{{short description|American artist and writer (1850–1941)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | image = Daniel Beard cph.3a02553.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date|1850|6|21}} | birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1941|6|11|1850|6|21}} | death_place = Suffern, New York, US | resting_place = Brick Church Cemetery<br />Spring Valley, New York, US<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitbrickchurch.com/cemetery |title=Visit Brick Church}} </ref> | known_for = Founding pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America | occupation = {{hlist|Illustrator|author|social reformer}} | caption = Beard in 1930 | other_names = Uncle Dan | awards = * Silver Wolf Award (1924)<ref name=ncab>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=James Terry |last2=Derby |first2=George |title=Beard, Daniel Carter |journal=The National Cyclopædia of American Biography |date=1930 |volume=33 |publisher=J. T. White |location=New York |pages=373–374 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078229203;view=1up;seq=757}}</ref> * Silver Buffalo Award (1926) * Honorary Alpha Phi Omega brother | signature = Signature of Daniel Carter Beard (1850–1941).png }} {{Georgism|activists}} '''Daniel Carter''' "'''Uncle Dan'''" '''Beard''' (June 21, 1850 – June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
==Early life== Beard was born on June 21, 1850, in Cincinnati, to a family of artists.<ref name=rowan>{{cite book |last=Rowan |first=Edward L. |year =2005 |title=To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America |publisher=Las Vegas International Scouting Museum |isbn=0-9746479-1-8}}</ref> As a youth in Painesville,<ref>{{cite web|title=15-43 Daniel Carter Beard|url=https://remarkableohio.org/index.php?/category/817|work=Remarkable Ohio: The Ohio Historical Marker Program|publisher=Ohio History Connection|date=2001}}</ref> he explored the woods and made sketches of nature. His father was the artist James Henry Beard and his mother was Mary Caroline (Carter) Beard. His uncle was the artist William Holbrook Beard. He lived at 322 East Third Street in Covington, Kentucky near the Licking River, where he learned the stories of Kentucky pioneer life.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}
He started an early career as an engineer and surveyor.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=56 |title=Daniel C. Beard|publisher=Ohio History Central |access-date=August 20, 2010}}</ref> He attended art school in New York City. He wrote a series of articles for St. Nicholas Magazine that later formed the basis for ''The American Boy's Handy Book''. He was a member of the Student Art League, where he met and befriended Ernest Thompson Seton in 1883. He illustrated a number of books for Mark Twain, and for other authors such as Ernest Crosby.
In 1886, Daniel Carter Beard joined Henry George's Single-tax movement and became a strong advocate of the Georgist philosophy. He wrote several novels about the subject (such as ''Moonblight and Six Feet of Romance'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/moonblight-and-six-feet-of-romance-dan-carter-beards-foray-into-fiction|title=Moonblight and Six Feet of Romance: Dan Carter Beard's Foray into Fiction}}</ref> With Mark Twain's approval, Beard's illustrations for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court were a Georgist interpretation of the story.<ref>{{cite book |last=LeMaster |first=J. R.|title=The Mark Twain Encyclopedia |year=1903 |pages=64–65 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780824072124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zW1k-XS6XLEC}}</ref>
On August 15, 1894, Beard wed Beatrice Alice Jackson, with whom he had two children, Daniel and Barbara.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kentonlibrary.org/genealogy/regional-history/biographies/daniel-carter-beard/ | title=Daniel Carter Beard | publisher=Kenton County Public Library | accessdate=3 May 2026}}</ref>
In 1908, while living in Redding, Connecticut, Beard was among those on hand to welcome Mark Twain upon his arrival to the author's new villa Stormfield.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beard |first=Dan |chapter=Mark Twain as a Neighbor |title=Review of Reviews and World's Work: An International Magazine |date=January–June 1910 |volume=41 |pages=705–708 |publisher= Review of Reviews Corporation|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-o06AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA707}}</ref>
