Camp Fire - History

History

In 1910, young girls in Thetford, Vermont, watched their brothers, friends, and schoolmates – all Boy Scouts – practice their parts in the community's 150th anniversary, which would be celebrated the following summer. The pageant's organizer, William Chauncey Langdon, promised the girls that they, too, would have an organized role in the pageant, although no organization such as Boy Scouts existed then for girls. Langdon consulted with Mrs. Charles Farnsworth, preceptress of Horace Mann School near Thetford, Vermont. Both approached Luther Halsey Gulick M.D. about creating a national organization for girls. Gulick introduced the idea to friends, among them G. Stanley Hall, Ernest Thompson Seton, and James West, executive secretary of the Boy Scouts. After many discussions and help from Gulick and his wife Charlotte, Langdon named the group of Thetford girls the Camp Fire Girls.

In 1907, the Gulicks had established Camp WoHeLo, a camp for girls, on Lake Sebago, near South Casco, Maine. There were seventeen WoHeLo maidens at the camp in the summer of 1910. Both the Vermont group and the Maine group would lead to the creation of the organization formally organized as Camp Fire Girls in 1912.

On March 22, 1911 Dr. Gulick organized a meeting "To consider ways and means of doing for the girls what the Boy Scout movement is designed to do for the boys". On April 10, 1911 James E. West issued a press release from Boy Scouts of America headquarters announcing that with the success of the Boy Scout movement a group of preeminent New York men and women were organizing a group to provide outdoor acitivites for girls, similar to those in the Boy Scout movement.

Camp Fire Girls of America was incorporated in Washington, D.C, as a national agency on March 17, 1912.

By December 1913, Camp Fire Girls' membership was an estimated 60,000, many of whom began attending affiliated summer camps. The Bluebird program was introduced that year for younger girls, offering exploration of ideas and creative play built around family and community. In 1989 the Bluebirds became Starflight.

The first official Camp Fire handbook was published in 1914. During World War I Camp Fire Girls helped to sell over one million dollars in Liberty Bonds and over $900,000 in Thrift Stamps; 55,000 girls helped to support French and Belgian orphans, and an estimated 68,000 girls earned honors by conservation of food.

The first local Camp Fire council was formed in 1918 in Kansas City, Mo. Later in 1977 Kansas City would become the national headquarters for Camp Fire.

Camp Fire celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1960 with the "She Cares ... Do You?" program. During the project, Camp Fire planted more than two million trees, built 13,000 bird houses, and completed several other conservation-oriented tasks. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Camp Fire Girls, in connection with their Golden Jubilee Convention celebration, a stamp designed by H. Edward Oliver was issued featuring the Camp Fire Girls insignia. A new program, Junior Hi, wherein twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls explore new interests as a group and as individuals was created in 1962. This program name changed later to Discovery. That same year, the WoHeLo medallion became Camp Fire's highest achievement and honor.

In 1969, Camp Fire Girls were allowed to be "Participants" in BSA's Explorer Posts (for boys 14 and older). This arrangement ended in 1971, when the BSA made Explorers a co-ed program. Membership was at 274,000 by 1974 in 1,300 communities of the United States. Camp Fire expanded its horizons in 1975, welcoming boys to participate in all Camp Fire activities. While boys were invited to Camp Fire Girls Horizon Conferences in the late 1960s and early 1970s, official membership was not offered them until 1975, when the organization became coeducational. Camp Fire decided boys and girls should be together in one organization, so they learn to play and work alongside each other and appreciate their similarities and differences in positive ways. Thus they understand that people from either gender can be their teachers, coworkers, supervisors, confidantes, coaches, and friends.

In 1977, Camp Fire's head office moved to Kansas City from New York, where it is still located today. Teens in Action was introduced in 1988 as a one-time social issue campaign to energize the older teen program. Today Teens in Action, Camp Fire's service–learning program for teens, serves over 60,000 teens.

The first Absolutely Incredible Kid Day, a call to action for all adults to communicate through letters their love and commitment to children, took place in 1997. In 2003 to further its commitment and inclusiveness, Camp Fire USA began translating its curricula to Spanish. As a way to excite and educate children in Pre-K, the Little Stars program was introduced in 2005. Designated for ages 3–5 Little Stars builds confidence and a sense of belonging in children.

In 2012, Camp Fire underwent a re-branding changing their name officially to Camp Fire. The traditional flame logo changed to a more contemporary campfire.

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority partners with Campfire to build resiliency in girls by volunteering at and fundraising for Camp Fire camps and programs. In 2012, Gamma Phi Beta became the official sponsor of Camp Fire's self-reliance curriculum "I'm Peer Proof".