Decades of Local Southwest OA/Camps/Council Scouting History
Order of the Arrow
This project was started in 1980 by Tom Tabb to document Order of the Arrow Area Conferences and Section Conclaves. From those beginnings, the site evolved to include information about 37 named and numbered Lodges, National events and programs, and the Order of the Arrow Western Region. This dates from the first California Lodge in 1936 to the first Area U Conference in 1945.
This project inspired the website you see today and has helped it expand its purpose and scope.
Camps
We currently research and document 81 different camps in the Southwest, with additional camps being found and located regularly. We encourage you to browse through the Camps section, and contribute to the project.
This listing continues to grow as we discover more early camps that served Scouts in the first few decades of the BSA program.
Councils
We are researching 67 uniquely named or numbered Councils in the area, dating back to the earliest years of the Scouting program.
Contribute To This Project
This entire project is the result of the hard work and contributions from our Editors and many Contributors.
The Area 4 History Project accepts any contributions, additions, corrections, or suggestions. We are also in search of any paper or electronic materials, no matter how significant they may seem. These can be sent to the email address below.
We are looking for any Order of the Arrow Area 4 History materials including:
- Paperwork
- Photographs
- Scanned Memorabilia
For items you wish to mail, please Use The Contact Page for a mailing address.
What Is Area 4?
This website refers to the territory that comprised Western Region Area 4, which existed between 1973 and 2020.
This history project also documents the same territories that were in pre-1973 Region 12, as well as post-2008 Area 4 and Area 6.
This includes Southern California, Southern Nevada, and Arizona.
Corrections And Updates
For corrections, updates, additions, stories, or comments, please email Use The Contact Page with your Feedback.
Use of Materials From This Website
Use of photographs is allowed for and encouraged for local, non-Regional or National use only. Please use under the Creative Commons – Attribute license. This means that when using photographs, you should acknowledge the author when noted.
Use of paper materials is allowed and encouraged. Material donations should also be attributed when noted.
Other historical websites are free to use material and information from this website, but we ask you to link back to the original source here and we will do the same.
Area 4 History also follows these procedures when presenting information from other people and sources. Order of the Arrow historians work very hard to acquire and research this information, and it is important we all note the hard work of our Brothers.