Standing in front of a life-size image of a photograph she snapped in 1941, Connie Dunbar remembered fondly her years as a Girl Scout in Grayslake.
The photo is of a girl lounging on a cot inside a tent at Camp Hickory Hill in Edgerton, Wis., and it is the centerpiece of an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America at Grayslake Historical Museum. The exhibit, which has its grand opening noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, highlights the evolution of the organization and focus on Girl Scouts in Grayslake. (Photos: The Girl Scouts Story)
A member of Grayslake’s second Girl Scout troop, Dunbar, 81, recently recalled the lessons she learned as a Girls Scout and the fun she had with her tent mates: They moved their beds to form a U-shape as they talked. Someone picked a colorful weeds they put in a vase atop a suitcase. Later at the campfire, the girls were surprised to learn their leaders appreciated neither their artistry, nor their sociability.
“We did not get the award for the best tent. We got the ‘dirty broom,’” said Dunbar, who is also treasurer of the Grayslake Historical Society. “It was a learning experience about camping as a scout,” said Dunbar
Also included in the exhibit is Dunbar’s uniform, adorned with one metal attendance star. The rest are cloth patches, which the Girl Scouts began using during World War II, when metal was diverted to the war effort.
“The fabric is magnificent,” Dunbar said about the heavy cotton uniform. “I wish I could buy it now. It washed beautifully.”
The exhibit is dedicated to Catherine C. Trowbridge, a Grayslake Girls Scout leadert in the 1940s. Trowbridge was a leader when Grayslake Historical Society President Charlotte Renehan, 78, joined the Girl Scouts.
Renehan paged through a meeting book with entries inscribed in green ink, saved from her years as a Girl Scout scribe in the 1940s, Renehan points out activities that are staples of today’s scouts.
“Even back in 1947 we tie-dyed,” Renehan said. In those days, recycling had a different focus. “I remember gathering things for the war effort,” she said.
Callie McCune, 24, a historian with the Girl Scout Council of Greater Chicago and Northern Indiana, has been working on the exhibit since October. The Buffalo Grove resident and lifelong Girl Scout is a history major interested in museum curatorship.
Her favorite exhibit is a photograph of Renehan waiting with her fellow scouts for a ride to Camp Hickory Hills, said McCune. In addition to blow up of the photo, the exhibit will include the actual suitcase Renehan carried to camp.
As she organized the exhibit, McCune said she was struck by how many elements of the Girls Scouts have remained constant since 1912. From the beginning, Girl Scout manuals not only offered lessons in the domestic arts, but also showed girls opportunities outside the home.
“You come from that tradition of Girl Scouts serving the community and becoming leaders,” McCune said. “Those kinds of ideas do resonate.”
The exhibit, “Cookies, Camping, Community: The Girls Scout Story” opens Saturday at the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum,
164 Hawley St., and runs until Aug. 18. For more information, go to grayslakehistory.org or call 847-223-7663
