vp04.04.13

Local woman helps establish Girl Scout museum
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staff Writer
An Avon woman donated
$25,000 toward a museum for the
Connecticut Girl Scouts, but it
wasn’t about the money.
“It was my baby. I spent a lot
of time down there [in North
Haven],” said Cheryl McGuff.
ough McGuff has been a
Girl Scout since she was a girl herself,
it wasn’t until adulthood that
she really began to love the organization,
she said.
“When I was a girl, Girl Scouting,
I was good, [but] it wasn’t really
my main thing. I kind of grew
into Girl Scouts,” McGuff said. “It
was a very familiar place for me. …
It was just a place for me to go
when my kids were little. I could
just go out and be with adults.”
Her relationship with the organization
grew and, in 1993,
McGuff became a part of its historical
committee, where she met
other former Girl Scouts, including
a group of women who had been
on the committee since 1988.
“ey’ve always had this
dream of having a museum, but
they just never had the money,”
McGuff said. “I said, ‘It’s time to do
it.’”
So, with her $25,000 and
$5,000 each from Phyllis Palm and
Peg Standley, the museum was
made a reality.
Located in North Haven, it is
the location of much Girl Scout
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4 The Valley Press April 4, 2013
Pictured are old Girl Scout uniforms that were on display as part of a Girl Scout project at the Unionville Museum
last year. Similar memorabilia is now on display at the recently opened Girl Scouts of Connecticut Museum that
Avon resident Cheryl McGuff helped put together and to which she donated $25,000. File photo
memorabilia including old uniforms,
Girl Scout books and pictures
of troops, explained Tiffany
Ventura, Girls Scouts of Connecticut
communications and public
relations manager.
“It’s a lot of eclectic things in
the collection that just encompass
the history of Girl Scouts in the
state,” Ventura said.
McGuff put together many of
the displays. She found old pieces
and scrapbooks in the basement of
the Girl Scout Service Center in
North Haven, “neat historical
items that hit a cord,” she said.
She wanted these special
items to be accessible to more
people, so she gathered them up
and arranged them in the space.
“I’d sit in the basement and I’d
read those scrapbooks,” she said.
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“It was pretty simple for me. I
mean there was a lot of work, but it
was a simple thing to get all this
stuff out for people to see.”
One of her favorite things is
old uniforms and the fabrics they
are made of, especially those made
after World War II, she said. She
also has a particular attachment to
a Cadette uniform from 1965,
which she wore as a Scout in 1974.
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“at uniform for me was really
cool,” McGuff said. “When I
saw it again, it just hit a real chord
for me. I love looking at uniforms
and the pins.”
One display at the museum is
of Alice Pattison Merritt, a Girl
Scout in the 1900s who in 1925 became
the first female state senator
in Connecticut.
“She was a very accomplished
woman in her time,” said McGuff.
Approximately 70 people attended
the ribbon-cutting ceremony
that officially opened the
Girl Scouts of Connecticut Museum
to the public Sunday, March
10, which was Girl Scout Sunday
and the beginning of Girl Scout
Week.
e museum is open to the
public and programs will be held
there for Girl Scouts to earn
badges and learn about the history
of Scouting in the state, Ventura
said.
“It’s a wonderful little spac. I’d
encourage anybody to come
down,” Ventura said.
e museum is located at the
North Haven Service Center on 20
Washington Ave.
Girl Scouts of Connecticut is
Connecticut’s recognized girl-empowerment
organization dedicated
to lifelong success through
values-based leadership development
and personal growth. For
further information, visit
www.gsofct.org or call 1-800-922-
2770.
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