The Area Chiefs and National OA Committee met at Kansas University in Lawrence, the scheduled site for the 1958 NOAC for the 1957 National Planning Meeting. James W. Kolka from Otyokwa Lodge, Eau Claire, Wisconsin was elected National Conference Chief. Elected Deputy Conference Chiefs were Fred Gehl, Charles Martin, Paul Kelly, Dick Honsinger, John Lehman and Frank Naylor.
The BSA awarded E. Urner Goodman the Silver Buffalo in 1954. Three years earlier, Missouri Valley College had awarded him an honorary doctorate in humane letters.
2, Awards, Founders, Goodman, OA, Scouting
The following were presented the Order of the Arrow's Distinguished Service Award (DSA) at the 1954 National Order of the Arrow Conference in Wyoming to - M. G. Boswell, Dr. Joe C. Carrington Jr., H. Edward Dike, Frank W. Hall Jr., Henry J. Henning, J. Powell Hunter, Phillip W. Robins and Scotty Williamson.
After 36 years of service for the Boy Scouts of America, E Urner Goodman retired as a professional Scouter. He had served as Director of Program for twenty years. Goodman’s professional career had started in 1915 when as a 23 year old he was hired by the Philadelphia Council to be a Field Commissioner (now known as Field Executive). He served as Camp Director at Treasure Island Scout Reservation where he started the Order.
Goodman had hinted for several years that he was considering retirement. The Brotherhood Barn had been built in Vermont where Goodman intended to retire. Goodman continued his support and devotion to leadership and service to the Order for another three decades following his retirement.
2, Founders, Goodman, OA, Scouting
On September 13, 1951 the National OA Committee voted to bestow the title of “Honorary National Chief” on Dr. E. Urner Goodman. Thirty years earlier Goodman had served Wimachtendienk, W.W. as its first Grand Lodge Chieftain, later called National Chief. This honor was made in tribute to the Founder upon his retirement from the BSA.
A calfskin was presented to Goodman by National OA Committee 
Chairman H. Lloyd Nelson inscribed,
He Gave to Boyhood a Brotherhood of Cheer and Service”.
2, Founders, Goodman, OA, Scouting
The National OA Committee and Area Chiefs from around the nation gathered at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio for the second National Planning Meeting. This was the only National Planning Meeting where the Area Chiefs did not elect the next Conference Chief. National Conference Chief James R. Montgomery of Pellissippi Lodge, Knoxville, Tennessee had been elected at the 1950 NOAC. Following the meeting the OA actively promoted that “active youth participation would be the real National Meeting highlight…” Conference Chiefs would be running the show at the 1952 NOAC.
Nobody knows when the first swap of Order of the Arrow emblems took place, but it had to be soon after the first badges of Wimachtendienk appeared. In the early years there was no trading of OA insignia. The first insignia in 1916 were pins. Pins were made of silver or gold. They were relatively expensive, certainly when compared to patches. An Unami Lodge gold Second Degree pin in 1919 might have cost $2.00; the cost of 20 die-cut felt camp monogram patches. No one was trading them with each other.
At the first Grand Lodge Meeting in 1921 most of the delegates were professional Scouters. They had much to discuss, but they were not trading. The first badges of the Order were issued shortly thereafter. The first chenille shaped badge from Minsi Lodge of Reading, Pennsylvania was issued circa 1922. But there was really no one to trade it with and no real location to wear it (OA Insignia was forbidden from the uniform until 1942, and that was for just the Universal Arrow Ribbon.) It was not until 1945 that pocket patches (not flaps) were approved for uniforms.
Circa 1925 Ranachqua Lodge from the Bronx, New York issued a chenille. At the following Grand Lodge Meeting in 1926 a motion was made to fully authorize OA patches. The motion was approved, however a requirement was made that only Brotherhood / Second Degree members or above could have them. With such stringent patch restrictions there still was virtually no trading of Wimachtendienk emblems going on.
