Athens’ First Girl Scout Troop
Traditional Stuff No Comments 
athens ga, history, northeast georgia council, traditions, university of georgia
If you know me very well, it’ll be of no surprise that I’m very much a history buff when it comes to Girl Scouts and the University of Georgia and my beloved Georgia Bulldogs. One evening last year, I was putzing around on the Athens Historic Newspapers Archive which is part of the Digital Library of Georgia collection. I was researching something about the UGA Redcoat Band and on a whim did a search for Girl Scouts to see what popped up. Well check this out! It’s a recording of the first organized Girl Scout troop in Athens! This is from the April 22nd, 1928 edition of The Banner-Herald:
GIRL SCOUTS BEING ORGANIZED IN ATHENS
The latest development in “Scout News” is the news of “Girl Scouts,” which are being organized in Athens, with Miss Marlan Talmadge, as leader. They have already had several meetings, and will meet again next Thursday afternoon, at the home of Miss Talmadge.
The Boy Scouts of Athens extend hearty good wishes to our sister organization, and hope that their organization will be successful, and that the girls of Athens will enjoy being Scouts as much as the boys do.
The Boy Scouts of 1928 would have been happy to know that 54 years later, the girls of Athens in Troop 20 did enjoy Scouts very much.
Here’s the page online: http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/athnewspapers/id:adb1928-0840 and in case that link is pulled at some point, here’s the PDF: Athens Banner-Herald 4-22-1928