The first edition Boy Scouts of America Official Handbook, from 1910, and a patch from the first U.S. National Jamboree, held in 1937, are among the items on display. EAST BRUNSWICK — A large display at the township’s public library this month recognizes the first 100 years of an organization set up to build character, train good citizens and improve personal fitness.
Local resident David Moskowitz decided to celebrate the Boy Scouts’ 100th anniversary by setting up large glass cases filled with all kinds of memorabilia, including the first Scout handbook from 1910, merit badge pamphlets spanning more than 90 years, patches, historical newspapers and books, international scouting items and a great deal of other historical items.
“The display represents only a fraction of my collection, but I have selected items that I think provide a great overview of the Boy Scout movement and its impact,” Moskowitz said. “I have been collecting scouting memorabilia for more than 30 years and many of the items are very rare.”
Moskowitz began accumulating important mementos when he was a Boy Scout in the 1970s. He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the organization’s highest honor, in 1978. As an adult, he has continued to work with many local Scouts as they worked toward completing the extensive requirements for Eagle Scout. Moskowitz has advised and assisted Scouts with community service projects including improvements to the East Brunswick Butterfly Park; the construction of an osprey nest platform in Keystone Park; a shade gazebo at Great Oak Park; a tool shed at the East Brunswick Community Garden; and numerous others.
“Scouting was an awesome experience for me, and I hope that is reflected in the collection that is on display. I’ve tried to include items that I find fascinating and to spotlight many of the great achievements of Scouts and the Boy Scout movement over the past 100 years, both in the United States and abroad,” Moskowitz said. “I think the display should be of interest to anyone who was a Boy Scout, but also to anyone interested in history.”
Many of the items are very colorful and showcase changes in the American way of life from the early part of the 20th century through the present.
One of Moskowitz’s favorites is a 1937 National Jamboree patch. This first U.S. jamboree was held in Washington, D.C. An earlier one had been planned in 1935 but was canceled due to a polio outbreak. The patch was given to Moskowitz by a passenger he met on a flight home from college in the early 1980s. The man had been a Boy Scout in the 1930s and attended the Jamboree.
“We sat next to each other on the flight and somehow, as it always seems to do between Boy Scouts, the conversation turned to scouting. As it turned out, we are both Eagle Scouts. We exchanged addresses and after the flight went our separate ways. A few days later, I received a very personal note in the mail and his 1937 Jamboree patch. It is one of my most cherished scouting items,” Moskowitz said.O
ther items on display that are of great personal significance to Moskowitz include his father’s 1952 Camp Edge patch from when he was a Boy Scout in Atlantic City, and the first edition Handbook from 1910 that his father bought for him.
“Over the years I’ve talked to so many Scouts of all ages that have similar wonderful memories they attach to some item from their scouting days,” he said. “Even when I was setting up the display cases with the collection, people kept coming up to me to share a Boy Scout experience that the collection made them think about. I hope the collection will evoke similar wonderful memories for anyone that gets a chance to see it, but even non-Scouts should find it of interest for the historical perspective it shows and the highly artistic and colorful nature of many of the items.”
The collection will be on display through the end of December, and in January, Moskowitz said, he will change it to reflect Boy Scout literature over the past 100 years, from pulp fiction to nonfiction.
— Brian Donahue