Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts

by Stacy A. Cordery

Born at the start of the Civil War, Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low struggled to reconcile being a good Southern belle with being true to her adventurous spirit. Accidentally deafened, she married a dashing British patrician and moved to England, where she quickly became dissatisfied with the aimlessness of privileged life. Her search for greater purpose ended when she met Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, and was inspired to recreate his program for girls.             The Girl Scouts of the USA—which can now count more than fifty-nine million American girls and women among its past members—aims to instill useful skills and moral values in its young members, with an emphasis on fun. In this lively and accessible biography of its intrepid founder, Stacy A. Cordery paints a dynamic portrait of an intriguing woman and a true pioneer whose work touched the lives of millions of girls and women around the world.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Womens, Biography Memoir, Historical, Memoir

382 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Historian Stacy A. Cordery is the author of five books, including the bestselling biography Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker and the authoritative biography of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low. The recipient of several teaching awards, she is a professor in the History Department at Iowa State University in Ames, where she teaches courses on First Ladies, the Gilded Age, and modern America. She held an endowed chair in Roosevelt Studies and worked with the Theodore Roosevelt Center in North Dakota, is president-elect of SHGAPE (the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age & Progressive Era), and on the board of FLARE (the First Ladies Association for Research and Education). A popular public speaker, Cordery’s public appearances include NPR’s Weekend Edition, the History Channel, CNN, Smithsonian TV, the Diane Rehm Show, and C-SPAN. For more information, please see www.stacycordery.com.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my fondest childhood memories was the time I spent in the Brownies and Girl Scouts in elementary school. We met once a week after school in the music room, worked to complete merit badges, went on one large field trip each year, and, of course, sold cookies in the spring. One year I even attended a week long Girl Scout overnight camp. By the time middle school rolled around our troop leader moved and we could not find a replacement. I don’t know about the rest of the girls, but it would have done me well to continue toward high school as it really was the only activity I enjoyed participating in. Perhaps it was for the best as middle school, than high school, brought hours of homework, and I doubt that I could have given my full commitment to the Girl Scouts. During March women’s history month one of the books I read mentioned in passing that a Girl Scout troop in Oklahoma was the first to sell cookies in 1917, which led me to thinking, how did the Girl Scouts get their start. My research led me to a biography of the group’s founder by Stacy Cordery. I had previously read her biography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth and enjoyed her writing style, so I chose as my July biography selection, Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts.

Juliette Gordon Low was born on October 31, 1860 in Savannah, Georgia to Nellie Kinzie and Willie Washington Gordon II. Nellie was a Chicagoan, her family being one of the founders of the city prior to the fire and then one of the leaders in rebuilding it. Nellie was introduced to Willie Gordon by a mutual friend when both were studying in the northeast, as was common during the era: young men at college and young women at finishing school. Although Willie hailed from a prominent southern family and Nellie from a northern one with political connections, the couple was allowed to wed. They made their home in Savannah as tension between northern and southern states escalated. First, the couple lived with Willie’s mother Sarah Gordon, a dominating matriarch. Eventually, after the war between the states, they would build their own prominent home. Willie quickly established himself in business, leaving Nellie to start a family far from home. Following the birth of Eleanor in 1857, Nellie gave birth to a second daughter named Juliette Kinzie Gordon, named after her mother, in 1860. The precocious girl would be known to her family and friends as Daisy.

Daisy Gordon’s life was far from easy despite coming from a well to do Savannah family. The war between the states crippled travel north, distressing her mother who longed to visit with her family in Chicago for extended periods of time. With Willie being a commissioned officer in the Confederate Army, Nellie was forced to raise her oldest three daughters on her own, causing stress. Although precocious and named for her mother, Daisy was soon known as Crazy Daisy for the myriad schemes she foisted upon the home. Contracting multiple ear infections, she was also partially deaf in one ear, a disability that would last for her entire life. During one year in finishing school, Daisy’s teenaged sister Alice died suddenly from an illness. With older sister Eleanor enjoying her year in Europe, it was up to Daisy to comfort her mother and take care of her younger three siblings. It was then that a wealthy neighbor named Willy Low entered her life. With her parents grieving, Daisy fell in love, and eventually would wed Willy Low, and the marriage would be nothing short of disaster.

