Officially, the Golden Eaglet Award was the highest rank of Girl Scouting from 1919 through 1939.

 

(Personally, I don't agree with that sentence. I believe that what we think of as the Golden Eagle of Merit (1916-1919) was always called the Golden Eaglet. I have laid out my arguments for this belief on the webpage Golden Eagle of Merit???)

 

However, this webpage is devoted to the Golden Eaglet from 1919-1939.

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In January of 1919 the national headquarters of Girl Scouting announced a new handbook would be ready around May 1919, with a change in the Golden Eaglet requirements.

 

Girl Scouting was honored to have famed artist Laura Cardin-Fraser accept the challenge of re-designing the highest honor of Girl Scouting.

In October of 1919, the  Golden Eaglet was ready. This led to some interesting events. At least one Girl Scout, Octavia Sheldon, postponed her "pinning" so that she would be given the new pin design.

 

The requirements varied over the years from simply earning 14 of 17 specific badges to later requirements that included earning the Medal of Merit.

In later years the number of badges was altered and a letter of Commendation was allowed in place of the Medal of Merit. A special form was used to apply for the award from the National Headquarters.

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According to the Girl Scout Collector's Guide, Juliette Low once wrote that: the five requirements for winning the Golden Eaglet are:

• character

•  health

•  handicraft

•  happiness

• service

and that others will expect to find in our Golden Eaglets a perfect specimen of girlhood: mentally, morally and physically.