Editing Camp Fire (organization) (section)

==History==
[[File:Picture of Luther Gulick.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Luther Gulick from [[The World's Work]], 1909]]

In 1910, young girls in [[Thetford, Vermont]] watched their brothers, friends, and schoolmates—all [[Boy Scout]]s—practice their parts in the community's 150th anniversary, which would be celebrated the following summer. The pageant's organizer, William Chauncey Langdon, promised the girls that they too would have an organized role in the pageant, although no organization similar to the Boy Scouts existed for girls at the time.
Langdon consulted with Mrs. Charles Farnsworth [Charlotte Joy (Allen) Farnsworth, known as "Madama" <ref>{{Cite book |last=Farnsworth |first=Charlotte Joy (Allen) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDfPAAAAMAAJ |title=The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi |date=1921 |publisher=University of Michigan |location=Ann Arbor, MI |page=220 |access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>], preceptress of [[Horace Mann School]] near Thetford, Vermont. Both approached Luther Halsey Gulick M.D.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moscow District Camp Fire Girls&nbsp;– Historical Background |url=http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Manuscripts/mg064.htm |access-date=January 29, 2009 |publisher=University of Idaho}}</ref> about creating a national organization for girls. Gulick introduced the idea to friends, among them [[G. Stanley Hall]], [[Ernest Thompson Seton]], and [[James E. West (Scouting)|James West]], executive secretary of the Boy Scouts.<ref name="CN">{{Cite book |last=Paris |first=Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RG2_CL0jF40C |title=Children's Nature |publisher=NYU Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8147-6707-8 |pages=49–51 |access-date=January 30, 2009}}</ref> After many discussions and help from Gulick and his wife Charlotte, Langdon named the group of Thetford girls the Camp Fire Girls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scout Like Organizations |url=http://www.troop97.net/scout_like.htm |access-date=January 29, 2009 |publisher=troop 97}}</ref>

In 1907, the Gulicks had established Camp WoHeLo, a camp for girls, on Lake Sebago, near South [[Casco, Maine]]. There were seventeen girls at the camp in the summer of 1910.<ref name=story /> Both the Vermont group and the Maine group would lead to the creation of the organization formally called Camp Fire Girls in 1912.

On March 22, 1911, Dr. Gulick organized a meeting "to consider ways and means of doing for the girls what the Boy Scout movement is designed to do for the boys." On April 10, 1911 James E. West issued a press release from the [[Boy Scouts of America]] headquarters announcing that with the success of the Boy Scout movement, a group of preeminent New York men and women were organizing a group to provide outdoor activities for girls, similar to those in the Boy Scouts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-09-22 |title=From The Lean-To: The Camp Fire Girls |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1894326/lean-camp-fire-girls |access-date=2021-05-07 |website=Outside Online |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Mrs. Charlotte Gulick of Campfire Girls making fire LCCN2014699098.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mrs. Charlotte Gulick with Campfire Girls in  1915]]
In 1911, the Camp Fire Girls planned to merge with the [[Defunct Scout and Scout-like organizations in the United States#Girl Scouts of America|Girl Scouts of America]], formed by Clara A. Lisetor-Lane of [[Des Moines, Iowa]], and [[Girl Guides of America]] (of [[Spokane, Washington]]) to form the Girl Pioneers of America, but relationships fractured and the merger failed.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSImP64srkwC |title=Now Come the Girl Scouts to Emulate the Boy Scouts |date=July 1911 |work=Boys' Life |publisher=George S. Barton & Co. |editor-last=Lane |editor-first=Joseph J. |volume=1 |page=30 |issn=0006-8608 |access-date=August 7, 2012 |issue=5}}</ref><ref name="Miller2007">{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Susan A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGDUjAIxtpMC |title=Growing Girls: The Natural Origins of Girls' Organizations in America |publisher=Rutgers |year=2007 |isbn=9780813541563}}</ref> [[Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson|Grace Seton]] quit the group over the rejection of her committee's draft of a handbook, followed by Linda Beard in September 1911 over differences with the Gulicks.<ref name=Miller2007 /> However, there was an organization meeting held by Lina Beard on February 7, 1912 in Flushing, New York of a Girl Pioneers of America organization.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 8, 1212 |title="Girl Pioneers," New Club |work=New York Times |url=http://www.alicemariebeard.com/campfire/pioneers2.jpg |access-date=November 17, 2016 |via=alicemariebeard.com}}</ref>