Stacy Cordery enjoys embellishing scandals; she did with Alice Roosevelt Longworth as well. Daisy Gordon’s marriage to Englishman Willy Low was filled with scandalous behavior, all of his doing. The son of scion Andrew Low, Willy belonged to the English wealthy set, who had nothing but idle time to fill their days. Willy never had to work for a living and learn how to be a responsible adult. The Gordon family prided themselves on hard work and community service. Although Daisy quickly developed an extended circle of friends in England and was later joined by a sister Mabel who married an Englishman, the marriage was doomed from the start. Willy quickly became repulsed with Daisy’s hearing impairment and later realized that she was unable to have children. He took on a string of mistresses and was discovered. English divorce law during the early 1900s was tricky and frowned upon, yet Daisy Gordon was willing to divorce her husband, made all the more remarkable as this was before England granted women suffrage. Willy Low died before the divorce could be finalized, leaving Daisy out of his will and in need of employment or service that would allow her to be independent.

Daisy found her calling in the form of Robert Baden- Powell’s Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. Originally developed for boys, and then girls, to show their service to the English empire, the organizations grew into service organizations for both genders. Testing their abilities in crafts, sports, and, for girls, nursing and homemaking, the Girl Guides grew to be the most popular organization for girls of all economic backgrounds in England, Wales, and Scotland, many groups started and run by Daisy. Following her closing and renting her English properties, Daisy returned to Savannah in 1911 to start the first groups of Girl Guides in the United States. According to Daisy, the first official Girl Guide was her niece Daisy “Doots” Gordon, but the first Savannah meeting of the Guides was a success. The girls enjoyed arts and crafts, archery, nursing, basketball, and wearing a uniform to show that they belonged. With the coming of World War I and Daisy dodging submarines as she crossed the Atlantic multiple times, membership in Girl Guides in both England and the United States ballooned. Daisy had found her calling and the group turned out to be a success.

The last hundred pages focuses on the early days of Girl Scouting and how the group modernized after World War I. Besides the usual battle for leadership within the organization, Daisy Low surrounded herself with capable women who would lead the Girl Scouts during the interwar years. Badges replaced pins, and the uniform color changed from blue to khaki. Cookie sales emerged as early as 1917 in Oklahoma as a chance for girls to test their acumen in the kitchen but quickly grew to become the organization’s largest fundraiser. Membership swelled all over the United States and Daisy battled the isolationist sentiments of the day to unite Girl Scouts and Guides from around the world, holding international leadership camps every other year. Donors gave land for regional camps around the United States, and Girl Scout leadership camps emerged in the 1920s, with the largest camps emerging in upstate New York. Daisy battled deafness and other health issues but left the leadership of the organization in capable hands as membership swelled past 100,000, not counting the Brownie troops comprised of girls ages six through ten. At the time of Daisy’s passing in 1927, almost every American Girl wanted to be a Girl Scout.

During her lifetime, Daisy Gordon Low was awarded a thank you badge and the Silver Fish, to this day only one of three American women to receive the award. She initiated that the American First Lady would be the honorary president of the Girl Scouts, just as the President holds the honorary title for the Boy Scouts. Some First Ladies like Grace Coolidge and Lou Henry Hoover took the job seriously. Today, high school girls work toward completing tasks to earn their Golden Eaglet, a sister award to Boy Scout’s Eagle Scout rank. Girl Scouting allows girls to find a sense of worth. There are badges for a myriad of tasks as we move forward in the 21st century but all point to a girl’s community service. A who’s who of celebrity women have participated in all levels of scouting from Girl Scouts to Brownies to a special level for kindergarten girls aptly named Daisies. Daisy Gordon Low had the foresight to bring Girl Guides across the Atlantic and then the can-do attitude to establish The Girl Scouts of America as she refused to allow being deaf or childless to define who she was. For this, generations of Girl Scouts are grateful to this remarkable woman.

4 stars

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to disabuse myself and others of the notion that Juliette Gordon Low's deafness was solely caused by having wedding rice thrown in her ears! Being deaf myself, I am grateful that the author of this admirable biography discusses Daisy's (as JGL was known) hearing impairment in reasonable medical terms and also thoughtfully imagines how her deaf identity affected her life. The story is an inspiring one. A woman of privilege, who made a disastrous marriage, found purpose in creating an organization to teach young girls domestic as well as career-focused skills while encouraging them to have fun. This biography is a woman's book in the sense that it has the intimacy of one woman writing sympathetically about another woman, while still remaining a scholarly biography. I salute Stacy A. Cordery for this informative and highly-readable book!

"Her acting experience also abetted her ability to function in hearing society. From her earliest amateur theater experience, she was attuned to other people and used to watching for their responses."

"That made Daisy Low happiest--camping with the girls and sharing their sense of wonder."

[Amy Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a Girl Scout for 10 years. I joined after the death of my grandmother and became inconsolable. I fleeted between 2 worlds and didn't seem to fit in the one of the living nor the one in the here-after. Out of desperation to wake me from my sadness, my mother signed me up as a brownie in 1987. The challenge of body and mind; the deep, enduring friendships; and the soul moving experiences with nature not only woke me, but gave me a desire to live again. I became who I am today because of the sacrifice of my mother and the experiences we shared. My girl scout sisters helped me survive the awkward teenage years. We spent muggy summer nights together braiding hair and discussing the hardships of family life and sizzling summer days singing ridiculous songs, crafting day old masterpieces, and hiking the path to discover and appreciate who we really were. We have silly inside jokes and secrets we'll take to the grave that one could only experience at Trefoil Ranch. Girl Scouts also brought me to my husband. Our families were scouters and we flirted silently as our paths crossed time and again, before our first date ever became. Our values aligned through the hard work we experienced and the joy we found in our adventures gave us the commonalities to start a family.
My rating is a personal one, Joseph told me he read the reviews and critics found this book to be rather dry. As I read about Juliette Low's hardships in hearing and her married life, she clung to her girlfriends and persevered to bring this program not only to her city, but to the world. I enjoyed getting to know the woman who so defined my life and the great ambition she had. I could see how not having an attachment, one would find the details a bit dull, but to one who is so intertwined, those details became adventures and puzzle pieces to not only her life, but my own.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one night! It's a great story of how Juliette Low, her life in ruins after being betrayed by her ne'er-do-well husband, found purpose in her work with The Girl Guides in Scotland and then England, and went on to found Girl Scouts in the USA.

A couple of things that really struck me was that Juliette realized early on (probably because of her International work) that girls must be allowed to substitute their own words for God in the Promise, something that has allowed Girl Scouting to be adaptable to the demands of the 21st century, and something that BSA has not learned even yet.

Cordery also reiterates how many people found "Scouting" for girls to be "unwomanly," and how the early US Boy Scouts (or rather James West, their big chief) hated the idea that girls could be "scouts," (although BP himself was reconciled to that.)

As a Bostonian, I was also interested by Juliette's conflict with Helen Storrow, big cheese in Mass GS and donator of Our Chalet in Switzerland, whose criticisms of Juliette's instinctive "big picture" leadership was one factor in driving Juliette out of the Presidency of GS and into the "Founder" role, and her international work.

Juliette believed that GS must be fun, and that the girls would instinctively know what was the right path for the program. Let's try to remember that in this second century of Girl Scouting!

[Connie Schuelka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really helps me understand why Girl Scouting was so important to my Mom. Back in the 1930's and 1940's she really wanted to be a Girl Scout but there was no troop in her hometown. When I became Scouting age, she made sure I could be a Girl Scout. She was not only a troop leader, she became president of the local Council. She took our whole troop to Washington, D.C. She integrated girls from the Iowa Braille and Sight Seeing School into our troop. She enabled several of us to travel to Mexico City for a stay at Our Cabana there.

[Melanie Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every person has a story-- usually many! Juliette Gordon Low was not alone in this, but her remarkable perseverance and determination served her marvelously in the face of loneliness, illness, and disappointment. Her travels and wide group of eclectic friends alone make this book a remarkable read. I loved every moment of this meticulously-researched and candid biography of the founder of Girl Scouts. Low was in some respects a flawed, complicated woman of her time, but she marched to the beat of her own drummer as an innovator, friend, and scout who left no stone unturned in pursuit of both fun and excellence. Cordery demonstrates this on each page; it was a treat to return to this book at each day's end and to feel like, after my own years as one of the more than 50 million Girl Scouts, I admire Low even more after having "met" her in these pages.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

I read this one for research purposes. I wanted to see if there was anything about Low and/or the founding of the Girl Scouts that might inform the book I'm writing about moms who want to scout.

Well, Low's life is fascinating. She's fascinating. She managed to squeeze a lot of life into her 66 years.

While there are parts of the book that really spoke to me, sometimes it was more about the logistics of the Girls Scouts than about Low's life. I think that's because Low sometimes held her cards close to her vest as to how she really felt.

She was very much a product of her times, so expect some Confederate sympathizing and some resistance to integrating the Scouts. That said, her deafness did lead her to advocate for the disabled. I also liked how she was into aviation early, created her own wrought iron gates, and advocated for girls to camp and scout and essentially do all the things the boys were doing.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating biography of the founder of the Girl Guides/Girl Scouts in North America. The first half covers her early years and current events at the time, and the second half dives into her work with the Girl Scouts. What I find impressive is that JGL starts this new endeavour at mid-life and dedicates her life to it, despite the various illnesses and tragedies that accompany her accomplishments. A woman both of her time and ahead of her time.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many children growing up in the 1960’s I joined a scout troop as a Brownie and kept with scouting till I graduated from high school. I really enjoyed the Girl Scout summer camps (now long gone due to the economy) and working on badges. But it really never dawned on me that the Girl Scouting organization we now have was due to one very strong willed woman in the early 1900’s.

Juliette “Daisy” Gordon was born in 1860 as a Southern belle in Savannah Georgia. Her mother was from a very prominent Chicago family and her father was a wealthy tobacco distributor. But soon the Civil War interrupted her family life and her father went to fight with the South while her mother’s family fought for the North. The first half of this biography follows her life during the Civil War and afterward (her family didn’t seem to have suffered financially and their homes were spared). We watch “Daisy” grow up and move into a social and educational life that covered two continents and then to a marriage to an English aristocrat. The second half of the book is her life after she took the almost unheard of step of divorcing her philandering husband William “Willy” Mackay Low in 1905 and then fighting his mistress for her inheritance rights when he suddenly dies before the divorce can be finalized.

In the early 1900’s unmarried older women were expected to stay in the background of life but Juliette Low continued to be social and active in both America and England society including traveling the world. It was then she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a British army hero who founded the Boy Scouts in England. Watching how he made the organization both educational and fun (the premises was that boys would be taught skills used by army scouts) Juliette Low decided to do the same for girls. While “scouting” was too masculine the idea of Girl “Guides” was just right.

In 1912 Juliette Low returned to her family home in Savannah to start troops of Girl Guides in America. Soon after Juliette Low changed the name to Girl Scouts (not without fighting the Baden-Powells and others over the idea) and she worked to spread the organization first north and east, and then west. It was World War I and the organizational and work skills of well trained Girl Scouts that led to the great popularity of Girl Scouts amongst both girls and adults throughout the country. After the war Juliette Low then worked to bring Girl Scouts/Guides to the international world that included German and Japanese girls. But overall it was Juliette Low’s tremendous organizational skills, influence with people in high places, perseverance (she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer) and money that Girl Scouts grew to over 90,000 members before she passed away from cancer in 1927.

What was very unusual is that “Daisy” accomplished tremendous things while being partial to almost totally deaf most of her life. Hearing aids were unheard of and so she sometimes suffered the consequences from the inability to hear. But that did not stop her. The book shows a very headstrong woman (her nickname was “Crazy Daisy”) and she used her wealth and her connections in very high places to assist her in whatever project she set her sights on finishing.

What comes out of this book is the belief that Juliette Gordon Low was a remarkable woman of her day. As was stated by the author “[s]he counted true and dear lifelong friends on both sides of the Atlantic. She had earned the respect of vibrant, dedicated women who shared her vision for the uplift of girls in the Girl Scouts, and the affection of those who struggled with her to bring about global understanding in the International Council. Through sculpture, sketching, painting, and metalwork, she created items of lasting beauty. Her remarkable experiences included meeting royalty, hunting tigers, flying in airplanes, climbing the Pyramid, nursing soldiers, living on two continents, and traveling to Africa and India. She went up the Eiffel Tower when it was new. She drove through Europe when automobiles were in their infancy, and made one of the earliest films. She invented and patented a liner for garbage cans.” And this is a woman of the early 1900’s when it was expected that they stay at home to care for family and hearth.

Cordery is the author of Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker and two books on Theodore Roosevelt. She serves as the bibliographer of the national First Ladies’ Library and is a professor of history at Monmouth College (Illinois). This is a book for those who love historical biographies, women’s history and especially Girl Scouts.

[nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of the Girl Scouts of America's founder.
The facts I remember about Juliette Gordon Low from my days as Girl Scout are scattered. She became deaf when a piece of rice was lodged in her ear at her wedding. Her family affectionately referred to her as Daisy. She founded an organization that meant the world to me.

The book was a little bit drier than I expected, but I appreciated the thorough research that went into it. I liked watching the story of the woman I though I knew begin to flesh out -- her romanticized notion of men, her failed marriage, the strength it took to leave her husband, her travels, the way her childhood pleasures became her lifelong passion and the breast cancer that would eventually kill her.

I liked reading stories like this:

When a good friend's speech seemed to be falling flat, Daisy thought to inspire listeners to greater support by applauding during the pauses. The fact that she could hear nothing of what was being said did not stop her from clapping and shouting, "Hear, hear!" "It was only afterward," Daisy related, "that I found out her speech had been all about me and must have sounded like this: 'Mrs. Low is a very remarkable woman.' (Hear, Hear! from [me]) 'It is a marvelous piece of work to have founded the Girl Scouts of the United States.' Loud applause from me, while the audience remained in stony silence!"

There's a similar story about her goading a blind man into helping her cross a log bridge over a stream before realizing his disability. She's totally my people.

But there were parts that broke my heart to learn about, like the arguments over which group of girls would become sisters to the Boy Scouts and her opinions on suffrage and segregation.

I was drawn to this biography for selfish reasons, as I start a scouting related project of my own. Within the next few months, I'll begin working on the Eagle Scout requirements and writing about it at tomboyscout (tomboyscout.wordpress.com). Why Boy Scouts? Well, that's a question I needed to read this book to start answering and I think I found it in this paragraph:

World War I had temporarily resolved the dilemma at the heart of Girl Scouting -- the simultaneous promotion of traditional female domestic training and traditional masculine outdoor activities. But sound national leadership in the new decade located a middle ground between reactionary forces that would have Girl Scouting concentrate only on marriage and motherhood training, and their opposite, calling for full emancipation. Daisy Low, who personified many of the social contradictions of the time, believed Girl Scouting should be adaptable and was willing to always be guided by the girls. "The girls will decide whether the plan is good or not, and reject it if it isn't," she preached "You can trust them to know."

Those were the words I needed to read to know that I was headed in the right direction. You see, Daisy had a vision that Girl Scouts would have experiences allowing girls to hone domestic arts and outdoor activities. Because I was a Girl Scout, I had so many wonderful opportunities to serve and to learn. I chose to attend Douglass College, where I became part of a large community of strong woman. I chose to become a civil servant, to give back to my community and to speak before crowds as large as hundreds of people. The verb here is chose. That choice was a gift.

But I was a city girl growing up in the 90s. Our camping trips involved bunk beds. I cannot identify poison ivy. I was in my mid-20s when I took my first hike. Crafts -- oh, I've got crafts. Assisting at nursing homes -- SO GOOD at that. But there was a loss of that "masculine outdoor activities" component that I hope tomboyscout will fill. As I speak with other girls who scouted during the years I did, I get such a rush of positive energy related to the project that I just know would make Daisy whoop and cheer.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this biography of Juliette Gordon Low written by Stacy A. Cordery I choose to read this book to learn more about Juliette Gordon Low's life. I have fond memories of my own days as a Brownie and a Girl Scout. I knew only a little bit about Ms. Low's life from my Girl Scout days. I knew of her hearing disability and the incident of wedding rice getting into her ear which made her hearing worse. But what I didn't know is what a remarkable life she led. This book really brought to life her amazing accomplishments in which one of them was founding the American Girl Scouts.

