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Commercial Ledger (10" x 12"). Quarter black leather and pebbled cloth over boards. With tabbed index and page number stamped white linen copying paper sheets. Contains approximately 150 letters (ALS and TLS), and about 25 cablegrams, neatly tipped onto the rectos of 193 numbered sheets, several with the mailing envelope retained. The leather spine back is perished, else very good or better with a few letters neatly detached (laid-in) and some intermittent short tearing to the thin paper sheets. A comprehensive collection of letters documenting Scout Goddard Light s ill-fated trip to the 1929 World Scout Jamboree at Birkenhead, England. The sixteen-year-old Light, a member of Troop No. 8 of Detroit, contracted diphtheria on the way to Europe and on landing at Liverpool was rushed to a hospital where he was dangerously ill for nearly two months. His life was at one time despaired of, as noted by Boy Scouts of America Chief Scout James West in a letter written to Light s mother after his recovery: "… I need not tell you the heartaches I had and my deep concern for you during the many days of our keen anxiety because, as you doubtless realized, he was near death s door for a long period of time." As he recuperated in a Liverpool hospital, Light was visited by many of the leading dignitaries of the Jamboree, including Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder and first Chief Scout of the world-wide Scout Movement, and co-founder, with his sister Agnes, of the world-wide Girl Guide/Girl Scout Movement. As noted in a letter from 14 October 1929, Baden-Powell invited Light, when "you are well on the way to complete recovery," to visit at Pax Hill, Baden Powell s home outside London. Light spent three days at Pax Hill before returning home to Detroit in September. The collection includes four letters from Robert Baden-Powell, together with one letter each from his wife and son (Olave and Peter), and several letters from other leading figures of the Scouting movement in England and America, including Chief Scout James E. West, Lorne W. Barclay (American Jamboree Executive), and English surgeon Frederick R. Lucas. The collection includes several letters that offer support, inquire after Light s recuperation, and update him on goings-on at the Jamboree. Most date from April August, during the lead-up to the Jamboree and throughout the event when Goddard Light was in hospital, including a few follow-up letters from 1930. The collection also includes letters written to Goddard s parents. His father was a prominent executive for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company at the company s Detroit office. An illuminating collection of letters that provides a firsthand account of the early culture of the Scouting movement, both at its upper echelon in England and America, and among Goddard s fellow scouts. A short list of the Robert Baden-Powell (& family) letters is available.
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