Beard became the editor of ''Recreation'' magazine launched by his friend George O. Shields and wrote a monthly column for youth. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, basing it on American frontier traditions. He later moved his column to ''Woman's Home Companion''. After conflicts with a new editor, he moved to the ''Pictorial Review''. Since ''Women's Home Companion'' retained the rights to the name, he simply renamed the organization to ''Boy Pioneers of America''.<ref name="ISCAjournal">{{cite journal| last=Scott| first=David C.| title=Ernest Thompson Seton and BSA - The Partnership Collapse of 1915| journal=International Scouting Collectors Association| volume=6| issue=2|date=June 2006| pages=10}}</ref>
Beard was a longstanding and influential member of the Camp-Fire Club of America.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Noble |first1=Christian |title=Camp-Fire Club of America Hallowed Ground |url=https://masterwoodsman.com/2015/cfca-hallowed-ground/ |website=Master Woodsman |access-date=February 27, 2023}}</ref>
==Scouting== [[File:Scouting pioneers.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Beard (right) with Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell (seated) and Ernest Thompson Seton (left)]] Beard merged his organization into the Boy Scouts of America when it was founded in 1910. He became one of the first National Scout commissioners of the Boy Scouts and served it for 30 years. He later became the editor of ''Boys' Life'' magazine, the BSA official magazine, and wrote a monthly column for youth. The work of both Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton are in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Traditional Scouting |publisher=American Traditional Scouting |url=http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/index.htm |access-date=July 18, 2007}}</ref><ref name="ISCAjournal2">{{cite journal| last=Rowan| first=Edward L.| title=Dan Beard, Founder of the First Boy Scout Society| journal=International Scouting Collectors Association| volume=6| issue=4|date=December 2006| pages=28–29}}</ref>
Beard also helped his sister organize the Camp Fire Girls. Beard was a Freemason, initiated in the Mariners Lodge No. 67 (New York City).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html | title = List of famous freemasons | website = freemasonry.bcy.ca | access-date = September 30, 2018 | language = en | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20011004153632/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html | quotation = East Nashville No. 560, TN [19]| archive-date = October 4, 2001 | url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="stjohnslodgedc.org">{{cite web | url = http://www.stjohnslodgedc.org/famous-masons | title = Famous Freemasons in the course of history | language = en | website = stjohnslodgedc.org | access-date = September 30, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151116030150/http://www.stjohnslodgedc.org/famous-masons | archive-date = November 16, 2015 | url-status = live}}</ref> An award for Masonic Scouters has been named in his honor.
Beard founded Boy Scout Troop 1 in Flushing, New York, which is believed to be one of the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troops in the United States. He became an Eagle Scout at the age of 64 on February 15, 1915.<ref>{{cite web |title=Online Eagle Directory: Beard, Daniel Carter |work=National Eagle Scout Association |url=https://www.memberconnections.com/olc/membersonly/NESA/old/old.cgi?FNC=todetailspage__Asearch_results_html___NESA___2231467 |access-date=December 3, 2009 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727152123/https://www.memberconnections.com/olc/membersonly/NESA/old/old.cgi?FNC=todetailspage__Asearch_results_html___NESA___2231467 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
thumb|Daniel Beard in 1937, with Boy Scouts
Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Dan Beard was recipient of the only "gold Eagle badge" awarded at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina.<ref name=rowan />
Dan Beard was also involved with the Culver Academies' summer camp program for many years, which used his "Sons of Daniel Boone" program. This program still exists as the Academy's Culver Woodcraft Camp.