Camp Fire Girls of America was incorporated in Washington, D.C., as a national agency on March 17, 1912.<ref>Officials of both the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Fire Girls were: [[Ernest Kent Coulter]], [[Robert Garrett]], Luther Halsey Gulick, George E. Johnson, [[Joseph Lee (recreation advocate)|Joseph Lee]], [[Ben Lindsey (jurist)|Benjamin Barr Lindsey]], [[Edgar M. Robinson|Edgar Munroe Robinson]], [[Mortimer L. Schiff|Mortimer Loeb Schiff]], [[Ernest Thompson Seton]], Lucien T. Warner, and [[James E. West (Scouting)|James Edward West]]. See the lists in [http://www.gutenberg.org/zipcat2.php/29558/29558.txt ''Handbook for Boys''] (BSA, 1911) and [http://www.alicemariebeard.com/campfire/book/02.htm Camp Fire Girls Handbook].</ref>

In late 1912, [[Juliette Gordon Low]] proposed that the Camp Fire Girls merge with her group, Girl Guides of America, but was rejected in January 1913 as the Camp Fire Girls were then the larger group.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chirhart |first1=Ann Short |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqU2PsmlYpMC&pg=PA381 |title=Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times |last2=Wood |first2=Betty |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780820339009 |page=381 |access-date=January 11, 2014}}</ref> By December 1913, Camp Fire Girls' membership was an estimated 60,000, many of whom began attending affiliated summer camps.<ref name="CN" /> The Bluebird program was introduced that year for younger girls, offering an exploration of ideas and creative play built around family and community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McFarland |first=John Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasun00wincgoog |title=Giving a worldwide view of the History and Progress of the Sunday School and the Development of Religious Education... |publisher=T. Nelson & Sons |year=1915 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasun00wincgoog/page/n160 194] |access-date=January 30, 2009}}</ref> In 1989, the Bluebirds became Starflight.

[[File:Illustrated Flushing and vicinity - College Point, Broadway-Flushing, Malba-on-the-Sound, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck in the third wa (1917) (14595963980).jpg|thumb|[[Flushing, New York]], 1917]]

The first official Camp Fire Girls handbook was published in 1913.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bookcampfiregir01girlgoog |title=The Book of Camp Fire Girls |publisher=George H. Doran Company |year=1913 |access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> During World War I, Camp Fire Girls helped to sell over one million dollars in [[Liberty Bonds]] and over $900,000 in [[Thrift Stamps]]; 55,000 girls helped to support French and Belgian orphans, and an estimated 68,000 girls earned honors by conserving food.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newinternationa01colbgoog |title=The New International Year Book |publisher=Dodd, Mead and Company |year=1920 |access-date=January 30, 2009}}</ref>

The first local Camp Fire Girls council was formed in 1918 in [[Kansas City, Missouri]]. Kansas City would later become the national headquarters for Camp Fire in 1977.

[[File:Campfire Girls board game.jpg|thumb|Double Game Board Camp Fire Girls and Checkers. Parker Brothers Inc.]]