The earliest example of a multiple OA emblem collection came from an Arrowman in Minsi Lodge. He had only three patches, but they were from different lodges. That meant he either swapped them or was given them as he was only in one of the lodges. The first badge in the collection and only one previously known to collectors was a Minsi Lodge chenille dating to circa 1927. The other badges, dated to the same period, were from Unami Lodge and from Swatara Lodge, Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
By the 1930s swapping had begun at meetings of the Grand Lodge. In 1933 at the Chicago hosted Grand Lodge Meeting there would have been patches everywhere to be seen; not so many OA emblems, but camp patches and World’s Fair patches. Chicago was already using a system of year badges and activity badges on their neckerchiefs. Swapping would have taken place, although probably not much involving OA emblems. The trades were done in fellowship. It was an exchange to remember a brother from another lodge. By 1936 at the Grand Lodge Meeting that had changed. Arrowmen were trading patches. There is a reference in the 1938 National Meeting Minutes that states, “once again badge swapping was a popular activity at the meeting”. The earliest photograph of OA badge trading was taken at the 1938 meeting held at Camp Irondale, Missouri.
On February 19,1937 the National Executive Committee in a letter to Scout Executives asked them in their role as Supreme Chief of the Fire,
to stress to his Order of the Arrow members attending the (1937) Jamboree, that they should not swap or exchange Order of the Arrow insignia.
It is not known why such an admonishment was made and there was never a written order rescinding of the policy. It is known that OA patch trading took place at the 1937 National Jamboree with multiple collections documented from the event.
By 1940, patch “swapping” was a major pastime for Arrowmen at national, regional and area events. In general it was “one for one” trading. It did not interrupt program and was done in fellowship. Many Arrowmen when they left the Order and moved on from patch swapping would give the patches to younger lodge members to trade and have fun with.
Up until 1948, there were no books or guides that had pictures of OA patches. J. Rucker Newbery collected OA patches, or as he would have called them, emblems. He called them emblems because they were “emblematic” meaning they stood for something (a fact often lost when patches are made for no reason other than for them to be rare or collected). In 1948 Newbery edited the first Order of the Arrow Handbook. In the book he included two pages devoted to pictures of emblems. This gave some lodges the impetus needed to create their own emblem for the first time. The badges were also really wonderful looking and, to many of the thousands of Arrowmen that bought the handbook, were fascinating. The patch-trading hobby was spreading rapidly.
In 1952 Dwight W. Bischel published his Wabaningo Lodge Emblem Handbook (The “Wab” book). Inside the Wab book Bischel provided all sorts of information never offered to Arrowmen. Each lodge that was known to have an emblem was listed in lodge number order and the badge was photographed if available. Other pertinent information such as city and state of the lodge, council name, meaning of name, etc. was listed. The colors of the patches were also listed because the Wab book was not printed in color. The book was actively promoted in the OA National Bulletinand at the National OA Conference. Bischel quickly sold-out 2,000 copies of the book in under a year. A generation of patch collecting Arrowmen emerged.
The patch-trading hobby continued to grow throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Hobby newsletters were developed such as The Trader which emerged following the 1953 National Jamboree and was first edited by Mike Diamond. It was during the 1950s that the OA started to make flaps in large quantities. Once Arrowmen could collect the same shaped patch from every lodge neatly cataloged in number order the hobby accelerated amongst Arrowmen.
Just as with any thing that is new and explodes in interest, problems developed. When Arrowmen learned that Bischel had obtained the badges by writing to council offices many traders started writing to council’s seeking patches. Some offices liked making the extra money or had a relationship with an Arrowman more than glad to have a new patch trading pen pal. Other found it to be a major distraction having to devote personnel to return unwanted money or patches sent by a hopeful Scout. In 1960 the OA made an official statement that Arrowmen were not to write to council offices for patches.
Other problems involved “restrictions” on patches. This made patches unequal in trade and caused a loss of fellowship. National strongly recommended an end to restrictions in late 1975. The biggest problem though was from a minority of over-zealous traders who were disrupting actual program because they were only present to trade patches. To be sure, the great majority of patch traders were active Arrowmen giving service and trading some patches along the way. In 1977 the NOAC theme show actually vilified a flap trader for not having the correct spirit. They showed him with a brief case full of patches, skipping training and having no idea of the purpose of the OA. Within the patch trading community the hobby changed.
