Camp Fire Girls
Gender, Race, and American Girlhood, 1910–1980
By Jennifer Helgren | Publisher: Nebraska
About the book
As the twentieth century dawned, progressive educators established a national organization for adolescent girls to combat what they believed to be a crisis of girls’ education. A corollary to the Boy Scouts of America, founded just a few years earlier, the Camp Fire Girls became America’s first and, for two decades, most popular girls’ organization. Based on Protestant middle-class ideals—a regulatory model that reinforced hygiene, habit formation, hard work, and the idea that women related to the nation through service—the Camp Fire Girls invented new concepts of American girlhood by inviting disabled girls, Black girls, immigrants, and Native Americans to join. Though this often meant a false sense of cultural universality, in the girls’ own hands membership was often profoundly empowering and provided marginalized girls spaces to explore the meaning of their own cultures in relation to changes taking place in twentieth-century America.
Through the lens of the Camp Fire Girls, Jennifer Helgren traces the changing meanings of girls’ citizenship in the cultural context of the twentieth century. Drawing on girls’ scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and oral history interviews, in addition to adult voices in organization publications and speeches, The Camp Fire Girls explores critical intersections of gender, race, class, nation, and disability.
Editions of Camp Fire Girls
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9780803286863
- EBook
- ISBN 9781496233660
- EBook
- ISBN 9781496233677
Read an Excerpt
As the twentieth century dawned, progressive educators established a national organization for adolescent girls to combat what they believed to be a crisis of girls’ education. A corollary to the Boy Scouts of America, founded just a few years earlier, the Camp Fire Girls became America’s first and, for two decades, most popular girls’ organization. Based on Protestant middle-class ideals—a regulatory model that reinforced hygiene, habit formation, hard work, and the idea that women related to the nation through service—the Camp Fire Girls invented new concepts of American girlhood by inviting disabled girls, Black girls, immigrants, and Native Americans to join. Though this often meant a false sense of cultural universality, in the girls’ own hands membership was often profoundly empowering and provided marginalized girls spaces to explore the meaning of their own cultures in relation to changes taking place in twentieth-century America.
Through the lens of the Camp Fire Girls, Jennifer Helgren traces the changing meanings of girls’ citizenship in the cultural context of the twentieth century. Drawing on girls’ scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and oral history interviews, in addition to adult voices in organization publications and speeches, The Camp Fire Girls explores critical intersections of gender, race, class, nation, and disability.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Camp Fire Girls about?
As the twentieth century dawned, progressive educators established a national organization for adolescent girls to combat what they believed to be a crisis of girls’ education. A corollary to the Boy Scouts of America, founded just a few years earlier, the Camp Fire Girls became America’s first and, for two decades, most popular girls’ organization. Based on Protestant middle-class ideals—a regulatory model that reinforced hygiene, habit formation, hard work, and the idea that women related to the nation through service—the Camp Fire Girls invented new concepts of American girlhood by inviting disabled girls, Black girls, immigrants, and Native Americans to join. Though this often meant a false sense of cultural universality, in the girls’ own hands membership was often profoundly empowering and provided marginalized girls spaces to explore the meaning of their own cultures in relation to changes taking place in twentieth-century America.
Through the lens of the Camp Fire Girls, Jennifer Helgren traces the changing meanings of girls’ citizenship in the cultural context of the twentieth century. Drawing on girls’ scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and oral history interviews, in addition to adult voices in organization publications and speeches, The Camp Fire Girls explores critical intersections of gender, race, class, nation, and disability.
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Camp Fire Girls?
Society and Social Sciences > Society and culture: general > Social groups, communities and identities > Age groups and generations > Age groups: children
Where can I read a sample of Camp Fire Girls?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9780803286863
Is Camp Fire Girls part of a series, and can it be read as a standalone?
Yes it is a part of series Expanding Frontiers: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Camp Fire Girls?
Jennifer Helgren
Who is the Publisher of the book Camp Fire Girls?
Nebraska
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Camp Fire Girls is available as hardcover(ISBN 9780803286863) and ebook(ISBN 9781496233660) and ebook(ISBN 9781496233677)
Where can I buy Camp Fire Girls online or support local independent bookshops?
You can buy Camp Fire Girls from below
Where can I buy Camp Fire Girls?