OAImages Blog

Recently someone emailed me with a question about a patch he could not readily catalog. To him it was a “whatzit?” There were several clues on the patch by which I was readily able to tell him what lodge and issue it was. I explained to him what I did and want to share it here, too. The patch in question is pictured to the left.

The email correspondent thought it was possibly from lodge 75. But that number has been Kiskakon lodge since 1935 and never associated with Ocean County Council.

Let’s look at the evidence here and properly catalogue this item.

1. While no lodge name is given on the patch, there is a council name given (Ocean County Council).
2. “75″ appears on the patch leading the correspondent to think this could be a lodge number. It’s not. The patch is dated 1990, which happens to have been the 75th anniversary year of the OA.

With those two bits of information it became easy to catalgoue the item. My correspondent was already well on the way to finding an answer but didn’t immediately realize it.
On the main page of the site, there’s a link that’s kind of hidden labelled “Search Site for Images“. I should probably make this link more prominent and add it to the lodge pages. On the linked page is a search form powered by Google ™. I typed in “Ocean County Council”, with the quotes, and restricted the search to my site.

In this case the search gave a unique result, pointing me to 535 Schiwa’pew Names which was the lodge for Ocean County Council in New Jersey. I went to that lodge’s page and scrolled down to the events issues as an event, Scout Sunday 1990, was clearly named.

This patch is listed there as the eR1990.

If one didn’t have the site’s search engine at hand, this council could have been found through Google or Wikipedia. After searching through the Girl Scout links, which are not relevant due to the clear Order of the Arrow references on the patch, you’d find that this was a council in New Jersey.

From the lodge and chapter directories pull down on the main page of the site, there is a link to search this site by state. Choose New Jersey, active and inactive lodges, and the same lodge will present itself as the lodge for this council.

There were subtle clues, too, that while they would not give the answer quickly would point a person towards the correct answer:

• Ocean County Council: The patch is probably from a coastal area. Lodge 75 is in Indiana, one can bet 75 is not a lodge number.
• There is a cross and a Star of David prominently featured on the patch. The Star of David is a commonly used symbol of the Jewish faith. So in spite of the poor choice of words, “Scout Sunday”, the patch probably comes from an area of the country with a significant Jewish population.

Taken together, I would have started searching the lodges of the northeastern US first, starting with southern New York and New Jersey.

This patch was easier to catalogue than a lot of other “whatzit” items but still makes a good example. Many seemingly odd patches can be catalogued through careful observation and deductive reasoning. Take a step back, examine the information at hand and the solution often presents itself.