''The Ideal Scout'', also known as ''The Boy Scout'', is the most famous work by Canadian sculptor

R. Tait McKenzie Robert Tait McKenzie ( MacKenzie) (May 26, 1867 – April 28, 1938) was a Canadian physician, educator, sculptor, athlete, soldier and Scouter. Born in Ramsay Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada, he attended McGill University in Montreal ...

(1867–1938). The original statue stood in front of the

Cradle of Liberty Council The Cradle of Liberty Council (#525) is a Boy Scouts of America council created in 1996 with the merger of the former Philadelphia Council (covering the city and county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) and the former Valley Forge Coun ...

at 22nd and Winter Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1937 to 2013. Replicas can be found at Boy Scouts of America councils across the United States, as well as at Gilwell Park in London, England, and at Scouts Canada's national office in Ottawa. The

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

's database lists 18 copies.

History

Calvin Coolidge receiving statue of Boy Scout outside the White House 1927

McKenzie sat on the executive board of the Boy Scouts organization in Philadelphia for more than 20 years. Asked to produce a figure of "an ideal scout," the sculptor chose several young scouts to model in uniform. In 1915, he gave the executive board an 18-inch bronze figure, together with rights to the royalties resulting from sales of copies. He said that the boy's uncovered head denoted reverence, obedience to authority, and discipline. The hatchet held by the scout is a symbol of truthfulness and the hope it would never be unsheathed for wanton destruction, but "applied unceasingly to the neck of treachery, treason, cowardice, discourtesy, dishonesty, and dirt."Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995). ''Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook'', p. 49. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison McKenzie's life-sized version of the work was unveiled at Philadelphia's Cradle of Liberty Council on June 12, 1937. A replica in Ottawa, Illinois, adorns the grave of

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). ...

(1858–1929), founder of the Boy Scouts of America, who modeled the organization on Great Britain's

Boy Scouts Association The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was form ...

Cradle of Liberty Council

The Philadelphia headquarters was built by the Boy Scouts of America on city-owned land in 1929, with the council paying a nominal $1-per-year rent. In 2008, the City of Philadelphia filed an anti-discrimination lawsuit in response to the BSA's national policy of excluding openly gay scout leaders, demanding that the Cradle of Liberty Council defy the BSA policy, pay a market-rate rent on the building, or vacate it. The council won the lawsuit in Federal court, and the judge ordered the city to pay its $877,000 in legal fees. Instead, the city settled with the council, paying the bulk of its legal fees but requiring it to vacate the building. ''The Ideal Scout'' was removed in 2013.

Partial list of locations

Statuette

*Brookings Library Brookings, South Dakota *Philadelphia Museum of Art (1915) 18-inch statuette - accession number 42-7-1 *St. Louis, Missouri *University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia *University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Statue

*Allentown, Pennsylvania (1975) *Ann Arbor, Michigan (1980) *Atlanta, Georgia (Atlanta Area Council Volunteer Service Center) *Baltimore, Maryland, (1937) *Cleveland, Ohio (1962) *Delray Beach, Florida *Denver, Colorado - Hamilton Scout Headquarters *Detroit, Michigan (1965) *East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania (1972) *Elbert Colorado - Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch (1973) *Farmington, Pennsylvania (1991) *Fort Worth, Texas (1956) *Goshen, Virginia - Goshen Scout Reservation *Greenburg, Pennsylvania (1982) *Hudson, Wisconsin - Lakefront Park (2009) *Indianapolis, Indiana (1990) *Irving, Texas (1979) *Jackson, Mississippi (1937) *Kalamazoo (Texas Township), Michigan (2015) *Lakeland, Florida (Publix Corporate Office) *Kansas City, Kansas (1937) *Kenai, Alaska - Eric Hansen Park (1997) *Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1995) *Ligonier, Pennsylvania (1937) *Mansfield, Ohio (Heart of Ohio Council Service Center) *Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (1978) *Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1985) *Mobile, Alabama (Mobile Area Council) *Morganville (Marlboro Township), New Jersey *Naperville, Illinois *Ogden, Utah *Ottawa, Illinois (1941) - grave of

, founder of the Boy Scouts of America *Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

(1937) *Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1937) * Portland, Oregon (1972) *Raleigh, North Carolina *Reedesville, Pennsylvania (1992) *Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania (1937) *Sioux Falls, South Dakota *St. Paul, Minnesota (1965) *University of Pennsylvania (1937) *Vernon Hills, Illinois (2018) *Westlake, Texas, Scouting U, Westlake Campus (Center for Professional Development)

Gallery

File:Boy Scout Statue Philly.JPG, Philadelphia File:GilwellParkIdealScout.jpg, ''The Ideal Scout'', donated to Gilwell Park, London, England, in 1966 by the Boy Scouts of America File:TheIdealScout1915.jpg, Milwaukee

References

External links

''The Ideal Scout''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ideal Scout, The Statues in the United States Culture of Philadelphia 1915 sculptures Boy Scouts of America Sculptures of men Sculpture series Scouting in art Removed statues Scouting monuments and memorials