Noel Memorial Library Archives Northwest LA Boy Scout Records 10/30/01

The Norwela (Northwest Louisiana) Council of Boy Scouts has donated their records to the LSUS Noel Memorial Library, Archives and Special Collections.
The records document the history of scouting in the nine-parish Northwest Louisiana area.

Scouting was imported from England in 1910 by William D. Boyce. On a visit to London in 1909, Mr. Boyce became lost and was helped by a young man who identified himself as “a scout.” Boyce visited the British Scouting Office and was so impressed he returned to found the Boy Scouts of America.A little over a year later the first Boy Scout troop in Northwest Louisiana was formed with ten boys in Shreveport at the Texas Avenue Methodist Church. Headlines in The Shreveport Journal, March 7, 1911, proclaimed “Boy Scouts Movement is Begun in Shreveport.”

Various other organizations sponsored troops during these early years of the scouts existence. In 1920, the Shreveport Rotary Club sponsored the organization of the first Council, “Shreveport Council,” which was chartered by the National Office on July 9, 1921 enrolling 522 boys.

In 1924, representatives from nine other parishes met and formed the Norwela Council, which was chartered Nov. 17, 1925. A representative of the National Council spent several weeks in Shreveport early in 1924, and brought together groups encompassing ten parishes, representing 68 towns, with the hope of forming 90 troops. Today the Norwella Council of the Boy Scouts serves over 8,000 youth.

The records transferred to the Noel Memorial Library include 9 filing cabinets and 70 boxes of material, and include such historic items as the original charter, articles of incorporation, news clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, minutes and individual troop records.

“We are excited to add these records to our Archives,” said Laura Conerly, archivist for the Noel Memorial Library. “This is a large collection documenting the valuable contribution scouting has made to our community.”

The Library Archives serves as a repository for many other local organizations’ records including the YMCA, YWCA, League of Women Voters, Shreveport City Council and the Caddo Parish Commission/Police Jury.