Name/Title
Liberty campaign Boy Scouts Medal of Alvan R. Sargent, 1918.Entry/Object ID
2025.93.1Description
Acc. No. 25.93.1
Subject Category: WWI; Boy Scouts
Date or Period: 1918
Object: medal in box
Description: medal, with pin and bright blue ribbon, in tan cardboard box. The box has imprinted on the top in brown letters: ‘The Gorham Co. / New York’, and on the bottom a label, re-affixed with repair tape, stating in black typed letters: ‘E / Alvan R. Sargent / Troop 1’. The pin section of the medal is a rectangular piece of metal with engraved eagle with spread wings, holding a US shield on a field of navy blue with embossed frame of gold-colored metal. The blue ribbon - which is worn through – comes to a point around a metal ring, which attaches to a smaller ring, which attaches to the medal. The front of the medal has the image of the statue of liberty, and two circles, one with an apparent fleur-de-lys, the other a shield with a key and other decorative aspects. Text on this side: ‘War Service’ and ‘Every Scout to Save A Soldier’. On the reverse is a laurel branch, and the text: ‘PRESENTED / ON BEHALF OF THE / U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT / Alvan R. Sargent / FOR SERVICE IN / LIBERTY LOAN CAMPAIGN / BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA / APRIL 1918’ and in small letters: ‘GORHAM CO’. The name of the recipient is picked out in gold-colored type.
Size box: L 3 1/2” x W 2 1/2”
Size medal: (from memory, also); L 3 1/2" (overall); rectangular top section: L 1 1/2” x W 2 1/2”; diameter circular section 2 ½”
History of Object: A medal awarded to Alvan R. Sargent (1903-1993) during one of the Liberty Loan campaigns. During WWI, the Treasury issued bonds to fund the war, and the Boy Scouts of America participated in a campaign. In April 1918 medals for those participating in the second campaign were issued, and the third campaign was started. It is not clear if the date of the medal was relating to the issuing or to the period of the campaign; the Alameda Times Star of April 27, 1918 reports 33 Boy Scouts received medals for the second campaign, but they are not listed by name.
Donated by: Virginia Sargent
Donation date: 4/30/2023
Catalog Date: 10/8/2025
