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January 10th, 2010
Nisha Kittan 114: First Flap Issued
Previously I had reported of the formation of Nisha Kittan lodge, in Lewis and Clark Council, from the merger of Kishkakon 32 and Taleka 81. Thanks to Rich Dillow, I now have an image of the lodge's newly issued first flap. The lodge has decided to use 114 as a lodge number. As far as I know there are no other issues from this lodge at this time.
The design of the flap a simple portrayal of the lodge's black wolf totem, depicted baying at a full moon. It's nicely done. However some observant collectors, especially those in the Southern Plains may find this patch rather familiar looking. I have to wonder if the designer of this flap was inspired by another patch.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
October 27th, 2009
Never Assume
There is an old adage about what happens if one assumes. Randy Holden recently gave me an example of why one shouldn't assume.
A few years ago this privately made patch bearing the name and number of "Unilachtego 107". Given the history of lodge 107 and what was already published in Blue Book, and a proclivity for the recycling of some old lodge names, I assumed this was a predecessor lodge to Kon-Kon-Tu 107 that never had an authentic issue. That was where I was wrong.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 30th, 2009
The Unknown Lodges
The Unknown Lodges (Originally printed in Blue Book reprinted with permission of the American Scouting Historical Society)
by Jeff Morley and Bill Topkis
It is hard to imagine the Order of the Arrow of the early 1920s. The scouting program itself was less than 15 years old and the Boy Scouts of America was only one of several scouting organizations competing for national dominance. In those days, the program was not even called Order of the Arrow. What we now know as the OA began in 1915 as Wimactendienk W. W. and was one of several honor camper societies to form during the first decade of Scouting.
Based upon the few first-hand accounts by members who were active in the 1920s, minutes of early meetings of the Grand Lodge and the official History of the Order of the Arrow by Kenneth Davis, an amazing picture of the orders early years begins to emerge.
Scout councils began procuring their own camps in the early to mid 1920s. Before then, it was commonplace for councils to share large camp areas. Three such areas were Treasure Island on the Deleware River near Philadelphia, Lake Kawonanke, and Crystal Lake in New York. Scout encampments from many councils co-existed along the shores of the latter two locations and in the case of Kawonanke Lake, we know that well over thirty different scout councils had campgrounds there at the same time. In circumstances such as these, it is easy to see that if one council utilized a popular honor camper society, it would not be long before the idea would spread to neighboring council camps and such was the case in the early days.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 25th, 2009
Guest Editorial: On Patch Restrictions
Rick Obermeyer taught a training session on "Ethical Patch Distribution" at NOAC earlier this month. The topic of patch restrictions often arises in conversation both at NOAC and elsewhere. It is raised often enough that he included an answer to this question in his handouts. I share this here with his permission.
Q4: How do you feel about restrictions?
A4: That really isnt in the context of this session, but since we have time, Ill give you my personal opinions, if you like. I cant speak on restrictions for everybody. That would be too presumptuous. I can only talk about what works for my own lodge back home. Shall I go ahead?
How my lodge feels about restrictions is based on some premises. The first premise is that we are all brothers in the Order of the Arrow. That is, equal brothers. We all got into the OA the same way, with election by others. If we have Brotherhood membership, thats because we all individually made a personal promise to accept the challenge to cheerful service that was shown to us during the Ordeal. If we are Vigil, that is a sign given to indicate that others feel that we have done a decent job of keeping that personal promise we made to ourselves at Brotherhood.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 22nd, 2009
Patch Trading at NOAC
Now this is patch trading!
Jason Spangler, aka The Santee Swapper, took out his video camera during the evening patch trading at NOAC. Rather than showing every single patch that was out there -- an almost impossible task if I say so myself -- he wanted to capture the atmosphere of patch trading in Read Hall. The video clip is after the jump.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 18th, 2009
2009 NOAC: Who Had the Most Patches?
Now that NOAC is over we can start to get a better grasp on what the lodges issued for this event. I would not be surprised if there's ultimately close to 1500 issues from the approximately 300 lodges. Keep those images coming.
Today's question: Which lodge issued the most patches for NOAC. Skyuka 270 had 14 pieces and they are not a lodge known for its large quantity of issues. Has anyone issued more?
I think there's at least 11 issues from Amangamek Wipit (not yet online) so they could be a contender with a few more patches. Wipala Wiki has been known for a large number of NOAC patches in past years, but I've not seen much from them yet.
On the other extreme: Were there any lodges in attendance that issue no patches for NOAC?
