OA Requests First Uniform Insignia

As of January 1940, the Order of the Arrow still was not authorized to wear any insignia on a Boy Scout uniform. Totem pins, the official insignia since the beginning of WWW, were only authorized for civilian wear. Few emblems existed. The patches that did exist were typically simple emblems worn on sweaters, breach cloths, or jackets. While some Arrowmen did wear badges on their Scout uniforms, they were worn in violation of National Lodge and BSA rules.

At the January meeting of the National Executive Committee it was decided that a request of the BSA Uniform Committee should be made to allow a pin or a patch to be worn on the uniform. National Chief Joe Brunton asked former National Chief Joe Brinton to write the letter. It took two years before anything was permitted.

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Change in Designation of Areas to Letters

In 1940, the OA, which had previously been divided into Areas 1 - 15 in 1938 was changed again. This time they used letters A - O. Each area was basically assigned the letter that corresponded with the number previously assigned (i.e. Area 1 became Area A, Area 2 became Area B, and so on). As new lodges were added to an area, if they became too large, then a new lettered area was added. In December, 1942 letters A – U were assigned in BSA Region order. Region 1 was assigned the letter “A”; Region 2 was assigned letters “B”, “C” and “D” and so on until Region 12 received Area “U”.

As the OA spread from council to council, certain regions saw greater growth. In March 1944 three more areas were added. Lodges in the regions that had new areas added were always re-allocated. In July 1945 two more Areas were added, “Y” and “Z”. In August of 1946 they were out of letters. Area’s A – Z remained the same except for Region 12’s Area “U”. Area “U” was divided into Areas 12A, 12B and 12C, a forerunner of further changes.

3, OA, Scouting

Vigil Honor Ceremony Changes

E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson wrote the first Vigil Honor ceremony (then known as the Third Degree) for the Grand Lodge. The ceremony served the Order well for twenty years from 1921 to 1940. However, with the changes necessary for the Order to become an official BSA program the National Executive Committee determined at their 1937 meeting in Pittsburgh that the ceremony needed to be revised.

Horace W. “Shorty” Ralston, the Philadelphia Scouter who was one of the Order’s early adult leaders in 1915, and had done the original research on the Lenni-Lenape WWW name was selected to perform the task.

In 1940, Ralston and his committee completed, the Ritual for the Vigil (Third) Honor. The ritual had taken nearly three years of meetings, discussions, and drafts to complete. The ceremony was printed in pamphlet format like the Ordeal and Brotherhood rituals that preceded it in 1936, the Vigil Honor ritual printed with a blue ink pamphlet cover.

Quote from the Introduction written in the front of the 1940 Ritual for the Vigil (Third) Honor:

The first Vigil was held in 1915, the ritual for which was very sketchy. Gradually there evolved a simple ritual, which kept in mind that the most important aspect of the induction into this Honor was the Vigil itself.

Several years ago it was felt that the ritual should be revised and more detailed instruction for keeping of the Vigil provided and that this should be done in a manner, which would conserve its simplicity. The present booklet aims to achieve these ends.

The ritual has been prepared to make it possible for one Vigil Honor member to induct a candidate without the services of a large honors team. Where several Vigil Honor members are available it will enhance the ritual if they can be in attendance to lend their presence and participate as provided in this very significant ceremony.

Where local lodges have several Vigil Honor members and desire to have a more elaborate calling out ceremony this is permissible. No additions may be made to the ritual as herewith presented, since the ritual is subject to review and approval by the National Council, Boy Scouts of America, as well as the Executive Committee of the National Lodge of the Order of the Arrow.

The Vigil Honor ceremony presented in the 1940 pamphlet has undergone minimal changes since it was presented. It is a testament to the fine work of “Shorty” Ralston and his able committee.

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National "Areas" Created

As 1938 began, the Order of the Arrow was experiencing expansion at an unprecedented rate. The Order was at almost one hundred active lodges (more than 100 had been chartered). With BSA approval and regional supply lines the pace of expansion was increasing in speed. Just as had been predicted, now that the OA was official, councils all over the country were inquiring about Wimachtendienk. National Chief Joseph Brinton announced plans crafted by the National Executive Committee for a system where the lodges in the nation would be divided into 15 areas.

The 15 areas were to allow better service to new lodges and to promote the OA. National Chief Brinton appointed a leader for each area to serve as his representative to advise Scout Executives in the local lodges and for prospective councils.