In 1926, [[Parker Brothers]] produced a Camp Fire Girls board game. There were no turns in the game; everyone played at the same time. The game ended when someone entered the "Log Cabin Council Fire", which could only occur on an exact count. The winner of the game was the person who had collected the most "Honor Beads" on the way around the board (not necessarily the person who ended the game).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camp Fire Girls Game (1926) |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66252/camp-fire-girls-game |access-date=17 April 2020 |website=Board Game Geek}}</ref>

[[File:Camp Fire Girls stamp.png|Camp Fire Stamp|thumb|left|100px]]
[[File:Smokey with scouts.png|[[Smokey Bear]] with members of the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Fire Girls celebrating the 50th anniversary of their founding.|thumb]]

Camp Fire Girls celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1960 with the "She Cares ... Do You?" program. During the project, Camp Fire Girls planted more than two million trees, built 13,000 birdhouses, and completed several other conservation-oriented tasks. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Camp Fire Girls, in connection with their Golden Jubilee Convention celebration, a stamp designed by [[H. Edward Oliver]] was issued featuring the Camp Fire Girls insignia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camp Fire Girls Issue |url=http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2035647 |access-date=January 29, 2009 |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum}}</ref> A new program, Junior Hi, where twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls explored new interests as a group and as individuals, was created in 1962. This program name changed later to Discovery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camp Fire Girls, Salt Creek Council |url=http://www.ulib.niu.edu/reghist/RC%20274.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628063354/http://www.ulib.niu.edu/reghist/RC%20274.pdf |archive-date=June 28, 2010 |access-date=January 29, 2009 |publisher=Northern Illinois University Library |df=mdy-all}}</ref> That same year, the [[WoHeLo]] medallion became Camp Fire's highest achievement and honor.

In 1969, Camp Fire Girls were allowed to be "Participants" in [[Boy Scouts of America|BSA]]'s [[Exploring (Learning for Life)|Explorer]] Posts (for boys 14 and older). This arrangement ended in 1971, when the BSA made Explorers a co-ed program. By 1974, Camp Fire's membership was at 274,000 in 1,300 communities of the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wrenn |first1=Charles Gilbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXS8wltOfvkC |title=Time on Their Hands |last2=Harley |first2=Dudley Lee |publisher=Ayer Publishing |year=1974 |isbn=978-0-405-05993-3 |page=114 |access-date=January 30, 2009}}</ref> Camp Fire Girls expanded its horizons in 1975, welcoming boys to participate in all Camp Fire activities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camp Fire Boys and Girls |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-CampFire.html |access-date=June 11, 2016 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> While boys were invited to Camp Fire Girls Horizon Conferences in the late 1960s and early 1970s, official membership was not offered to them until 1975, when the organization became co-ed. Camp Fire decided that boys and girls should be together in one organization, so that they learn to play and work alongside each other and appreciate their similarities and differences in positive ways.<ref name="IRB">{{Cite web |title=Information Resource Book |url=http://compass.campfireusa.org/_FileLibrary/Library/F797/InformationResourceBook_March06.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725132908/http://compass.campfireusa.org/_FileLibrary/Library/F797/InformationResourceBook_March06.doc |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |access-date=January 29, 2009 |publisher=Camp Fire USA |page=21 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Camp Fire===
In 1975, the Camp Fire Girls of America changed its membership policy to being co-ed and its name to Camp Fire Boys and Girls.<ref name="campfireema.org" /> In 1977, Camp Fire's head office moved to its current location in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] from New York.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 17, 1977 |title=Camp Fire Girls Move |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/17/archives/camp-fire-girls-move.html |access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> Teens in Action was introduced in 1988 as a one-time social issue campaign to energize the older teen program.

The first ''Absolutely Incredible Kid Day'', a call to action for all adults to communicate their love and commitment to children through letters, took place in 1997. In 2003, to further its commitment to inclusiveness, Camp Fire USA began translating its curricula to Spanish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} Camp Fire Georgia |url=http://www.campfirega.org/about-us/history/ |access-date=2021-05-07 |language=en-US |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507174955/http://www.campfirega.org/about-us/history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a way to excite and educate children in Pre-K, the ''Little Stars'' program, first developed by Camp Fire Green Country, was introduced nationally in 2005. Designated for ages 3–5, ''Little Stars'' aims to builds confidence and a sense of belonging in children.

In 2012, Camp Fire underwent a re-branding, changing the traditional flame logo changed to a more contemporary "Spark Mark."