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
Archive for Florida Lodges
As the followers of Florida OA items can attest (see here, here, and here), the chapters of Tipisa Lodge 326 are prolific in production of items for their members. The patch traders within the lodge have established an informal network to keep the collectors of such items up-to-date with the latest items, which benefits the chapters with additional sales. As a result, many of the items created do not become contrived rarities, and newer collectors can obtain and trade with little difficulty.
First off is the 2009 Service Day patch from Micconope Chapter. The “30″ on the helmet also represents the 30th anniversary of the chapter. Continue Reading »
Popularity: 55% [?]
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"It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow."
Calvin Coolidge
Echockotee Lodge 200 recently held their 2010 Winter Fellowship (a weekend in Florida where the temperature dropped to 19 degrees), with the beginning of their 2010 series, celebrating the centennial of Scouting. The year patch for this theme features a collage of several patches that were worn in North Florida Council over the years, with a large BSA fleur d’lis in the middle, stitched so that is elevated over the rest of the patch. The order of 125 patches was a complete sell-out.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 40% [?]
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"In things to be seen at once, much variety makes confusion, another vice of beauty. In things that are not seen at once, and have no respect one to another, great variety is commendable, provided this variety transgress not the rules of optics and geometry."
Sir Christopoher Wren
Tipisa 326 2009-10 Year Patch
Tipisa Lodge 326 has continued with their 2009-2010 themed series of activity patches, depicting Seminole patchwork. The largest piece of the series was the year patch, which became available at the Section S-4 Seminars (hosted by Tipisa). The year patch is a rendering of the lodge’s Chief’s Jacket.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 35% [?]
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"Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business."
Calvin Coolidge
The latest piece in the 2008-2009 2010 activity patch series for O-Shot-Caw 265 is now out, with the lodge’s Fall Ordeal. The designs for the series have been appropriations of National Jamboree patch designs; this latest piece is from the 1977 Jamboree.
Seven more designs to go….
Popularity: 14% [?]
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"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."
Robert Heinlein
As previously mentioned here, Seminole Lodge 85’s theme for their activity patches for 2009 resembles a puzzle, with the design to resemble a bow and arrow. While the third and fourth pieces have not yet been made available to me for scanning, here is the Fall Conclave patch.
The patch is 2 inches tall, and 11.25 inches wide. Obviously, this patch is not meant to be worn on the uniform; putting a button loop on this thing would either cause an end of the patch to hang below the belt (vertical), or halfway around the back (horizontal). And it breaks one of Rick’s Rules of Patch Design: The patch should fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.
Popularity: 10% [?]
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"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word."
Charles De Gaulle
326 Waga Hlakgo 2009 Cub Family Campout
As lodges are encouraged to expand their service programs into formerly nontraditional areas, it would follow that emblems would be created by lodges and chapters for those activities. Such is the case with this patch, created by Waga Hlakgo Chapter of Tipisa Lodge 326, for their district’s 2009 Cub Family Cookout. This was distributed to all participants, not just members of the chapter.
At first glance, the only reference to the OA on the patch is the name of the chapter; no lodge name or number is present. But if you look closely, you can find the one feature that all patches of Tipisa Lodge have, that identifies it as a Tipisa item.
Popularity: 12% [?]
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"Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do."
James Harvey Robinson
Aal-Pah-Tah 237 S98?+X67?
Anyone that has ever designed patches can tell of ambitious aspirations for an idea, only to fall short on the manufacturer’s execution of the design. Such is the case of the three two-piece sets from Aal-Pa-Tah Lodge 237, with their sets that put their alligator totem into the role of “action movie hero”. As with many patch designs, it looked good on paper.
The first (237-S-98 with X-67) was the “Vulcan Gator” theme (not to be confused with “Star Trek” which is a protected trade mark).
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 14% [?]
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"The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead. "
Aristotle
Echockotee 200 S40?
For almost twenty years, Echockotee Lodge 200 has worked with North Florida Council for an event for children with special needs, to provide them with a day and a night of camping and other outdoor activities. Since 2006, a patch has been created for the members of the lodge staffing the event. Previous blog entries about the patches can be found here, and here, and here.
In 2009, funding that had been planned for the event dried up, requiring the lodge to raise funds. Making money means making patches. The lodge authorized a flap to be created for fund raising, and 250 were made of the design in full color (200-S-40). A second version was also created, another 250 were made of a matching white monochrome (200-S-41).
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 14% [?]
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"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
Abraham Lincoln
Timuquan 340 2009 Fall Conclave
Timuquan 340 recently held their Fall Conclave, and also introduced the second piece of their 2009-2010 activity patch series, a depiction of a Seminole village. Big Thanks to Ken Knaebel for providing the image.
