The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

McKenzie, R. Tait, 1867-1938, sculptor.

The Boy Scout, (sculpture).

Ideal Boy Scout, (sculpture).

Original cast 1937. Dedicated 1982.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: stone.

Sculpture: approx. 6 ft. x 22 in. x 2 ft.; Base: approx. 2 ft. x 2 ft. 3 in. x 3 ft.

(Incised on base:) IN APPRECIATION FOR/VOLUNTEERS AND PROFESSIONALS/WHO HAVE BECKONED YOUNG/LIVES TO LOFTIER HEIGHTS./PRESENTED BY:/GENERAL AND MRS. T. W. SCOTT JR. (Incised on plaque beside sculpture:) LOCATED BENEATH THIS MARKER/IS A VAULT CONTAINING TOKENS/FROM THE PAST PLACED HERE SO/THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS CAN/BETTER UNDERSTAND OUR WAY/OF LIFE IN SCOUTING./SEALED/SEPTEMBER 27, 1987/TO BE OPENED/SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 signed

Standing figure of a Boy Scout in uniform, including scarf, shorts, knee socks and hiking boots. He holds his hat to his chest with his proper right hand. His proper left hand is on a hatchet which hangs from a tool belt on his hip. The statue stands on a square base.

Figure male -- Child -- Full length

Dress -- Uniform -- Scout Uniform

Occupation -- Service -- Scouting

Object -- Tool -- Axe

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Greensburg

Boy Scouts of America, Westmoreland Fayette Council, 2 Garden Center Road, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Gift of General and Mrs. T. W. Scott Jr. This work has been duplicated for more than thirty Boy Scout Council facilities across the country. The Boy Scout statue was originally created as a statuette in 1914 at the suggestion of Dr. Charles D. Hart, then president of the Philadelphia Council. Dr. McKenzie, also a Council member, presented the statuette and its copyright to the Philadelphia Council Executive Board on March 10, 1915. An updated, life-sized version was created in 1937 for the opening of the Philadelphia Council's new headquarters building (IAS record 88320102). A total of five Boy Scouts posed for the statue between 1914 and 1937, and the final work is a composite of its models. IAS files contain excerpt from Scout Memorabilia, n.d., which details history of Tait's Scout statues, and related unpublished essay by Turner Moon.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1995.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Control Number:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

Powered by SirsiDynix

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact

SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System