World War I and Public Service

Although Boy Scouts in the 1910s performed a great deal of public service, their most notable work was associate with World War I. During the war, Boy Scouts served on the home-front selling war bonds and war savings stamps, growing food in Boy Scout gardens, distributing government literature for the government, and even locating black walnut for the military to use for propellors and rifle stocks and collecting peach pits for use in gas mask filters. This tremendous service, and the other service work that the Boy Scouts did during the 1910s, won the hearts of millions of Americans and secured the Boy Scout's of America's place as a great American institution. Memorabilia related to this service during World War I, as well as other public service the Boy Scouts were involved in during the decade, is exhibited in this separate gallery in recognition of the tremendous importance of this work.