Popularity: 10% [?]
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"It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it."
Aristotle
2010 FourCorps Patch
Section S-4 (peninsular Florida and southern Georgia) will be conducting an ArrowCorps-style service project for 2010, called FourCorps. Scheduled for June 13-19, the projects are set for the Ocala National Forest (between Ocala and DeLand), to rehabilitate illegally created roads, removing non-native vegetation, erosion control projects, and build bird nesting boxes.
To raise funds for the event, the Section has created three patches. The RED border is sold for $5, the GLD border (130 made) is being sold for $25. Only 50 were made with a WHT border, and is being sold for $100.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 12% [?]
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"Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind."
Wolcott Gibbs
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Recent OAImages News
December 5th, 2009
A Fun Few Days
I'm sure most of you noticed the problems this site has been having over the past few days. It went offline several times. It was a frustrating experience. To add to my woes, I somehow managed to pick up some "bad stuff" on my computer at home. The last time I had this much trouble with my site, server, and home PC I was also let go from my job. Luckily that did NOT happen!
"Techie Talk" follows...
Read the Full Post
October 4th, 2009
Blocked Emails
I have been made aware this evening of a couple of issues with email.
Hotmail is currently blocking email from some RoadRunner servers at this time. RoadRunner is my ISP and my outgoing mail, except for messages automatically generated by my server come from there. RoadRunner currently has published this notice:
Read the Full Post
September 30th, 2009
More NOAC Images
To those who are wondering where the rest of the NOAC patches are... A large group will be uploaded to the site later today or this evening. I'm working on large groups from the 200s and 300s ranges of lodge numbers right now. Stay tuned.
Read the Full Post
September 21st, 2009
Temporary Email Outage: Resolved
Last Friday RoadRunner started blocking email from my server because of spam without my knowledge. I had been filtering all my incoming mail at OAImages through my RoadRunner so as to filter out most of the several hundred spam messages that I get every day. RoadRunner apparently did not like that. I had no idea the server was being blocked until I saw over 800 notices that email was rejected on my server's queue last night.
This is now resolved and I am now receiving mail again, but it is coming directly (unfiltered) to me from my server, spam and all. I am currently working to block the spam.
If anyone sent me email between Friday morning (9/18) and this morning (9/21), please don't assume I received it. I probably did not see it. Please send again.
Thank you.
Read the Full Post
August 7th, 2009
OA Blue Book Going "Web 2.0"
One of the big items of discussion at the recent pre-NOAC TOR was the fate of Blue Book. For those who don't know, the various legal issues in which this became entangled are now resolved. The new editor in chief of the Blue Book is Roy More. His desire is to maintain this resource in electronic and online forms. It has become impractical to publish this in book form as was done for the first six editions.
The goal is to create an "ever green" resource, with active input by collectors. It will be going "Web 2.0" in many respects. OAImages, will remain an integral part in this. This does not mean uncontrolled anarchy though, with lodge listings being changed at will by anyone who chooses. Roy writes:
...OA Blue Book will not become a Wikipedia. This is a standards (sic) project which means there must be structure, discipline and stability. That said, Blue Book will become much more open for all...
There are still many issues that need to be worked out. Roy More has started a blog at oabluebook.com to discuss some of the various issues that need to be resolved. There are only a few posts there now, but he plans to update this frequently. Please check this out and comment on the posts there.
Read the Full Post
April 1st, 2009
New Policies on Patches Announced
This post covers an important change in policy that will soon become effective regarding patches issued for all Order of the Arrow lodges chartered by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Please read the whole post carefully.
At a recent meeting at the National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America, it was announced that a new policy will be put in place by both the Boy Scouts of America and the NationalOrder of the Arrow Committee regarding lodge patch issues. Further announcements and clarifications will be made at this Summer's National Order of the Arrow Conference and at section conclaves throughout the year. This policy will be effective September 1, 2009.
All lodge flaps, and patches issued as multiple piece sets (most commonly two-piece sets) must be ordered through BSA Supply Division, or an official BSA licensee. The national OA and the BSA has decreed that all items must be produced in a minimum quantity of 1000 (one thousand) pieces. In the case where a lodge wishes to make minor changes in design or colors, 1000 of each must be produced.
Should the lodge feel they do not need that many pieces to suit their needs, the BSA Supply Division will purchase all remainders from the manufacturer and retain them. They will be available to the lodges should more be needed. At the BSA's discretion, they will also be made available for sale in all BSA run Scout shops.
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Tipisa 326 Recent Chapter Issues
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