I really have to tip my hat to the author. Writing about a historical person has to be a lot of work. I can't image all the work that went into reading Ms. Low's many letters and diaries. But I can tell it was a labor of love. She took the basic facts and added all the historical background to help you understand the world in which Ms. Low lived. Knowing this showed what an amazing woman Ms. Low was with her travels, art work, and founding the American Girl Scouts.

I was personally glad that I read this book on my Kindle. I found that I was using the dictionary feature many times. There were many interesting words, that are not widely in use, that the author used.

Since I was reading a preview copy, (Thanks @NetGalley) I wasn't sure if the actually paper copy will have photos of Juliette Gordon Low. I would image that they would and I think that would make a great addition to the book. I also hope they add a family tree. I did get a little confused a times, while reading the book, especially in Ms. Low's later years when she was surrounded by nieces.

[S.N. Arly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not my cup of tea.

As a new Girl Scout leader who did not grow up with scouting, I thought it would be good to learn a bit about where scouting came from. This is the third biography I've read about "Daisy" Juliette Gordon Low, and it's my least favorite. Some of the historical facts do not match up with the other two biographies.

While this book does contain some truly facinating information showing how the activities of the very first patrols impact us today (meeting snack time appears to stem from working with girls of little means who may have traveled a great distance for the meeting), it was also bloated with both unnecessary details (such as the genealogy of everyone Daisy ever met), irrelevant tangents (such as a paragraph explaining a misquoted poem in Daisy's diary and what in may have meant), and rampant assumptions of the inner workings of the minds of various individuals. The writing was not always as clear as I would have liked, resulting in the need to reread several convoluted paragraphs.

Girl Souting has an interesting origin story, and the founder of Girl Scouting in the US (who was also key in establishing an international organization) was an amazing woman. This book doesn't bring that to life.

Apologies for typos, this was done on my Kindle.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does a divorced, childless, sickly woman in her late 40s change the world? In the late 1800s, no less?

Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low was born into a prominent Savannah* family. All she was expected to do was marry well and have children. Welp, Daisy's marriage ended in a divorce/widowhood, and she could bear no children. And she was partially deaf. Now what?

This book brings you into Daisy's life and shows you exactly how a child nicknamed "Crazy Daisy" ended up enriching the lives of millions of girls, even today.

It was a very interesting biography which came into this 43 year old, infertile woman's life at the best time. ;)

*When I was a child, the peanut butter Girl Scout Cookies were named Savannahs.

[Kris Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Girl Scout, I am impressed with all the Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low accomplished in her life, despite her near-deafness and other ailments. At an age when many are yearning for retirement and while struggling with cancer, Low founded the Girl Scouts of America, which had well over 100,000 members by her death. The book is heavily sourced from personal letters and provides good insight into her character. From a reader's perspective, it has fascinating moments but often is a bit dry. Still, if you are interested in Scouting, it is an illuminating perspective on the trailblazing woman who defied the norms of her times to found an organization that taught girls practical outdoor skills and emphasized physical activity as well as domestic arts.

[Dayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book about an amazing woman! I wish I had known this when I was a Girl Scout leader...the older girls would love it!
A "quick" trip to India from Georgia at the turn of the 20th century..WOW!!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can hardly wait to read bound and in print!

