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Curator‘s Notes
Topics of interest to Seton explored by the author of this site
Identity Is Destiny: Charles A. Eastman and Ernest Thompson Seton
Portrait of Charles Eastman, Wikipedia The turning years from the 19th into the 20th century brought new challenges to the relationship between American Indians—white Americans. The entirely traditional pre-European life of indigenous people was over. The shooting...
Actual True History of the Boy Scouts of America Part III Edgar M. Robinson and Seton
Eagle Award, Boy Scouts of America, ca. 1967 Experimental Camp According to Boy Scouts of America administrator Edgar M. Robinson, planning for the first “official” camp had started nearly a year prior to the 1910 creation of the Scouts. The foresighted YMCA official...
Actual True History of the Boy Scouts of America Part II Edgar M. Robinson
Life Badge, Boy Scouts of America, 1965 Present at the Creation I have written about the creation of American Scouting from Seton’s point of view in my book about him. Here I want to examine a different perspective, that of Edgar M. Robinson, the actual organizer. I...
Actual True History of the Boy Scouts of America Part I Overview
Star badge, Boy Scouts of America, 1964 Short Misleading History of the Boy Scouts Here is the well known if incorrect short history of the Boy Scouts of America: The British general Robert Baden-Powell invented paramilitary Scouting out of whole cloth in 1908 with...
Seton Wisdom in time of War
"In days like these one can accept or assume no higher or better mission than that of peace messenger, a personal messenger of peace and understanding among the nations.” Ernest Thompson Seton, 1936, A Peace Mission to Europe Almost eighty-six years ago, understanding...
Anya Seton Biography
The novelist Anya Seton has received well deserved attention in a new biography by Lucinda H. MacKethan. My first encounter with a Seton came at a very young age. My mother’s extensive collection of novels included several by Anya. The daughter of two writers – Ernest...
Wild Animals I Have Known from Gibbs Smith
Wild Animals I Have Known, published by Gibbs Smith, 2020, copyrighted cover art by Seth Lucas How many copies of Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton are in print? Hundreds of thousands at least if not more in many editions. Seton’s best seller was...
Two Deaths, Seton, Barela
Patrociño Barela photo by Robert Beadles. Seton photo by unknown photographer. During my career, I have written biographies of two artists: Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946) and Patrociño Barela (ca. 1900-1964). They likely never met (or at least no supporting record...
Ernest Thompson Seton Birthday 160
This day marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Ernest Thompson Seton. I also meant it to become the opening of our ENDANGERED exhibition. Selections of artwork from that show can be found in the Gallery section of this website. At the opening receptions for our...
Project Gutenberg and Seton
One advantage to being a long dead author is that your books enter the public domain and can come back to life in printed or digital form. Project Gutenberg has made digital copies of seventeen Seton books available in a variety of digital formats. The three most...