Friday, September 19, 2014

Girl Scout Camp Tents



These are the fronts and backs of some official Girl Scout Camp Post Cards showing tents. These postcards date from the 1940s. Two of them have messages written by campers. The first one was sent from Buffalo, Minnesota in 1942. There was a Camp Greenwood at Buffalo which had been there since 1925 and was mentioned as closing in a 2010 article Waving Goodbye to Girl Scout Camps. This was one of many Girl Scout camps that have closed in recent years.


The third postcard was sent from Bovey, Minnesota in 1947. Bovey is a small city in northern Minnesota. I was not able to find any references to a Girl Scout camp there.


The tents shown on the postcards are platform tents. They appear to be like the ones that my old Girl Scout troop used for overnight camping. The photo below shows one of those tents.




For More Vintage Images

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/09/sepia-saturday-246-20-september-2014.html

15 comments:

  1. Yes, platform tents are what we used when I was a leader. However, when I was a scout myself, our camp had a huge 3-sided building where we slept practically out in the open but somewhat protected.

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  2. Neat postcards! I never went to Girl Scout Camp, but the troop I belonged to usually went camping out in the country over a weekend now & again, and we slept in tents in sleeping bags over air-mattresses on the ground, and cooked on rock-built BBQs with a grate over an open fire. We learned how to make fairly decent meals that way. But my favorite was a desert we called pretend angel food cake made with a generous slice of French bread soaked in sweetened condensed milk and sprinkled with coconut, then baked in a special oven made to work over an open BBQ. And after all the cooking and clean up was done we, of course, made S'Mores! Good times.

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    1. I remember having something called "mock angel food cake" that we cooked over a campfire without an oven. I also made S'mores--that's the only way I will eat marshmallows.

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  3. The humour in the cards is so cute. The camps must have been a lot of fun.

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  4. Poor girl worrying about her weight even then! Fun cards.

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  5. I never knew platform tents existed. Too many home comforts?

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  6. How fun this was! I wanted to be a Girl Scout so badly, but had to wait until I had my own daughter!

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  7. Wasn't a Girl Scout -- was a Campfire Girl (we had beads to sew on sashes, not badges...). Platform tents with cots -- it was grand!

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  8. Very clever cartoons on the cards. I bet the humor lasted for many reprints.

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  9. I remember camping in tents with the Girl Guides at Lake Wendouree near Ballarat and the bright yellow feet and ankles we got from the mud at the bottom of the lake when we went swimming. Thanks for reminding me.

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  10. Sorry, it was Lake Burrumbeet, just a bit further out from Ballarat. I'm getting my lakes mixed up.

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  11. Platform tents are appearing now in our caravan parks as an alternative to sleeping in a cabin. They have bunks, and sink with running hot and cold water. Plates and cutlery are supplied. Not sure what is offered in the way of cooking but there would at least be electric kettle, toaster and microwave.

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  12. These are wonderful cards! I didn't stay in Girl Scouts long enough to go to camp. I always imagined it would be like in the movie the Parent Trap. I'm still bummed I never went.

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  13. I am a textile artist. I am doing a piece on girl scouts. May I use a copy of one of your cards on my piece? I totally understand if you would rather I not. Jackie

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