Juliette Gordon Low starts Guiding in the United States
Low adapted the British Guide model for American girls. Her troops, first called Girl Guides, became Girl Scouts in 1913.
On 12 March 1912 Juliette Gordon Low registered eighteen girls in Savannah, Georgia, as the first troop of Girl Guides in the United States.[1][2] She had met Robert Baden-Powell in 1911 and had already set up Girl Guide groups in Scotland and London before returning home.[3]
Guides or Girl Scouts?
In 1913 the American organisation changed its name to the Girl Scouts.[2] It was taking up the name “Girl ScoutsWhat girls in early British patrols called themselves in 1908–09, before the Guide scheme. The American organisation, founded as Girl Guides in 1912, took the name Girl Scouts in 1913; several national organisations use it today.” that British girls had given themselves in 1908–09. Today the world association carries both names: the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Many beginnings
WAGGGS records early groups in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and South Africa before formal organisations were established.[1] In Canada, the first company was registered in St Catharines, Ontario, in January 1910.[4] Claims about which country was “first” should be checked with each national organisation, and this site will not treat British dates as the template into which other countries’ histories must fit.
People and objects
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31 October 1860 – 17 January 1927
Juliette Gordon Low
Founder of Girl Scouting in the United States in 1912, who adapted the British model for American girls and paid for much of its early growth.
Sources
- World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, “Our history”, WAGGGS. Accessed 25 September 2026.
- Georgia Historical Society, “Early Girl Scouting (Juliette Gordon Low resource)”. Accessed 25 September 2026.
- National Women's History Museum, “Juliette Gordon Low (biography)”. Accessed 25 September 2026.
- Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada, “History of Guiding (fact sheet 14.3.1.3)”, Girl Guides of Canada. Accessed 25 September 2026. Another national organisation's own history; useful for early dates, not an independent evaluation.