The idea of posting this came out of an exchange of emails with Gareth - it's something that I've never seen mentioned in genealogical circles and whilst I don't think it will be of any use for finding missing members of a family tree, it could be a source of incidental information and give an idea of what the younger male members of the family got up to. Up until fairly recent times, it was standard practice that Scout troops kept a log or journal of everything they did week by week, which boys joined, left, or moved away, sometimes information about whether there were brothers/cousins already in Scouts, where they lived, and a variety of other odd items about the troop and the boys in it which seemed relevant to the person writing up the journal. This was usually the leader (or Scoutmaster as he was known in those days), but was sometimes one of the older boys, countersigned by the Scoutmaster. Scouting started in UK in 1907 and in many other countries in the following 20 years or so, and some groups still keep logs now, so there could be quite a lot of information around. I had a look at one of these recently for a troop local to here (Bedfordshire), and it makes fascinating reading. It runs from 1934 to 1970, covers the outbreak of war in 1939 with fire-watch drill and blackout practice, and gaps in the narrative where the troop closed because the leaders went off to war. Post-war there are problems with getting enough food ration coupons to go to camp! I've referred here to Scouts in the UK, but Girl Guides started in UK in 1910 and as they were started by Baden-Powells sister with advice from him, almost certainly Guides would have kept logs as well. Overseas, Scouting is active in about 150 countries, most of which started based on the UK model, and they may well have kept similar records. Some of these journals will have disappeared, but given the number of Scout troops across the country there must still be a good few surviving, particularly if the troop is an old-established one still using it's original name. If it has closed or merged, any records should have been passed to the local Scout District or County/Area Headquarters. Local council youth services should have contact details for HQ's, and many groups have websites with contact points. The logs I've seen record "anecdotal" information about the life of the troop and not what we nowadays would call confidential data, so I think any access problem is more likely to be one of arranging a convenient time and place to look at them with the person who currently has them. I only sub to the CGN list, so anyone who thinks this is worth posting on any other lists they sub to, please feel free to do so. Dave Davies

----- Original Message ----- From: <DavidRDavies@aol.com> To: <WLS-CARDIGANSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 8:47 PM Subject: [WLS-CGN] Scout and Guide log books > Some of these journals will have disappeared, but given the number of Scout > troops across the country there must still be a good few surviving, > particularly if the troop is an old-established one still using it's original name. If it > has closed or merged, any records should have been passed to the local Scout > District or County/Area Headquarters. Some local associations may have designated individuals as honorary archivists. But quite a lot of records have also been transferred to county archive services. If you run a database search from the National Register of Archives site at http://www.hmc.gov.uk/nra/corporate_simple.htm and type in the word 'scout', it should indicate a significant number of examples from different parts of the UK. The word 'guide' will produce a much smaller number, but you might like to try other searches as well (although none is ever likely to provide a complete list). AJ