As an active Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Venturer, or adult leader, you naturally begin to accumulate patches from activities and events that you have attended. Probably the most common examples are Scout-O-Rama, Scouting for Food, camporees, and summer camp. Before you know it, you have the beginnings of a collection!
Collecting your local camp and activity patches is enjoyable not only because they are typically easy to obtain, but also because they will bring back fond memories of the good times you had at the various events. As with any area of collecting, start by deciding what you want to collect. Are you going to seek out camporee patches from your own district, or just council-wide camporees, or all of the district camporee patches? Are you going to collect just Scout-O-Rama patches or all event patches from the council? Once you have decided this, a good place to start looking for activity patches is at your local council Scout Shop where extra patches are sometimes sold. Also be sure to check with the district commissioner or district chairman for leads on who might have the patches you’re looking for.
Camp patches are a very popular in patch collecting today. There are people who collect patches from every single camp across the country, even those from your own council! Usually a summer camp will issue a new patch each year. Some will have a special patch for the staff or other special programs. Find out more about the history of your camp by talking to older Scouters or researching the camp’s history yourself. This will help you discover what there is to collect from your camp. Watch for them at Camporees, Scout-O-Ramas, and OA events, and don’t be afraid to approach them. Lots of old Scouters love to talk about Scouting history, and they won’t be around forever!
It is not uncommon to find silk-screened felt camp patches from the 1920s and 30s, and cut edge twill patches from the 40s and 50s. While your focus may be on patches, watch for other camp collectibles such as hat pins, belt loops, hats, beanies, t-shirts, mugs, neckerchiefs, etc. that may strike your interest. As with any area of collecting, make a list of what you have and what you’re looking for so you can keep track of your collection. Many Order of the Arrow lodges started out as camp honor societies, so you might discover memorabilia from a pre-OA society in your search for camp patches!
-- David Miura