Girl Scouts of Maine collection
Scope and Content note
This collection documents the activities of the Girl Scouts of Maine and its members. Contents include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, educational material, financial records, programs, press releases, newsletters, catalogs, printed matter, news clippings, photographs, negatives, slides, postcards, albums, scrapbooks, audiocassettes, filmstrips, VHS tapes, discs, drawings, hand-drawn maps, and posters. The collection reflects the history and administration of Maine's Girl Scout councils, camps, programs, troop leaders, and members.
Dates
- Creation: 1919 - 2022
Creator
- Girl Scouts of Maine (Donor, Organization)
- Kennebec Girl Scout Council (Organization)
- Abnaki Girl Scout Council (Organization)
Access
Unrestricted
Copyright
Access to collections at Maine Historical Society is not an authorization to publish. Rights and reproduction requests may be submitted in writing to the MHS Image Services Coordinator or Research & Administrative Librarian, subject to format.
Administrative note
The Girl Scouts was established in the United States in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low, in Savannah, Georgia. Then as now, the Girl Scouts aimed to provide girls opportunities to develop courage, confidence, and character through community, outdoor adventure, and service.
The first troops on record in Maine were active in Augusta in 1917. By the early 1960s, regional councils and lone troop communities throughout the state prompted the establishment of two larger councils: the Abnaki Girl Scout Council (AGSC) encompassing Maine's six northern and eastern counties, and the Kennebec Girl Scout Council (KGSC; later the Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council) for the state's ten southwestern counties. Both councils had administrative headquarters and oversaw several camp properties, including AGSC's Camp Natarswi and KGSC's Camp Kirkwold, Camp Pondicherry, and Camp Skelkit.
The councils provided training and resources for troop leaders; designed council-wide and state-wide programs; and facilitated trips for individuals and troops, including participation in the national Roundups of the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2007, Abnaki Girl Scout Council and Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council merged to form the Girl Scouts of Maine (GSME).
Extent
26.5 Linear Feet (45 boxes + 1 oversize folder)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series.
- 1. Council records, 1930-2019
- 2. Publications and press, 1920-2022
- 3. Graphic, audiovisual, and oversize material, 1919-2016
Provenance
Gift of Girl Scouts of Maine, March 20, 2025 (acc. no. 2025.067).
Processing note
Collection material arrived in bankers boxes and totes, much of it in well-labeled hanging file folders representing the institutional archive originally established by the Kennebec Girl Scout Council. File arrangement and titles were retained wherever present, particularly in the news clipping, photograph, and slide sub-series. Collection order and series were established by the processing archivist. Note that administrative material for the original archive was retained and is housed in Sub-series 1.1; original accession number information noted on housing for select items was not included in this finding aid but was recorded in a document housed in the collection's source file.
News clippings were photocopied and originals not retained, apart from a handful of full-issue Girl Scout newsletters. Photographs were removed from non-archival sleeves and housed unsleeved in archival folders; material would benefit from transfer to archival sleeves in the future. Slides and negatives were housed in archival sleeves. Albums and scrapbooks were housed in document or oversize boxes, according to size.
The collection arrived with a significant number of objects, including Girl Scout uniforms, patches, dolls, paper dolls, banners, and camping items such as pocket first-aid kits. These items were separated and added to the MHS museum collection.
Subject
- Low, Juliette Gordon, 1860-1927 (Person)
- Ekdahl, Ingrid (Person)
- Girl Scouts (Organization)
- Girl Scouts of the United States of America (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Audiocassettes
- Catalogs
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
- Compact discs
- Drawing
- Filmstrips
- Financial records
- Instructional and educational works
- Newsletters
- Photograph albums
- Photograph collections
- Photography -- Negatives
- Postcards
- Posters
- Programs
- Scrapbooks
- Slides (Photography)
- Videocassettes
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Girl Scouts of Maine collection
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Jordis Rosberg, MHS Archivist, September - November 2025, and Elisabeth Traister, MHS Intern, June - July 2025
- Date
- November 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Maine Historical Society Repository