One part of the change was that patch “traders” were becoming patch “collectors”. There was a heightened awareness that program must come first and that collectors needed to police themselves. More books were being produced. National and regional books were being written and published that provide the history of insignia. Arrowmen started paying more and more attention to their locally issued items. Patch organizations such as National Scout Collectors Society, Western Traders Association, the American Scouting Historical Society and American Scouting Traders Association (ASTA) and later the International Scout Collectors Association (ISCA) formed. They included a code of ethics. Among rules were not mailing council offices and not trading during training sessions and always following the rules of the event (whether they agreed with them or not).
Starting in the 1960s and gaining in popularity through 2000 were events separate from program only for traders. They were called “Trade-o-rees”. By the 1970s a National Trade-o-ree was held in conjunction with each National OA Conference or Jamboree. Many lodges learned to host trade-o-rees as fundraisers often including a memorabilia auction. The first “official” trade-o-ree at a NOAC was at the 2009 Conference held on campus at the University of Indiana.
The patch trading groups that had developed were also publishing magazines that provided information for collectors. This had the affect of converting what were patch “collectors” in the 1980s and 1990s to Scout “historians” in the 2000s. More and more collectors were interested in preserving the insignia of their lodge, camp or council through the insignia that had been issued. Because the insignia became collectible, value became associated with the memorabilia. During the past 15 years unbelievable values have been associated with rare OA insignia. This is a measure of the passion of Arrowmen for their history.
Collectibles of all types have passion and value associated with them. But OA insignia is different than something like a baseball card. A baseball card never plays the game of baseball. In most cases the card is never even touched by the player depicted or anyone else in Major League Baseball. But OA insignia had to be earned by an Arrowman. The emblem represents the presence and service of an elder brother.
A fortunate by-product of the passion and swapping and trading over the years is the Order of the Arrow’s insignia has been preserved for posterity. Books such as The Blue Book - Standard Order of the Arrow Insignia Catalog, edited by Bill Topkis and websites like the Internet Guide to OA Insignia published by John Pannell along with exhibitions such as the OA Center for History at NOAC or the 2010 Mysterium Compass Vault at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree have made it possible for Arrowmen to continue to meet their obligation by observing and preserving the traditions of the Order of the Arrow.
The patch-trading hobby remains strong. Walk through any Jamboree or NOAC (when program is not going on, please) and patch trading can be found in almost every nook and cranny.
Awards, Background, Insignia, National Event, OA, Profile, Scouting
The Distinguished Service Award (DSA) is presented to those Arrowmen who have rendered distinguished and outstanding service to the Order on a sectional, regional, or national basis. Starting in 1952, the DSA was no longer limited to only three recipients. The following were presented the DSA at the National Order of the Arrow Conference; Gerald H. Blake, Andrew R. Groenink, Charles M. Heistand, Richard W. Marshall, Thomas G. McBride, John M. Pfeil, William S. Roth, Archie F. Wilson, J. Richard Wilson and Norman C. Wood.
In the fall of 1953, the National OA Committee announced that J. Richard Wilson had stepped down as OA National Secretary and had been reassigned as a Field Executive in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Phillip W. Robins was named Third National Secretary. Robins was a Vigil Honor Member of Sanhican Lodge, Trenton, New Jersey. Like his predecessors, Robins was active as a youth in the program having been an Area Chief and he was under twenty-five. National Secretary was still a relatively low-grade Scout professional position largely consumed with administrative and clerical tasks assigned by the National OA Committee.
G. Kellock “Kel” Hale was installed as the first Chairman of the National Order of the Arrow Committee at the 1948 National Conference at Bloomington, Indiana. The National Council, BSA, had not technically approved his position yet, but that was just a formality. The selection of Hale according to outgoing National Chief Robert Heistand was because Kel was next in line to be National Chief. The new National Chairman position was considered the post-BSA integration equivalent to the old National Chief. The similarity was the National Chief was Chairman of the National Executive Committee and the National Chairman was Chair of the new National OA Committee. Hale immediately upon installation stated that he was dedicated to increased youth involvement in the national leadership of the OA.
