#97 The History of Cataloging Order of the Arrow Patches with Bill Mulrenin

Scouting Hot Finds Boy Scout Memorabilia

Order of the Arrow cataloging going back 50 years is the topic of this month’s Scouting Hot Finds Insiders Round Table. Bill Mulrenin served as the New York State Editor on the Blue Book project for the last 3 editions. So in the discussion we take it all the way back to Bill Price books of the 1970s to describe how far this has come. The next big leap forward that we cover is the 1979 publication of the Arapaho book which really helped the hobby. The key feature here was adding high quality images to help with the identification. We didn’t mention it (sounds like a topic for another Round Table) but there is also tons of great historical data in the Arapaho uncovered from National BSA records. Finally we single out multiple ways that the Blue Book published in 1996 really improved OA cataloging. Over the six editions of the Blue Book things such as chronological listing, decimal numbering, as well as including neckerchiefs, chapter issues and event issues were big improvements. If you are a Boy Scout patch collector I think you will find this video to be very educational as Bill has a wealth of history in the hobby to share.