Episode 11: Everything About Summer Camp
History of Summer Camp in the US:
- Industrial Revolution ended early mid 1800s. Quality and way of life changing.
- Victorian convictions about nature’s moral and physical benefits,
- as well as newer concerns about degeneracy and falling birth rates.
The earliest camps were
- small, private camps for older boys,
- developed in response to growing concerns about the emasculating tendencies of what was called overcivilization.
- located in the woods of northern New England, far from the temptations of city life and the refinements of the “feminized” home.
Types of early camps:
- In some camps, campers did all the cooking and cleaning, and ate off tin plates,
- while at others, a professional cook served meals on china.
Boom in 1890’s-YMCA camps! Urban poor and middle class boys.
YMCA estimated 5000 boys served 1901. By 1916 served 23,300.
Early YMCA camps tended to mimic military encampments – some of that tradition can be seen in the Parent Trap movie
- sleeping tents pitched around a square parade ground where
- campers enacted reveille,
- morning inspection,
- calisthenics, and
- taps.
Proliferation:
- Early 20th century:
- Camps for girls,
- religious camps,
- political camps,
- and in other countries health camps.
By 21st century there’s a camp for everything!
- Music,
- disabilities,
- foreign language,
- computer programming,
- STEAM/STEM.
- Diabetes
Whether serving boys or girls, camps offered a range of activities:
- campcraft (i.e., skills needed to survive in the wild),
- nature study,
- manual training (later called arts and crafts),
- calisthenics,
- swimming, and a range of the other SPORTS (although early camp organizers frowned on BASEBALL and BASKETBALL as too “urban” for camp-tennis too). P
FAQs.org Summer Camp
http://regpointsolutions.com/10-oldest-camps-in-america/
Image: Orby by the Beach
How to Pick the “Best Fit” Summer Camp.
Benefits of Camp…a few among many
-
growth in social skills
-
at risk middle school kids get huge benefit from occupation based summer camps active engagement carries through back into their high risk environments
-
physical and mental challenges
-
confidence
-
self sufficiency
-
belonging and culture created by the camp
-
set up to learn new things
Camp Cookin’!
My favorite recipes from the Camp Fire Inc. Cook Book: Camp Fire Celebrates Food and Friendship
