The museum is located at Camp Wisdom, the oldest existing Scout camp in Texas, which features 368 acres of wooded land only 11 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. Displays make the history of Scouting in North Texas and the nation come to life.

Exhibits and research materials explain the history of the camp's benefactor, John Shelby Wisdom and the formation of Circle Ten Council. Housed in a climate controlled "Texas Ranch Rustic" building are numerous displays of historic cameras, knives, metal figures. walches, equipment, patches. uniforms, and an orange crate canoe.

In addition to campsites, the facilities include a dining hall and swimming pool making it an ideal location for unit outings. Cub World and a COPE course for team building activities are also located on Ihe property.

The Harbin Scout Museum at Camp Wisdom is designed to inspire visitors with the ideals of the scouting program through a"First Class" exhibition of scouting memorabilia, interactive exhibits and education programs.

The museum will focus on the history of Circle Ten Council, our council camps, the story of John Shelby "Daddy" Wisdom, Camp Wisdom, the uniforms and equipment and how these elements of scouting relate to the scouts of north Texas. We're located in the headquarters building at Camp Wisdom in southwest Dallas Texas.

We're housed in an architect-designed building in the "Texas Ranch Rustic" architecture style, featuring exposed wood timbers, wood paneling and Spanish tile-like floors.

We have a 1500 square foot exhibition and storage area with professional display cases and track lighting. The museum provides an Owl Cove reading area and reference section for additional research. Our building is climate controlled with a security system.

Here's a wonderful place to experience our scouting history. See the patch your father and grandfather earned. We have old style packs and canteens of every shape and size. You won't believe how many different styles of scout knives and and axes we have in the collection. You may show your age if you can recognize the morse code kits and the semaphore flags.

We're especially proud of our scout camera collection, metal scout bluckles, flashlights and First Aid kits. We have an excellent collection of scout statues, from the serious to the whimsical, from Garfield to Camp Snoopy.

You might even see a canoe made from wooden fruit crates hanging from our ceiling!

The museum will combine both permanent and temporary exhibits. We recently had the second in the series of scout-related illustrators with an exhibit on Ben Hunt, known to generations of scouts with his monthly column in Boy's Life magazine as Whittlin' Jim.

We also had an exhibit of the Neal Nichols Totem Pole collection, which the estate of Neal Nichols donated to the camp and is house in the Cub World Activity Center.

Camp Wisdom was established in 1923 making it the oldest existing scout camp in Texas. We have materials related to the camp's beginnings as well as the first scout troop in Texas in 1910.

In April of 2004 saw the dedication of the Texas Historic Marker honoring John Shelby Wisdom who donated his entire life estate to create Camp Wisdom. At the dedication ceremony were members of the Wisdom family, a representative of the Dallas County Historic Commission and Susan Hardin, the Museum Director of the National Scout Museum in Irving.

Major exhibits at the museum include the story of John Shelby "Daddy" Wisdom, the story of Camp Wisdom, the Mikanakawa Lodge of the Order of the Arrow (which began in Circle Ten Council with a callout ceremony at Camp wisdom in 1937), our three summer camps and other council activities, scout uniforms, scout literature, Cub Scouting, Philmont and Wood Badge.

WE are actively seeking donations to further help tell the story of scouting here in north Texas. It's like the person advertising for an upcoming event by saying, "Tickets are going fast, but 90 percent of the best seats are still available." I feel we have a good ten percent on display. We're counting on future donations to increase the size and scope of our displays.

The msueum is open most Saturdays from 8 until 1pm, and at other times scheduled through the Camp Ranger. We've been open as late as midnight and as early as 7am.

We are also looking for volunteers to work as docents, people who help explain the items in the museum, archivists, catalogers, people with graphic skills, oral historians, and historical reenactors.

A Cub Scout's den was at Cub World one morning, and the mother came to visit the museum after dropping her son off. Looking around she exclaimed, "This place tells me that Circle Ten Council cares about youth."

Jack Harbin Scout Museum website