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2 books match the query 'Girl Scouts of the United States of America'

cover of Dutton's Dirty Diggers: Bertha P. Dutton and the Senior Girl Scout Archaeological Camps in the American Southwest, 1947–1957

Dutton's Dirty Diggers

Bertha P. Dutton and the Senior Girl Scout Archaeological Camps in the American Southwest, 1947–1957

Catherine S. Fowler

University of Utah Press, 2020

Catherine Fowler chronicles a significant yet little-known program for Girl Scouts in post–WWII America. At a time when women were just beginning to enter fields traditionally dominated by men, these two-week camping caravans and archaeological excavations introduced teenage girls not only to the rich cultural and scientific heritage of the American Southwest but to new career possibilities. Dr. Bertha Dutton, curator at the Museum of New Mexico, served as trip leader.

While on the road and in camp, Dutton and other experts in anthropology, archaeology, geology, natural history, and more helped the campers appreciate what they were seeing and learning. This book details the history of the program, sharing trip itineraries and selected memories from the nearly three hundred girls who attended the camps. It also serves as a mini-biography and tribute to Bertha Dutton, who, through her knowledge, teaching, and strong persona, provided a role model for these young women, many of whom later pursued careers in anthropology and related fields.

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cover of Growing Girls: The Natural Origins of Girls' Organizations in America

Growing Girls

The Natural Origins of Girls' Organizations in America

Miller, Susan A

Rutgers University Press, 2007

In the early years of the twentieth century, Americans began to recognize adolescence as a developmental phase distinct from both childhood and adulthood. This awareness, however, came fraught with anxiety about the debilitating effects of modern life on adolescents of both sexes. For boys, competitive sports as well as "primitive" outdoor activities offered by fledging organizations such as the Boy Scouts would enable them to combat the effeminacy of an overly civilized society. But for girls, the remedy wasn't quite so clear.

Surprisingly, the "girl problem"?a crisis caused by the transition from a sheltered, family-centered Victorian childhood to modern adolescence where self-control and a strong democratic spirit were required of reliable citizens?was also solved by way of traditionally masculine, adventurous, outdoor activities, as practiced by the Girl Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, and many other similar organizations.

Susan A. Miller explores these girls' organizations that sprung up in the first half of the twentieth century from a socio-historical perspective, showing how the notions of uniform identity, civic duty, "primitive domesticity," and fitness shaped the formation of the modern girl.

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