In honor of BSA's 100th Anniversary, today's generation of Scouts will have the opportunity to experience some of the activities of the Scouts who came before them. Thanks to the new Historical Merit Badge Program, there are four discontinued merit badges you can earn this year that will count as elective badges for advancement:
Signaling: First offered in 1910 and discontinued in 1992. Sample requirements include building a simple buzzer or blinker capable of sending Morse code messages, and send a message of at least 35 words; send and receive messages using semaphore flags at a rate of at least 30 letters per minute.
Tracking: First offered in 1911 (as the Stalker merit badge) and discontinued in 1952. Sample requirements are to recognize the tracks of 10 different animals, give evidence to show you have tracked at least two different kinds of birds or animals documenting their speed and direction.
Pathfinding: First offered in 1911 and discontinued in 1952. Sample requirements are to be able to guide people to important places within a three mile radius of your home; submit a scale map of your community.
Carpentry: First offered in 1911 and discontinued in 1952. Sample requirements include demonstrating the use of tools, such as a miter and bevel; build a simple piece of furniture for use at home.
There is a catch. You must start and finish all requirements for these merit badges within the year 2010. That means the bookshelf you built last summer won't count. After December 31, 2010 these badges go back on the retired list.
As soon as the requirements become available, we'll post the link on the Troop's web site. If you are an adult with skills in these areas, please contact the Advancement Coordinator to become a merit badge counselor.
Sounds like a unique opportunity to earn some badges very few Scouts will have on their sash.
Here are the requirements for the badges: