National Audubon Society - Junior Members

Also known as: Audubon Junior Clubs

Audubon Pins

The "Junior" side of the National Audubon Society officially began in 1910, although some local groups had organized youth programs independently. The first Junior membership pin was the Mockingbird pin. Junior groups would often be named after a favorite or local bird such as the Screech Owl Audubon Club or the Flicker Junior Audubon Club.    

  

Mockingbird Audubon Society pin as called an Audubon Button

                                                    

The original goal of the National Audubon Society's Junior Clubs was not to enact more stringent hunting laws but rather to educate the younger generation to of the value of birds and other wildlife: 

 

 

The educational program usually was delivered through the classroom or through already establish youth programs such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls or through local Audubon Societies.  The focus was on nature study, conservation and how kids could make a difference. Membership was only 10 cents per year for several years.

 

Publications of the National Audubon Society; Audubon Teachers' Guides, School Nature League Bulletins and Audubon Junior News were used to deliver program material.

1953

 

38 different Audubon Society unique pins have been found.

National Audubon Society pins shown below are divided into 3 groups;

1.  Those that only say "Audubon Society",
2. A transitional pin noting the new title "National Audubon Society" and
3. Those that say "National Audubon Society - Junior Member".

 Bird identification, manufactures and style of pin are noted if known.

 

Audubon Society Pins

Mockingbird First National Audubon Society - Junior membership pin Whitehead & Hoag	Wren Whitehead & Hoag	Blue Jay Whitehead & Hoag	Yellow Warbler Bastion Bros.
American Redstart Bastion Bros., Offset Gravure Corp.	Canvasback Duck Orange Manufacturing Co.	Baltimore Oriole	Bald Eagle Offset Gravue Corp.
Western Tanager	Red-Winged Blackbird Offset Gravure Corp.	American Robin Bastion Bros. 7/8"	American Robin Bastion Bros. Celluloid
Scarlet Tanager Bastion Bros.	Scarlet Tanager Offset Gravure Corp.	Northern Cardinal Bastion Bros.	Western Meadowlark Bastion Bros.
Common Flicker, Yellow-shafted form Bastion Bros.	Golden-Crowned Kinglet	Western Tanager Wm. H. Hoegee Co.	Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Bluebird Erhman Manufacturing Co.	Eastern Bluebird on crooked branch	Swift	Red-Headed Woodpecker Bastion Bros.
American Goldfinch Offset Gravue Corp.

 

 

Transitional Pin of the Audubon Society to National Audubon Society

American Egret Green Duck Company - Chicago

 

 

National Audubon Society - Junior Member Pins

 

 

Bluebird, bluish background	Bluebird, yellow background	Northern Cardinal	Bald Eagle
American Egret	Belted Kingfisher	Owl	Red-Wing Blackbird
American Egret	American Goldfinch	Northern Robin	Red-Wing Blackbird on Cattail

 

 

 

 

Contests were an active part of the National Audubon Society's Junior program. Instructors and junior members could participated in essay contests, bird listing, bird house building, bird calls and more.

The "Indiana Girl" in the title of this article is actually an adult.  Miss Emily Boal was the instructor for the fourth through sixth graders at Emerson School in Gary, IN.

 

 

Interest in the Junior Audubon Clubs decreased greatly by the 1970s. The National Audubon Society launched a new program, Audubon Adventures in 1984 and it continues today.