The Juliette Gordon Low Papers Collection

Happy New Year!  Recently I was looking for something online and somehow surfed my way to the University System of Georgia’s Digital Library of Georgia.  Of course, I have no recollection of what I was initially looking for and why exactly I went to this website. It’s one of my bookmarks anyway because there are two sections having to do with my family – the Gordon County Obituaries and Berrien County Historical Photos Collections, if you were wondering. 

One of the sections of this digital collection is the Juliette Gordon Low Papers organized by the Georgia Historical Society.  It’s a varied collection of things like correspondence, newspaper clippings, and speeches and even mundane documents like cancelled checks.  So far I’ve found a few neat items:

• The original charter for GSUSA and a patent from 1918 to trademark a Girl Scout logo (shown above at left)
• A copy of the Promise and Law with Baden-Powell’s comments in the margin (year not given)
• The Savannah Daily News special edition for the 25th anniversary of the Girl Scouts (in 4 parts)
• A letter to Edith Johnston expressing JGL’s opinion that Girl Scouts should stay out of political and religious controversies.  I’m assuming the topic was specifically about women’s suffrage:
  

  “Dear Edith,

  Here is my answer to Mildred.  I quite understand your feelings regarding her interview, but the welfare of Girl Scouts must come first. If it is thoroughly understood by everybody that Girl Scouts are neutral we will be left out of all political & religious controversies.  To leave anyone in doubt – means in this instance, to arouse the suspicions and perhaps the enmity of 800 suffragettes in Savannah.  Our very existence in the community, depends on the good will of every citizen.  We can’t afford to have any enemies or even any adverse criticizers.  Therefore we must hold aloof from politics & religion.  The Federation has served us well, but the benefits we derive from it, will be out balanced by the evil that will result from our making political enemies. Neither you nor I nor any representative of Girl Scouts, have any option about handling a question of suffrage because we have no right? [cannot read this word] to vote at all.”

There are more letters between JGL and Baden-Powell plus other notable members of Scout history.  I haven’t read through them yet, but I’m sure they’ll be fun reads too.  I love this kind of historical stuff – it is completely fascinating to me.

But one document stood out to me – in particular, a section from Juliette Low As Her Family Knew Her by Daisy “Doots” Gordon Lawrence.  “Doots” was J-Low’s niece and also the the first registered Girl Scout!

While her reasoning power was often faulty, and common sense seemed lacking, she relied on intuition, which seemed almost psychic, when dealing with the big things of life.  Above all, she had Vision, not the nebulous dream of the vaguely well-intentioned, but the clear-cut picture of what Girl Scouting would mean for our American Girls, and for the Peace of the scattered Nations. Handicapped by deafness and a fatal illness, by the indifference of many of her friends and the blindness of others, she realized that Vision, overcoming every obstacle, and bearing her own sufferings gallantly and without complaint.  She gave to the Girl Scouts, every particle of her will power and intelligence and interest and vitality.

She was deeply religious, quite superstitious, and a confirmed Hero-Worshipper.  Underneath her bubbling, irrepressible gaiety, there was a deep, generous, loyal, loving, striving, brave, self-sacrificing personality.  She had her full share of the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortuna,” and she not only met them as the poet advised, by “opposing,” but, in every crisis of her life, she faced Fate with a smiling defiance, that was simply sublime.

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did researching it!  I’m sure I’ll read some of the letters at a later time.  I’ll post any highlights that I come across.

Have a great 2016 and Yours in Scouting!