Woodcraft League of America, originally called the Woodcraft Indians and League of Woodcraft Indians, is a youth program, established by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1901. Despite the name, the program was created for non-Indian children. At first the group was for boys only, but later it would also include girls. Seton instructed the children in his town in Connecticut in woodcraft – knowledge and skills of life in the woods – and based much of the group's terminology and structure on the misconceptions about Native Americans that were common in that era. The program spread internationally to become the Woodcraft Movement and many of these programs still exist. Seton's Woodcraft scheme also had a strong influence on later youth programs and organizations, particularly, the Scout Movement. The Red Lodge or Medicine Lodge also existed for a time, it was for men over the age of 21 interested in a more spiritual approach to Woodcraft.

There were many local Woodcraft groups in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Camps following the Woodcraft Program in the United States and Canada were also founded by friends and students of Seton.

The Woodcraft League influenced the formation of Lone Scouts inspired in 1912 by John Hargrave.

In the United Kingdom, the Woodcraft League influenced the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry formed in 1916, the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift formed in 1920 and Woodcraft Folk formed in 1925 and Camp Fire Girls (UK).

When Seton passed away in 1946, Ellsworth Jaeger, an author and curator of the Buffalo Museum of Science, and a founding member of The Woodcraft League of America, wrote a letter to Seton's wife suggesting how to keep the Woodcraft League going. Seton's family was not interested in doing so and the League dissolved. Seventy-five years later, in 2021, Ellsworth Jaeger's great-great-nephew Bob Yeager of western Pennsylvania started a new Woodcraft League of America. Programs include Little Sprouts (4–6 years of age), Forest Explorers (7–9 years of age), Junior Woodsmen (10–11 years of age), Young Entrepreneurs (11–18 Years of Age), Apprentice Campers (12+ years of age), Journeyman Campers (14+ years of age), Journeyman Woodsmen (16+ years of age), and Master Woodsman (18+ years of age).

See also

  • Woodcraft (youth movement)
  • The Woodcraft Folk
  • Cultural appropriation
  • Kibbo Kift
  • Plastic shaman
  • Playing Indian
  • Scoutcraft
  • Youth rights
  • Youth participation
  • History of youth work
  • List of youth organizations

References

  • The new Woodcraft League of America (May 2021)
  • The BSA's 'forgotten' founding father (October 1998)
  • The Woodcraft League in Czechoslovakia (split in 1992)
  • Liga lesní moudrosti – The Woodcraft League in Czech Republic
  • Liga lesnej múdrosti – The Woodcraft League of Slovakia
  • Woodcraft Rangers
  • History of the Woodcraft Movement
  • Agrupacion de Escultismo Woodcraft de Chile (Woodcraft Chile)
  • Liga Woodcraft Interamericana
  • Seton Legacy Project, Academy for the Love of Learning