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

Seemed kinda dry when I perused the first few pages. I'm not sure how well the author really connected with the subject.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts by Stacy A. Cordery (Goodreads Author) Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own group of Girl Guides there in 1911. In 1912 she returned to the States, and the same year established the first U.S. Girl Guide troop in Savannah, Georgia. In 1915, the United States' Girl Guides became known as the Girl Scouts, and Juliette Gordon Low was the first ever leader. She remained active until the time of her death. Her birthday, October 31, is celebrated each year by the Girl Scouts as "Founder's Day". After her husband's death, Gordon Low traveled, took sculpting classes, and did charity work while looking for a project on which focus her time and skills. In May 1911, she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell at a party, and was inspired by the Boy Scouts, a program that he had organized. With 40,000 members throughout Europe and the United States, at the time, it stressed the importance of both military preparedness and having fun, two values she appreciated. Juliette and Baden-Powell became close friends and spent a lot of time together over the next year. In August 1911, Gordon Low became involved with the Girl Guides, ant girl-serving offshoot of the Boy Scouts, headed by Agnes Baden-Powell, Sir Robert Baden Powell's sister. She formed a Girl Guides patrol near her home in Scotland, where she encouraged the members to become self-sufficient by learning how to spin wool and care for livestock. She also taught them knot tying, map reading, knitting, cooking, and first aid, while her friends in the military instructed them in drilling, signaling, and camping. She organized two new Girl Guides patrols in London when she visited for the winter of 1911. In 1912, Gordon Low and Baden-Powell took a trip to the United States to spread the scouting movement. She hoped to bring it to her hometown, Savannah, to help girls learn practical skills and build character. When she arrived, she called her cousin Nina Pape, a local educator, saying, "I have got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight." Soon after, in March 1912, Juliette formed the first two American Girl Guides patrols, registering 18 girls. The early growth of the movement in the United States was due to Gordon Low's extensive social connections and early work to recruit new members and leaders, among them her family and friends. She also advertised in newspapers and magazines. Baden-Powell put her in touch with people interested in Girl Guiding, including Louise Carnegie. After forming the first American troops, Juliette described herself as "deep in Girl Guides," and, by the next year, she had released the first American Girl Guides manual, entitled How Girls Can Help Their Country, based on Scouting for Boys by Robert Baden-Powell and How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire by Agnes Baden-Powell. Gordon Low established the first headquarters in a remodeled carriage house, behind the Savannah home she had inherited from her husband.[43] The headquarters contained meeting rooms for the local Girl Guide patrols, while the lot outside provided space for marching or signaling drills and sports, including basketball.[50] Edmund Strudwick Nash, who rented the main house from Gordon Low, offered to pay rent on the carriage house as his contribution to the organization, becoming one of the American Girl Guide's first benefactors. Nash's son, Ogden Nash, immortalized "Mrs Low's House" in one of his poems. Gordon Low traveled along the East Coast, spreading Girl Guiding to other communities, before returning to Savannah to speak with President Taft, who would be visiting her home. She hoped to convince him that his daughter, Helen, should become a patron for the Girl Guides, but was unsuccessful. Many competing organizations for girls that claimed to be the closest model to Boy Scouting were forming, and Gordon Low believed that gaining support from prominent people would help legitimize her organization as the official sister organization to the Boy Scouts. Her biggest competition was the Camp Fire Girls, which was formed in part by James E. West, the Chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America, and a strong proponent of strict gender roles. In March 1912, Gordon Low wrote to the Camp Fire Girls, inviting them to merge into the Girl Guides, but they declined even after Baden-Powell suggested that they reconsider. West considered many of the Girl Guides activities to be gender-inappropriate, and he was concerned that the public would question the masculinity of the Boy Scouts if the girls participated in similar activities. It is an inspirational book for readers of all ages.

[Peggie Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seldom would I rate a biography as a page turner but this one makes my list. It is well written, filled with personality and anecdotes as well as hard facts. The author blends a compelling woman with the history around her life into a wonderful story. As a Girl Scout member for decades I am ashamed to admit how little I knew of Daisy Gordon's life. The basic facts of her childhood in Savannah, Georgia, developing deafness in adulthood and some vague connection with living in England where she met Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts were familiar but I knew no details or background.

I purchased the book a couple of years ago for my Cadette Girl Scout grand-daughter. Recently I asked her to lend it to me but she surprised me with my own copy for Christmas. It immediately went to the top of my Next-Book-Up list. I will now seek out other books by this author as I find her both pleasant to read and also a thorough researcher who documents her information in clear and interesting notes at the end of the book. I fear at times wearing out the binding as I flip from text to those notes which are not only documentary but also often further anecdotes which would not fit into the flowing text. Thank You Stacy A. Cordery for a thoroughly enjoyable few days of reading.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is SO much information packed into this biography! And yet it is really incredibly readable. Part of that is just due to the interesting life that Daisy led, but a good part is also due to Cordery's writing and narrative structure. We get to follow Daisy chronologically through her life, but have moments of darting forward or back to get more context or more information, which helps keep related content all together and makes it easier to understand both what was happening at that moment and why it was important. It's clear that there were an abundance of first hand letters to draw upon as primary sources for this book, as the narration is so in the moment and filled with true emotions rather than guesses at what someone might have thought or felt. It's also clear about those times when that information wasn't available and so we can never really quite know what the reaction was. Regardless, it was fascinating to read about how much Daisy overcome, how passionate she was about the work she ended up doing to bring the Girl Scouts into sustainable existence, and how talented she was at using her support network to accomplish her vision.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a trip to Savannah, I visited the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and bought this book for my mother, a lifelong Girl Scout who was recently awarded her 50 year pin. I loved reading about the things that I saw on the tour of her birthplace and the significance they had in her life, including the iron gates that she forged herself. This book is a marvel. The author did a ton of research (the footnotes are over 75 pages long), making this a dense book but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Juliette, who was known as Daisy, led a fascinating life before she founded the Girl Scouts, which she didn't do until middle age. She was well educated, making lifelong friends while she was at school, and after a failed marriage to a member of the British aristocracy, she became a modern, independent woman who traveled the world. Her dedication to the Girl Scouts organization and her tireless advocacy for her creation was what made it a lasting success. Unfortunately, she was troubled by several physical ailments, such as her hearing loss, and she died at a relatively young age of cancer when she was in her 60's. I highly recommend this book.