Beard died on June 11, 1941, aged 90, at his home Brooklands in Suffern, New York.<ref>June 12, 1941, New York Herald Tribune</ref> He was buried near his home at the Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York.<ref>Brick Church Cemetery aka Reformed Church Cemetery, Beard Family Plot - (Section D, Division 1, Plot 1, Grave 6),221 Brick Church Rd (Brick Church Rd and Hwy 306), Spring Valley NY 10977, 845-354-6785</ref> The National Program Director of the Boy Scouts of America, E. Urner Goodman, was selected to be in charge of the beloved youth leader's funeral in Suffern. An estimated 2,000 people lined the funeral route to the cemetery in Monsey, New York, where 127 Boy Scouts formed an honor guard and assisted with traffic control.<ref>{{cite news |title=Scouts Officiate at Beard Funeral |work=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1941 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/06/16/87626768.pdf |access-date=January 15, 2008 }}</ref>
==Honors and legacy== The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge carries I-471 across the Ohio River.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19761028&id=uugrAAAAIBAJ&pg=1376,6514522&hl=en | title=Bridge to open | work=Kentucky New Era | date=October 28, 1976 | access-date=April 21, 2016 | pages=8}}</ref> A life-size bronze statue of Daniel Carter Beard and a Boy Scout, created by world-renowned sculptor Kenneth Bradford, stands at 322 East 3rd Street in Covington, Kentucky, Beard's boyhood home. The nearby Daniel Carter Beard Boyhood Home is now a National Historic Landmark in the Riverside Drive Historic District.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=244&ResourceType=Building |title=Beard, Daniel C., Boyhood Home |work=National Historic Landmarks |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=July 18, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603041316/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=244&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=June 3, 2010 }}</ref>
Junior High School 189 Daniel Carter Beard is located in Flushing, Queens, New York; the Daniel Carter Beard Mall is a nearby park. The Daniel Carter Beard Elementary School is located in Chicago, Illinois.
The Dan Beard Council is the administrative body of the BSA in the Greater Cincinnati area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.danbeard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=77 |title=Dan Beard Council |access-date=April 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321164315/http://www.danbeard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=77 |archive-date=March 21, 2011 }}</ref>
Many Scout camps have sites named after Beard:
* staffed-camp Dan Beard at Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimmaron, New Mexico * Camp Dan Beard Forestburg Scout Reservation in Forestburg, New York * campsite Dan Beard Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation, Maryland and Tama Hills, Tokyo, Japan{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} * campsite Dan Beard at Baiting Hollow Scout Camp, Baiting Hollow, New York * campsite Dan Beard at Horseshoe Scout Reservation, Rising Sun, Maryland *campsite Dan Beard at Camp Raven Knob Raven Knob Scout Reservation, Mt. Airy, North Carolina
Other camps have programs named after Beard, such as the first-year camper program at McKee Scout Reservation in Kentucky.
The Forest Preserves of Cook County, Illinois, has long had a campground called [http://fpdcc.com/camping/camp-dan-beard/ Camp Dan Beard].
Freemasons in the U.S. offer the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award for Masons who are involved with Scouting. The BSA offers the James E. West Fellowship Award; an advanced level is the 1910 Society which in turn includes levels of contributions—the Daniel Carter Beard is recognized for a gift of at least $100,000.
Mount Dan Beard, a {{convert|10082|ft|m|adj=on}} peak in the Alaska Range near Denali in Denali National Park and Preserve, is named after Beard.<ref name=gnis>{{cite gnis|id=1400960|name=Mount Dan Beard|access-date=April 12, 2013}}</ref>
Every year on February 8, in commemoration of Founders Day, local Scouts place a wreath on Beard's grave at the Brick Church Cemetery.<ref name="Rubin">{{cite news |last1=Rubin |first1=Andrea |title=Boy Scout co-founder will be remembered with a memorial plaque |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121049794/ |work=Mount Vernon Argus |date=June 11, 1998 |location=White Plains |page=12}}</ref>