The area system was loosely based on the BSA 12 Region system, except Regions 2 and 3 were each divided into two areas and Region 7 was divided into three areas. There was no area for Region 11 because there were still no lodges in that region (the first lodge in Region 11 was Tsisqan Lodge, Eugene, Oregon, six years later in 1944). While the areas were much larger than today’s areas, because of the number of active lodges at the beginning of 1938 there were an average of about six lodges per area, very similar to today’s local areas.

3, OA, Scouting

First Vigil Honor Certificates

At the 1938 National Lodge Meeting, Thomas Cairns introduced the idea of presenting a certificate to each Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow (OA). The National Lodge approved the idea and gave Cairns the authority to have the certificates printed and presented.

Once the certificates were printed, a certificate was presented to all living Vigil Honor members. Each certificate had the date the Vigil was held. As a result there are certificates with dates as early as 1915 even though they were not printed or distributed until 1938.

The tradition of the Vigil Honor Certificate continues to today. The printed certificate has undergone changes through the years.

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Thomas Cairns

Thomas Cairns was inducted into Unami Lodge at Treasure Island Scout Reservation. Cairns served many years on camp staff at Treasure Island and on August 26, 1927 became the Order’s 63^rd Third (Vigil Honor) Degree member. Cairns' Vigil Honor name was Achigiguwen “To Be Jocular”. In 1933 at the Chicago Grand Lodge Meeting Cairns was elected the Order’s ninth Grand Lodge Chieftain serving an extended three-year term to accommodate the scheduled 1935 National Jamboree. It was in this position that Cairns made his most significant contributions to the Order. As Grand Lodge Chieftain Cairns was charged with chairing and appointing Arrowmen to the Transition Committee responsible for all negotiations with the National BSA Council regarding integration of the programs. The Transition Committee became the National Executive Committee, the immediate predecessor of today’s National OA Committee. Cairns was responsible for setting up what would become the modern National Committee structure. In 1934 Cairns and his committee successfully completed the negotiation that allowed the OA to become an official BSA program. This also set-up the terms that the OA needed to meet to insure complete integration in 1948.

In 1936 and again in 1938 Cairns ran for and was re-elected to the National Executive Committee. Starting in 1938 Cairns as the first Vigil Secretary introduced the Vigil Certificate. Cairns also compiled the first comprehensive Vigil Honor list since the early years of the Grand Lodge when there were only 14 Third Degree members.  Cairns continued to faithfully serve as Vigil Secretary until 1943 when his wartime responsibilities to the Red Cross necessitated his resigning from that position.

Thomas Cairns was one of the 11 inaugural OA Distinguished Service Award recipients at the 1940 National Meeting held at Camp Twin Echo. His DSA certificate read,

As national chief during the period of formal adoption of the Order by the National Council Boy Scouts of America, with complete revision of the entire organization and literature, his inspiring leadership and untiring efforts were exceptionally outstanding.

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Chief Scout Executive Becomes OA Member

In the summer of 1938 Chief Scout Executive James E. West was inducted into the Order of the Arrow at Camp Siwanoy, Chappegat Lodge, New Rochelle, New York. West allowed the Order to grow on its own merits at the 1922 Scout Executive conference when a resolution was entertained to disapprove of camp fraternities.

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Change in Vigil Honor Totem

At the 1931 Grand Lodge Meeting the delegates unanimously passed a motion to change the Third Degree (Vigil Honor) symbol from a triangle to an arrowhead with arrow superimposed on it, upon which was placed the totem of the local lodge. There is no evidence that the new Vigil Honor totem was ever used or produced and this action was reversed at the next Grand Lodge Meeting in 1933. Nine years later this design concept became the basis of the design of the Distinguished Service Award.

3, Awards, Insignia, OA, Scouting

Tribe Reverts back to "Lodge"

By early March 1936 after scarcely 14 months, the BSA decided that they no longer wanted the term “tribe” to be used by the Order of the Arrow. The reason cited was conflict with use of the same term by the Lone Scout program.

After much discussion it was decided that the OA would return to use of the term “Lodge” for a local unit. Unami Tribe reverted back to Unami Lodge, Sanhican Tribe once again was Sanhican Lodge and so on. What was once called the Grand Lodge and had changed to the National Tribe would become known as the National Lodge. As National Lodge Chief Thomas Cairns put it, “many of us seem happy to have again the use of the word ‘lodge’”.

