.The exhibit also includes a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt following a 1942 visit to the Raleigh.
As honorary president of the Girl Scouts, Mrs. Roosevelt spoke to Girl Scout leaders in March 1943, commenting on the benefits of scouting skills in wartime as well as in peacetime.
The exhibit is free and runs through July 29. Learn more about the history of Girl Scouts with this interactive timeline.
