Philmont Scout Ranch – Cimarron, New Mexico
In 1967, Julia M. Seton, Ernest Thompson Seton’s widow, donated the vast majority of Seton’s personal library, his art, and his natural history and Native American collections to the Boy Scouts of America.
The BSA established the Ernest Thompson Seton Memorial Library at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico, which was initially housed in a free-standing building, financed with a leading contribution from L.O. Crosby of Picayune, Mississippi.
2018 the Boy Scouts of America relocated the National Scouting Museum to Philmont. A large, state-of-the-art facility was built to accommodate the National Scouting Museum. The Seton Memorial Library is now housed as a distinct part of the National Scouting Museum.
On display at the museum are two of Seton’s masterpieces, The Triumph of the Wolves and The Pursuit. The museum houses many Seton artifacts, including a complete copy of Seton’s extensive journals. The originals of those journals are in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
As a part of the launch of the National Scouting Museum, two Seton-related outdoor monument statues were commissioned from Susan Norris, one of the BSA’s official artists. The Wonder of Discovery and Lobo, the King of Currumpaw, are those two.