3, OA, Scouting

Lawrence Branch

Lawrence Branch was an early African American leader at camp and in the Order of the Arrow in Chicago. He served at Camp Belnap, Chicago’s segregated camp and as a chapter chief for many years in the 1930s for Takodah Chapter of Owasippe Lodge. In the 1930s, the chapters in Owasippe Lodge were typically larger than most lodges. Lawrence Branch was one of the Chicago Councils leaders for Camp Promotion. He was one of seven Arrowmen that were “Wagon Bosses” for the Gold Rush camp promotion for Owasippe Scout Reservation in 1936.

Branch kept his Vigil on August 5, 1945. His Vigil Honor name is “The Group Singer”. Branch is one of the oldest living Arrowmen in the United States and has been invaluable to historians seeking knowledge about Takodah Chapter and Camp Belnap.

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Ceremonial Rituals are Changed

In 1933, the Grand Lodge was making the preparations necessary to become an official BSA program. In August of that year, a document entitled: A Statement of Principles Applying in the Case of National Approval of the Order of the Arrow, was produced to give guidance to the transition needed within the Order of the Arrow (OA).

One of the sections made reference to the Rituals of the Order of the Arrow and stated the following:

A competent committee will review the Ritual in its entirety with a view to assuring that it is free from:

1. Any words or phrases, which may cause offense to religious bodies
2. Any performance or expressions, which may be interpreted as acts of religious worship
3. Any employment of the element of secrecy as in obligation, which may prove inconsistent with the policies of Scouting.

Between 1933 and early 1935 the OA’s rituals underwent strong examination and rewrites to ascertain that the rituals were in compliance with the guidelines set forth in 1933 necessary for National Council BSA approval.

Meteu’s prayers were a topic of concern and required changes. Thomas Cairns wrote to George Lower, author of those prayers and asked for his help in rewriting the prayers. Lower was at first reluctant but after Cairns persistence and good humor (remarking that he would lose what little was left of his hair if Lower did not respond) did eventually help in the rewrites.

Some of the changes made included the dropping of “Gitchee Manitou”, a reference to a deity, from all ceremonies. The word “Password” was changed to “Admonition”. Previous to 1933’s guidelines, the words “altar” and “sacred” had already been replaced and the word “Fraternity” had been replaced with “Brotherhood”.

In 1936 a series of five new pamphlets with all the approved changes were printed. The Ordeal cover was red ink. The Brotherhood cover was green ink. The Vigil Honor cover was blue ink. The Local Lodge Manual cover was brown ink and the Constitution and By-Laws cover was black ink. All the pamphlets were produced in 1936 except the Vigil Honor pamphlet, which was not printed until 1940.

The 1936 versions of the Ordeal Honor and Brotherhood Honor ceremonies remained virtually unchanged through and until 1948 when final changes were necessary for the OA to become fully integrated into the BSA program.

3, Ceremonies, OA, Scouting

George Lower

George Lower was inducted into the Order of the Arrow (OA) at Treasure Island during the second summer of Wimachtendienk in 1916. He was one of the two major contributors to the writing of the rituals used by the Grand Lodge from 1921 until 1936. Prior to 1921, Lower was one of the quiet adult forces within the Wimachtendienk. In a newspaper article in August 1921, he is pictured in a sash and black robe and identified as one of two Medicine Men along with Dr. William M. Hinkle.

In 1921, for his leadership and influence in the Wimachtendienk W. W., George Lower became the sixth Arrowman to receive the Third Degree.

On November 8, 1934 National Chief Thomas Cairns wrote to George Lower asking for his assistance regarding transformation of the ceremonies critical to the integration of the OA into the BSA:

As you may know, the Order of the Arrow has been officially adopted by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and is to be a part of their official program for campers.

This step has brought to light a number of rather interesting questions and I should like, if at all possible, to secure your help in answering one of these.

In the Ritual (copy enclosed) on pages 9, 11, 13, and 22 the Meteu is called upon to say a prayer. This Ritual has been submitted to the National Scout Committee on Church Relations and by them to their subdivisions on Protestant, Catholic and Jewish Scouting. There is a common agreement, conveyed to me by Urner Goodman, of the desirability of eliminating from the Ritual these prayers as such since it is extremely difficult to have any one prayer which is acceptable to all three groups.

George Lower wrote back to Thomas Cairns on January 6, 1935. George Lower had become inactive in the OA and was a teacher at the Westtown School, Westtown, Pennsylvania. Along with agreeing to do the re-writes, George Lower wrote:

Receiving your request recalled to my mind the hours and hours Dr. Hinkle and I spent on this ritual years ago and I was quite surprised to see that it had not been changed since our last revision.

Lower completed the revisions of the ceremonies and the OA published them in 1936.

3, Ceremonies, OA, Profile, Scouting