Jimmy Patches Collection

From the Book "Only In Louisiana" by Keith Odom 1994:

When Boy Scout patches began to overrun his Minden home, Jimmy Rogers did the only sensible thing: he built a museum in his back yard.

There, curious travelers can see over 2,500 Boy Scout patches spanning four continents and six decades. Mr. Rogers (known as Jimmy "Patches" to collectors) boasts one of the largest collections of Boy Scout patches and memorabilia in the United States, larger even that the National Museum of Scouting in Kentucky.

Mr. Rogers has been involved in scouting for 57 years. A local pastor invited him to be a scoutmaster, and he's served in a volunteer capacity ever since. He began collecting patches in 1961. His oldest piece is a 1940 patch from nearby Camp Caddo. Among his more striking holdings are patches from Camp Yatasi, Caney Lake, Puerto Rico, and Japan. He has souvenir patches from virtually every American Jamboree and many international ones. Glass cases covering the walls are filled with merit badges (American and Canadian), sashes, neck slides, neckerchiefs, pins, and buttons. A head-to-toe 1949 uniform is on display. Another attention grabber is a "Scouting in Space" patch which was carried aboard the Apollo-Soyuz Mission in 1975.

But scouting memorabilia isn't the only thing to see: Mr. Rogers also collects law enforcement patches, ancient arrowheads, foreign currency (especially occupation currency), and autographs. A World War II veteran who stays active in church and Civitan, he's rubbed shoulders with the likes of Suzy Boguss, Marie Osmond, and former world heavy weight champion Archie Moore. Photographs of Mr. Rogers with these celebrities are sanwiched into the already crowded glass cases.

During the 1950's, Mr. Rogers played center field for Minden's semi-pro team, the Redbirds. His uniform from 1951 - the year the Redbirds won the Big 8 Championship - is on permanent display, along with numerous major league team-autographed baseballs.

Mr. Rogers estimates the total value of his museum at $15,000. But it's worth far more to anyone who loves scouting, as Mr. Rogers evidently does. Not a square inch of his 19' x 19' museum is wasted. Furthermore, it's no static collection. Mr. Rogers's motto is, "Have Patches, Will Trade." If you own a valuable patch and would like to swap for it, give Mr. Rogers a call.

He's also very informative about hisorical sites in the northwest part of the state, so ask for a few travel tips, too.

I was recently contacted by the family of Jimmy "Patches" Rogers regarding his very large patch collection. After driving down to northern Louisiana and looking at this little museum, we both agreed that consignment to my auction would be the best way to sell the large amount of material. Here are a few pictures I took last week:

The collection consists of order of the arrow, council strips, camp patches, jamboree items, activity patches, and lots of cool miscellaneous stuff. The collection is heavily focused on Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, but also contains items from all over the country.

The collection will be auctioned off at www.manions.com sometime in November 2007. I will run a few pieces between now and then on eBay as well.

If anyone has any fun stories about Jimmy, feel free to post them here.