| Need It, Please! | Have It, Thanks! |
| Buttes Area | Iroquois | Rockland County | Cayuga County |
My Council Shoulder Strip (CSP) collection started before I left for the 1973 National Scout Jamboree. I could say that I was one of the first CSP collectors. I started out after writing a letter to National, asking just how many Councils there were and how to collect each and every one of the CSPs that existed at that time. I eventually collected all of the ones from Kentucky (my home state), and then after attending the Jamboree, came back with a handful of CSPs to start my collection out with.
The CSPs just kept on coming through trades and swaps and I finally got two black binders from my father and a lot of those BSA CSP holders....my two binders are now almost to the busting point, because I've finally managed to collect all 433 of the local Councils that existed up until 1992. It was in 1993, that the BSA started forcing smaller local Councils to merge and lots of Councils merged or consolidated operations to keep from being cut. I continued to collect CSPs based on the BSA's listing of Councils that I was mailed a copy of in 1979, and checking them off of a master map of the BSA's local Councils that I've received since then.
Many of these CSPs were given to me as "payment" for speeches or presentations at their Councils, so they have a special meaning for me as I collect them and keep them in my binders. Some of them have matching coffeemugs, which I've also recieved as "payment" for speeches and such and likewise, I've held on to them because of the special reason that I've received them.
In addition to owning a completed set or close to it, I also own sets of Direct Service, Green Zone Council and National Office CSPs....including a National Office Visitor CSP that's pretty rare and several other CSPs which are rare for one reason or another. I plan on holding onto these pieces of cloth and hopefully pass them onward to one of my children as they get older. There are some CSPs that I will continue to keep, like the National Office ones and the first ones from Kentucky's five local Councils as well as some "non-existant" CSPs like the Dixieland and Cardinal Councils.
Please help me to finish this up so that I can move onward with starting to collect the NEW set of CSPs representing the BSA's local Councils as they exist presently. I have started with the new collection -- the ones prior to 2002. I'm looking forward to the new challenge...thanks for any leads you can give me!
"What ELSE do I collect or want to find?"
I am also in need of the following items to add to my own personal collection. If you have any of these items, please post me and let me know so we can extract a trade or purchase -- and thank you for helping me to find these:
If you have any of these items, let me know please! Thanks for any leads you may have. As you can see, the list is getting smaller and smaller over the years!!
Settummanque!!
