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Transcription: [00:04:10]

{SPEAKER name="Geri Provost-Lions"}
So she's, you know, a privileged woman.
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She lives in England, she lives in Scotland, she goes back and forth across the ocean quite a bit,
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she and her husband end up divorcing.
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Now the scandalous part of this is: he was actually involved with someone else,
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and he died before the divorce was final, and
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the woman who was his mistress received everything.
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Everything.
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So, against her friends' and family's better judgement, she actually said,
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that's not okay,
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and she received a settlement of $500,000 at that time, about 1905.
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So, she fought, you know, a little bit hard and long for that.
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She doesn't start-- start the Girl Scouts or become even interested or involved in it until about 1911.
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1910 she meets Sir Robert Baden-Powell, they're both travelling from England to the US on a ship,
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and they make acquaintance with each other.
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They're very very-- she's very interested in, you know,
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what he's doing with young boys, that's so great, you know, you've started this organization,
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all of these young boys are joining, they're becoming useful,
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they're-- they're being outside, they're outside.
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She, as a child, really liked to do all of those kinds of things: be outside, make art, do things-- you know, do different things.
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And we have to think about, too,
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she starts this organization at a time when women don't have the right to vote,
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yet she's trying to promote, you know, the usefulness of young girls,
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they're not just pretty, simple things, they are important human beings and they can contribute.
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So she's interested in Girl Guides, she starts a troop over in Scotland, at one of her homes,
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for young girls who were not as fortunate as she, herself,
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and then she comes back to the US in about 1912
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and she
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really decides that this is something she needs to bring to America.
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There was a point in time when they were going to--
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I don't know if anybody is familiar with Campfire Girls--
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she kind of petitioned to see if she could get those two groups together
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and when the administration of those two groups wasn't really jiving very well together, it kind of--
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the plans dropped.
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So in 1912, March 12, 1912,
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is when she begins the Girl Guides, which in 1915 becomes the Girl Scouts.
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Now when she's doing this, she's not this pretty young girl, she is a 51 year old woman,
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looking for something greater to do than just take art classes and be a social-- you know, a socialite.
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She really really wants to help people.
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So that's how she becomes and does that.
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Um,
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let's see, I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to say or if you have questions for me.
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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-07-28 09:25:48 [00:05:00] Believe this states "Sir Robert Baden-Powell" not just "Robert Baden-Powell" or "a Robert Baden-Powell