==Works== [[File:Captain Jinks, Hero - frontispiece - Project Gutenberg eText 19353.png|thumb|upright|''Captain Jinks, Hero'', from the 1902 book of the same name by Ernest Crosby, illustrated by Beard]] [[File:Connecticut Yankee4.jpg|thumb|Beard's frontispiece for Twain's ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court''.]] * {{Cite book |title=The American Boy's Handy Book |year=1882}} * {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JB4wAAAAYAAJ&q=Moonblight+and+Six+Feet+of+Romance |title=Moonblight and Six Feet of Romance |year=1892 |last1=Beard |first1=Daniel Carter }} * {{Cite book |title=The Outdoor Handy Book |year=1896}} * {{Cite book |title=The Jack of All Trades: New Ideas for American Boys |year=1900}} * {{Cite book |title=The Field and Forest Handy Book: New Ideas for Out of Doors |year=1906}} * {{Cite book |title=Handicraft for Outdoor Boys |year=1906}} * {{Cite book |title=Animal Book and Campfire Stories |year=1907}} * {{Cite book |title=The Boy Pioneers: Sons of Daniel Boone |year=1909}} * {{Cite book |title=Boat Building, and Boating |year=1912}} * {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sheltersshackssh00bear |title=Shelters, shacks, and shanties |publisher=C. Scribner's Sons |year=1920}} still in print<ref>{{Gutenberg book|no=28255|name=Shelters, Shacks and Shanties | bullet=none}}</ref> * {{Cite book |title=The American Boy's Book of Bugs, Butterflies and Beetles |year=1915}} * {{Cite book |title=The American Boy's Book of Signs, Signals and Symbols |year=1918}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/HistChldBks&CISOPTR=44801&REC=3 |title=American boys' book of signs, signals and symbols}}</ref> * {{Cite book |title=The American Boy's Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft |year=1920}} * {{Cite book |title=The American Boy's Book of Wild Animals |year=1921}} * {{Cite book |title=The Black Wolf-Pack |year=1922}}<ref>{{Gutenberg book|no=22109|name=The Black Wolf Pack | bullet=none }}</ref> * {{Cite book |title=American Boy's Book of Birds and Brownies of the Woods |year=1923}} * {{Cite book |title=Do It Yourself |year=1925}} * {{Cite book |title=Wisdom of the Woods |year=1926}} * {{Cite book |title=Buckskin Book For Buckskin Men and Boys |year=1929}} * {{Cite book |title=Hardly A Man is Now Alive |year=1939}} * ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' by Mark Twain, (1889), illustrator * {{Cite book |last=Beard |first=Daniel Carter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_YaAAAAYAAJ&q=The+American+Boy%27s+Book+of+Sport |title=The American Boy's Book of Sport |year=1890}} * ''The American Claimant'' by Mark Twain, (1892), illustrator * {{Cite book |title=Following the Equator |year=1897}} contributing illustrator
==See also== {{Portal|Scouting}} * Scouting memorials * Anderson, Axel Blair, "Daniel Carter Beard: Outdoorsman, Friend of Youth and Co-founder, Boy Scouts of America", second edition, 2026
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{commons category}} {{wikisource|works=by}} * {{Gutenberg author |id=8612| name=Daniel Carter Beard}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Daniel Carter Beard}} * {{Librivox author |id=2320}} * {{LCAuth|n50081691|Daniel Carter Beard|188|}} * {{cite encyclopedia| url = http://www.bartleby.com/65/be/Beard-Da.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050104084026/http://www.bartleby.com/65/be/Beard-Da.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 4, 2005 | title = Info on Beard | encyclopedia = Columbia Encyclopedia}} * [http://www.dacbsa.org/Awards/Daniel-Carter-Beard-Award.htm Info on Daniel Beard Masonic Scouter Award] * [http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/beard/pioneers/index.htm The Boy Pioneers: Sons of Daniel Boone] full text * [http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/beard/ohb/index.htm The Outdoor Handy Book] * [http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/beard/abhb/index.htm The American Boy's Handy Book] * [http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/beard/ffhb/index.htm Field and Forest Handy Book] * [http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/beard/shelters.htm Shelters, Shacks, Shanties] * [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=215 DANIEL CARTER BEARD MALL] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060621143011/http://www.danbeard.com/about_uncle_dan.htm Info on Beard from Dan Beard Home] * [http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/HistChldBks&CISOPTR=44801&REC=3 Full text of ''The American Boy's Book of Signs, Signals and Symbols''], J.B. Lippincott Company, 1918. * [https://ohiocenterforthebook.org/2017/02/08/beard-daniel-carter/ Daniel Cartet Beard] mini bio as presented by the Ohio center for the Book@Cleveland Public Library
{{Scoutorg BSA}} {{Scouting|founders}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Daniel Carter}} Category:National commissioners of Scouting America Category:American children's writers Category:Writers from Cincinnati Category:Artists from Cincinnati Category:People from Covington, Kentucky Category:Scouting pioneers Category:1850 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Suffern, New York Category:Writers from Kentucky Category:Artists from Kentucky Category:American social reformers Category:American magazine editors Category:People from Redding, Connecticut Category:Georgist activists Category:Founders of associations related to Scouting America Category:American founders