Burnham King of Scouts

[Kahuna 172]

Just finished this book about Major Frederick Burnham, DSO, which I was unaware of until a Scouting friend loaned it to me. His copy is signed by the author, Burnham's grandson and Michael Baden-Powell. It's a fairly recent book, still in print.

 

Interesting enough reading even if it had no relation to Boy Scouts, but according to the author, B-P learned scouting from Burnham, who was an American from the Southwest. Burnham spent a lot of time in Africa, looking for gold and fighting in wars.

 

The book does remark on some of B-P's less admirable attributes, such as his showmanship in lieu of real leadership in the army. Also alludes to the fact that Burnham and some others assumed he was having a relationship with "the Boy" McClaren and only married when it was socially necessary for Scouting.

 

B-P gave credit to Burnham on several occasions for his contributions to the Scouting movement and eventually the BSA did, too. BTW, this author is not a big fan of James E. West and the professional cadre of the BSA.

 

Just wondered if anyone else has read it or has any opinions about the sources of the author, Peter van Wyk. I also borrowed a copy of Burnham's autobiography written about 70 years ago. Haven't started that one yet.

[Miki101 14]

This is a rather poor book for the mere fact that author Peter Craigmoe (Van Wyk is the pen name) makes assumptions based upon heresay and doesn't cite any sources outside of stating that he gained access to Burnham's Yale Papers.

 

When the book came out, I contacted Craigmoe for his lack of sourcing info that he based his book upon. He was a rather unpersonable fellow who declined to provide any sourcing outside of me paying him a "research fee" and he would "try" to locate his sources.

 

Furthermore, I have the entire Yale file aas well, and the cornerstone to Craigmoe's thesis is a statement that BP wrote about wanting to "suck" Burnham's brains...which, as it turns out,is a rather big stretch of the blanket based upon the ENTIRE quote. I can and will provide the entire quotation if required to next week, so that light can be shed upon Craigmoe's incredulous accusation. BP and Burnham were friends and Burnham never publicly or in those letters (more are found in the Stanford archives) declared that he was NOT the founder of the Scouting movement. I feel that BP learned a great deal from him but Burnham refused to take any credit whatsoever.

 

Craigmoe sets out to assassinate the character of BP, a man therefore faulted, but he won't provide any of his sourcing. That's shoddy writing and reseraching, which should put this book into the fiction category of a rather large rubbish heap.

 

David C. Scott

[Miki101 14]

OOPS ...typo in my previous post...with the "NOT" in that sentence.

 

Burnham never publicy declared that he was the founder of Scouting...but to be sure, he taught many things to BP but BP made it happen.

[Kahuna 172]

Burnham never publicy declared that he was the founder of Scouting...but to be sure, he taught many things to BP but BP made it happen.

Hmm, I didn't get the impression that Craigmoe was making the claim that either he or B-P said he was the founder. Obviously, Burnham got some recognition from the BSA, but then he obviously made some contributions to that organization more directly.

The lack of footnoting or photo credits (or even photo identification) bothered me somewhat about the book. It's unusual when writing something that biographical.

Interesting that Frederick Burnham III and Michael Baden-Powell signed the book. I wonder if either one of them read it.

[Miki101 14]

Burnham III signs the book?...seems normal. Michael BP?...that one surprises me.

 

 

[Kahuna 172]

Yeah, me too, now that I've read it. He really signed it, because my friend knows Michael and was present when he signed. When I next talk to my friend, I'll ask if he knows whether Michael read the book. They were all at some Scouting gathering in Illinois in 2007.

 

I've now started reading Scouting on Two Continents, by Burnham. The book begins with an excerpt from a B-P letter expressing gratitude for all Burnham taught him about the art of scouting. Seems to be an interesting story so far. It'll be interesting to see how much it parallels Van Wyk. I'm guessing the basic facts are the same, but some of the things Van Wyk talks about won't be in there.