Unfortunately Hale’s, time as Chairman would be cut short. After barely serving a year, under strict doctor’s orders, Hale reluctantly had to give up all activities and have bed rest until his “fatigue” passed. Hale’s was the shortest tenure of any National Chairman. H. Lloyd Nelson was appointed as his replacement. Hale would continue serving on the National OA Committee until 1973.
G. Kellock “Kel” Hale was born January 17, 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He joined Scouts at the age of 12 (minimum age in those days) in 1916. During World War I, Kel sold more war bonds than any other Scout in Philadelphia. As a result of this achievement, Kel was selected as the Scout that would serve as Lord Baden-Powell’s Orderly when he came to visit Philadelphia.
Kel was inducted in the OA at its birthplace, Treasure Island, in 1918. He was one of the Council’s most decorated Scouts. By the time Kel was twenty-years old and attending the University of Pennsylvania he was an Eagle Scout with three Silver Palms (that would be at least 66 merit badges in 1924, a remarkable achievement in that era).
Following college, Hale moved to Mount Airy, North Carolina and went to work for the North Carolina Granite Company rising to the position of Secretary. In Scouting, Hale became a troop Scoutmaster, a position he would hold for 15 years until becoming District Commissioner. During his time as Scoutmaster, Hale founded Wahissa Lodge in Old Hickory Council at Camp Lasater on June 9,1938. Later that year Hale assisted with producing the 1938 National Meeting at Camp Irondale. Hale kept his Vigil receiving the name Kittelendam translated as “The Earnest” on August 10, 1940. Hale served in a leadership role at the 1940 National Meeting at Camp Twin Echo and received the Silver Beaver Award from his council in 1942.
Hale started numerous lodges throughout Region 6 (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida). In 1945 he was invited to the National Executive Committee meeting. His attendance was to assist in planning the 1946 National Meeting originally scheduled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, close to where Hale lived. However for various reasons the 1946 National Meeting had to be moved to Chanute Field, Illinois.
At the 1946 National Meeting Hale received the Distinguished Service Award. He also ran for and was elected as the Southeast representative to the National Executive Committee. In 1948, when the National Executive Committee was disbanded and the National OA Committee formed Hale was named as the first National OA Committee Chairman. Hale only served as Chairman for a year, when illness forced him to resign in 1949. Hale lamented that strict doctor’s orders required him to dispense with all activities and he was required to observe strict bed rest as the remedy at the time for fatigue.
Hale continued to serve on the National OA Committee until 1971. His last leadership position was serving as chairman of the Distinguished Service Award Committee. During the critical years of the Order when the OA fully integrated as part of the BSA, it was Hale along with H. Lloyd Nelson and Thomas Cairns that provided the essential servant leadership. Kel was a member of the BSA for 55 years and on the National OA Committee or its equivalent for over 25 years. G. Kellock Hale passed away on October 3, 1973.
The very first meeting of the National OA Committee was held January 28 – 30, 1949 in Greensboro, North Carolina. G. Kellock Hale, Chairman set the agenda and discussed issues related to changes with the full integration into the BSA. One issue was the usefulness of the 12-region BSA system. Arrangements were discussed for a change in the Area system. The National OA Committee also agreed to send a letter to each lodge reminding them to send a stone to E. Urner Goodman with their lodge name and number on it to be used in construction of a fireplace for the “Brotherhood Barn”.
The most profound issue decided at the first meeting was the increased role of youth leadership under the guidance of adult advisers. To that end it was decided that each local area would select a youth chief who would be called an Area Conference Chief. That about half of these Area Conference Chiefs would gather together prior to each National Conference to plan the upcoming Conference. The chairmen of each of the conference committees would be selected from among the Area conference chiefs. Each conference committee would also have a National OA Committee member as the youth chairman's adviser. This system has remained basically unchanged to this day except that all Section Chiefs are now invited to the National Planning Meeting.