Boy Scouts of America, Troop 8 (New Bedford, Mass.) records

New Bedford Boy Scout Troop # 8 appears to have been chartered in 1933. Under the Cachalot Council (New Bedford vicinity) of the Boy Scouts of America, the troop was sponsored by the Tifereth Israel Congregation located at Sixth and Madison streets in New Bedford’s South End, at the time the heart of a vibrant Jewish community. Little troop activity was recorded between 1933 and 1939, when Isidore Eisner became scoutmaster. Isidore Eisner, an Aerovox manager born and raised in New York City, moved with his employer to New Bedford in 1938. Having been a scoutmaster in New York, he was asked to be the scoutmaster of Troop 8 in 1939. This began a 44-year association with Troop 8. Troop 8 was especially active during World War II, selling a million dollars worth of War Bonds, a local record, collecting scrap paper and rubber (1942) for the war effort, and purchasing recreational items for wounded veterans at the Chelsea Naval Hospital. For their service the Troop received the War Service Award from General Eisenhower. In the early 1940s the Troop committee consisted of Raphael Mutterperl, who was also president of Cachalot Council for many years, Charles Golenpaul, Solomon Rosenberg, Fred Tydor and Louis Kahn. Isidore Eisner was scoutmaster and Joseph Askenas was assistant scoutmaster. There were 36 boys in 4 patrols at this time. Annual events represented in this collection are Parent’s Night, the Ner Tamid Award ceremony, the highest award achieved by Jewish Boy Scouts, the Scout Sabbath, Camporee, and Eagle Scout Award ceremonies. When Eisner retired from scouting in 1983, he was the 6th oldest scoutmaster in the U.S., and had received the coveted Silver Beaver Award for his service to the Boy Scouts of America. Troop 8 survived into the early 1980s. Cachalot Council merged with the Massasoit Council in 1972 to become the Moby Dick Council, and in 2001 merged with Narragansett Council; Cachalot is now a district of Narragansett Council.