OAImages Blog

Today’s featured article on Wikipedia will be of interest to OA brothers and members of the Scouting community at large.

“Edward Urner Goodman (May 15, 1891 – March 13, 1980), more familiarly E. Urner Goodman, was an influential leader in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) movement for much of the twentieth century. Goodman was the national program director from 1931 until 1951, during the organization’s formative years of significant growth when the Cub Scouting and Exploring programs were established…”
– quoted from Wikipedia.org

This is a sequel to an earlier post on this blog called, “What is a Neckerchief?”

Recently I posted the item pictured here as the “X28.5?” from O-Shot-Caw 265. It’s from the 2002 NOAC but had not previously been listed in Blue Book or my site. I had been told it was issued sewn onto a backpack and added it to the listings.

That last point has been debated by some collectors in Florida in email to me. Some believe this piece does not exist separately from the backpack unless the pack is cut up, and that’s why it had not been listed before now. Upon examination of the item in question, the facts prove otherwise.

As you can see, in the image at the top of this post, the item clearly has a finished cut edge border and a plastic backing. After production, this patch was sewn onto the backpack ini question and sold. As far as I’m concerned, this needs to be listed as a lodge issue.

I want to use this item as a jumping point to a more general question.   So, what exactly is a patch? I’ll also ask the related question: What is a piece of OA insignia? What follows is my opinion and your mileage may vary. Continue Reading »