Edgar Munroe Robinson (1867–1951) was Boys' Work Secretary of the International Committee of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and a long-time director and executive with the YMCA in New York. He is notable for his significant efforts in helping to establish the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

(BSA).

YMCA

Edgar M. Robinson attended college in

New Brunswick, Canada New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. There he first became associated with the YMCA serving as chairman of the Boys' Work Committee and later developing their first camping program. In 1898, he was hired as the Boys' Work Secretary by the Massachusetts-Rhode Island State Committee. While working for the YMCA in Massachusetts he attended the YMCA Training School, now

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

. Robinson was appointed the Boys' Work Secretary of the International Committee in 1900. According to one history, "at the time, there were twenty Boys' Work Secretaries and 30,000 boys as members nationwide. Thirteen years later, there were 363 secretaries with over 120,000 youth in membership." Robinson developed camping programs, father and son programs, sex education programs, specialized work with employed boys and wartime programs."

Boy Scouts of America

During the years 1908 and 1909, Scout troops were starting almost spontaneously in locations across the United States, before the BSA existed, but following the publication of ''

Scouting for Boys ''Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship'' is a book on Boy Scout training, published in various editions since 1908. Early editions were written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell with later editions being extensi ...

'' by Sir

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the worl ...

. A handful of YMCA centers were hosting troops, so Edgar Robinson had an interest in helping the BSA get off the ground so that his organization and others would have American-based resources for troop leaders. In April 1910, Edgar Robinson persuaded

William D. Boyce William Dickson Boyce (June 16, 1858 – June 11, 1929) was an American newspaper man, entrepreneur, magazine publisher, and explorer. He was the founder of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the short-lived Lone Scouts of America (LSA). ...

to appoint him managing director of the BSA for a limited time period, during which time Robinson secured a number of leading citizens to join together to form the Executive Board of the BSA. He then relinquished his role in BSA affairs, with the executive role eventually going to the newly recruited James E. West. Robinson was recognized for his work in establishing the BSA with the

Silver Buffalo Award The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of, or independent of the Scouting pro ...

in 1926. Robinson remained "the preeminent figure in YMCA boys' work until his retirement in 1927." In 2000 he was inducted into the YMCA Hall of Fame at Springfield College.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Edgar M. 1867 births 1951 deaths Springfield College (Massachusetts) YMCA leaders Chief Scout Executives Place of birth missing Place of death missing

YMCA

Boy Scouts of America

See also

Notes