[Bonniecco cco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exhaustive biography of Daisy (her family nickname, used throughout) which I slogged through for the first half. Daily was born to wealth, in a Confederate family, neither of which I was able to connect with. At chapter 11, about midway through, she meets Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts and from that seeming romance (he was 15-20 years younger) a series of steps takes her to the Girl Guides in England, then starting troops in the US. They were soon renamed the Girl Scouts. Daily's upbringing in the late 1800s was interesting but for me not worth 100 pages. Following that is great detail on her life as the wife of an extremely rich English man. The second half deals with Girl Scouts and is more interesting. Daisy had a great many women as friends and colleagues. I had trouble remembering who they were. My takeaway is that a person with a lot of enthusiasm and some wealth can accomplish a great deal, even if she was imperious some of the time, and poorly organized much of the time. The book is well written and thoroughly researched.

[Linsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit challenging to get into just because of the non-fiction biographical style it on written in. After getting over that, I found it to be a greatly interesting read. As a Girl Scout alumna, Girl Scout Lifetime member, and Gold Award Girl Scout, it was nice to learn more about the founder and the origins of this organization and of which I have been a member since I was 5 years old. Juliette Gordon Low, more affectionately known as Daisy, went through struggles such as her extreme hearing loss and failed marriage, and was able to power through them. She was a very strong, independent woman, and with much help, bounds of perseverance, and immense amounts of dedication, founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in Savannah, Georgia, what is now connected world wide with the World Assocation of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). She brought the Girl Scout/Girl Guide movement to the United States from the UK and started spreading it worldwide.

[Stephanie Fuhr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an awesome research endeavor and incredibly appreciated. I'm a troop leader, never herself a scout, so it was great to have a thoughtful resource on the founder instead of web bullet lists to understand her story. She was incredible and flawed and yet hard to fault for her energy and genuine personhood. This book also lends perspective on the American experience in late 19th and early 20th century. A woman trying to create opportunities for girls of diverse classes, races, and faiths with commitment to global partnerships in a time of immigrant fear and isolationism. She was trapped by her times and constrained , but trying, it seems to look through them to a better future. Hoping to revisit Savannah. . .

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes Juliette Low's story as well as a great description of the start of the Girl Scout organization. Juliette Low had a fascinating life, mostly of privilege, but it was in part the class advantage that gave her the access to Robert Baden Powell and the resources to get the Girl Scout organization started and survive infancy. I was a Girl Scout from Brownies through Seniors and briefly spent time as a leader. There is so much in this book about the organization's history that I did not know and I thought that this was the real value of the book.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the combo of personal story of Juliette Gordon Low, social history, and knowing the origins of my beloved Girl Scout uniform (and cookies!). And I had no idea about the differences between Girl Scouts, Girl Guides, and Campfire Girls. And the collaborate/compete relationship between the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts was fascinating.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful woman. Wonderful life. Wonderful organization for women and girls. Wonderful book. Cordery did a wonderful job.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly interesting read although I found that I wanted to know things that were not covered in the book - probably because the historical records don't exist

[etherealfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library Hardcover

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good absorbing read on the personal life of the founder of the Girl Scouts...I was a brownie and a girl scout so I found this fascinating..