Liberty

Little Sisters of Liberty
Strengthen the Arm of Liberty

In 1949, in preparation for the fortieth anniversary, the B.S.A. launched a two-year campaign titled Strengthen the Arm of Liberty.   Many pieces of memorabilia remain to testify to the extent of this effort.  There were neckerchief slides, neckerchiefs, patches, philatelic items, and so forth.  To help publicize the theme, the Kansas City Boy Scout office made available eight foot tall copper replicas of the Statue of Liberty.  Local Troops or Councils could purchase them for about $350 and use them to solicit donations.  Communities would design and build a base on which to install one of the statues in an appropriate site.  More than 200 of these "Little Sisters of Liberty" were erected in some 39 states and territories.  Boy Scout Troop 101 of Cheyenne, Wyoming, had a web page listing all known locations where the replica statues were placed.

Over the next half century, many of these deteriorated badly, and several have disappeared all together:  others have been restored.  Postcard publishers in several communities have included their images on commercial postcards.  The author has found fewer than ten percent of the statues represented on postcards.  They are included here because they were not produced by or for the B.S.A.  There are probably more waiting to be discovered:

 

Wanted: Postcards of Statue of Liberty Replicas from other cities.  .