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Researching Lodge Namesby Bruce C. ShelleyOne feature of The Blue Book was anattempt to list by number and name allhistoric Order of the Arrow lodges. Thecompilation of this list proved to be difficultand not without controversy. Anumber of names were newly discoveredor had been seen rarely before. Otherswere accepted more or less in the past. Thelist that appeared in The Blue Book wasthe best that could be produced by the timeof publication.The purpose of this discussion is todescribe the research that went into assemblingthe list and the standards ofauthenticity that were applied to the evidencefor names. A number of individualcases are discussed in detail.I agreed to take the post of lodge listingeditor for The Blue Book at the requestof John Pleasants. When the task was firstdescribed for me at the Pre-NOAC TORin 1994, it involved building a list of alllodges for which patches exist. For eachlodge basic information concerning charterdates, totem, council affiliation,location, and changes (names and mergers)was to be included.I began with a list of lodges to be includedin The Blue Book that had beendistributed to the editors. More informationwas obtained from the many local,regional, and national OA references thatare available to collectors. To help narrowthe possibilities for dating name changesand mergers that are not precisely known,I began acquiring lists of lodges from nationalpublications.As I neared thecompletion of thebasic listing to thebest of my abilityand information,several of the seniorBlue Bookeditors requestedthat I expand thelistings to include every lodge that everexisted, including all names. The goal wasto provide as much information as possiblewithin reasonable space and researchtime constraints.Journal of The American Scouting Historical SocietyI discovered quickly that it would bedifficult, if not impossible, to ever buildan accurate list of all lodge names for severalreasons. First, some information isdifficult to find and may be lost forever.There are no men left today who can recallthe early history of many lodges,especially those who’s history goes backvery far or those that were always verysmall. Second, the information that isavailable is often contradictory. It can bedifficult to tell when different spellings onnational lodge lists are typographical errors,new spellings, or new names. Third,the evidence that is available has varyingdegrees of authenticity, ranging fromlodge charters, membership cards, lodgepublications, insignia, and national lists tohearsay, recollections, and opinion.The highest weight of authenticity wasgiven to official documents, beginningwith lodge charters, lodge membershipcards, and lodge documents. Lodge insigniawere given a high weight also. The nextlevel of importance was placed on officialregional and national publications that listlodge names. These include minutes ofNational Meetings, OA Bulletins, minutesfrom regional meetings, and lists of lodgesprepared by National. The next level wasnewspaper accounts of meetings or events.The least weight was given to recollectionsand other hearsay evidence that couldnot be documented in some manner.Where the evidence that exists remainedcontradictory or unclear, other editors andI made a judgment.“The evidence that is available has varying degreesof authenticity, ranging from official documentsand insignia to hearsay, recollections, and opinion”Because official documents are difficultto obtain in many cases, I reliedheavily on the second level of evidence—lists of lodges prepared by National or itsequivalent. I had available only about tensuch lists, unfortunately, ranging from1936 to 1991. The most important of thesedated to 1955 or before. In a separate tableI have included the names listed from thepre-1955 lists for a sample of lodges.These samples illustrate some of the problemsencountered. Across the top of thecolumns in the table are a series of dates.Each date refers to one list of lodge namesin existence at that date. (The table doesnot include a column for the 1952 list. Iobtained this much later and the list ismissing several pages. It also does not includelists from OA Bulletins from 1943and 1944 that I acquired after The BlueBook was published.) The correspondingreferences are the following.1936: An appendix to the minutes ofthe National Meeting of the Orderof the Arrow in 1936 that listedall lodges present as reported bythe Attendance, Credentials, andRegistration Committees.1938: A roster of active lodges as of9/1/38 included with the minutesof the National Meeting of theOrder of the Arrow.1940: An appendix to the minutes ofthe National Meeting of the Orderof the Arrow in 1940 that lists allOA lodges (even those droppedor merged).5/48: A list of OA lodges by Areafrom the Bulletin of the OA forMay 1948.9/48: A list of OA lodges by Areafrom the Bulletin of the OA forSeptember 1948.6/49: A list of OAlodges by Areafrom the Bulletinof the OA forJune 1949.1951: The list oflodges includedin the Wabaningo Lodge EmblemHandbook, which was based on aNational lodge list from 1951(now lost).19