HUNTSVILLE — The Huntsville Boy Scouts celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America on Monday night with the opening of the 100 Years of Boy Scouts Memorabilia Exhibit at the Walker Education Center.

The exhibit will continue through Feb. 28.

“Boy Scouts have been an integral part in shaping and molding boys to men and creating men of destiny,” said Will Oliver, who chaired the 10-member planning committee for the anniversary.

Huntsville Boy Scouts were organized in 1909 — one year before the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

“Scouts and Scouters, today we come together to celebrate the 100th birthday of Scouts by looking past 100 years of Scouting in order to understand where we come from and who we are,” Oliver said.

He said the exhibit “traces the history of the Boy Scouts of America, particularly the Boy Scouts of Huntsville.

“We tried to represent the founding of Scouts and represent a timeline of Scouting through the years.”

Oliver listed many of the items on display that were loaned by Huntsville residents, including Boy Scout manuals, Boy’s Life magazines, Merit Badges, the 12 points of the Scout law and a wall featuring Texas Eagle Scouts, including those in Huntsville.

Brandon Miller of Troop 98 read a letter from Gov. Rick Perry, who said “no other organization has had such a tremendous impact on our nation’s youth.

“Boy Scouts teach life’s skills and educate youth about our society and national environment. Scouting is time well spent and will benefit others.”

Huntsville Mayor J. Turner read a proclamation, declaring Feb. 8, 2010, as the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts in America.

“In our city, I call upon all of our residents to recognize the many contributions the Boy Scouts have made to our community,” Turner said. “For 101 years, our boys in Huntsville have participated in Scouting, providing untold service to our community.”

Turner, who was a Boy Scout from 1957-1967, said the Scout oath and the Scout law are “things that stay with you for a lifetime. It’s sort of amazing when you think about it, these are things that maybe you don’t repeat for 10 or 20 years, but it’s always there in your mind.

“What are the values of being a Scout? I just want to share that because each of us in the path of this journey that we call life we need something to guide us.

“When you think about it, the Scout oath and the Scout law are two pretty good guideposts to center your life on.”

Oliver said a roundtable discussion starts at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Exhibit Gallery with senior Scouts from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s invited to participate and share their memories and experiences of when they were in the Boy Scouts.

Oliver said he also plans another endeavor revolving around the memorabilia that was loaned for the exhibit.

Oliver, a political science professor at Sam Houston State University, said “my wife said it would be a shame to let all of the work that went into this arranging of the memorabilia exhibit to go to waste or die after it leaves here.”

He said he plans to write a book, chronicling the 101 years of Boy Scouting in Huntsville and have it released in 2015.

He said the book will coincide with the 100th anniversary of Huntsville Troop 114, which was established as the first Huntsville troop to be founded under the Boy Scouts of America in 1915.

He plans to start writing in 2013 and have it completed by later 2014 and published in 2015.

“What I would like over the next three years is for senior scouts and Scouts to send me copies of historical memorabilia and documents and information,” he said. “This will be for the Boy Scouts of America and Huntsville.”

Oliver said that overall “I couldn’t have asked for anything better between everybody’s participation, the community’s support, the generosity of people loaning their items to this exhibit.

“The banquet was a sellout. I wished we had more room. We had to turn some people away. It was a really great showing of how much Huntsville has the Scout spirit.”

Oliver said planning for the 100th anniversary celebration started in August 2009 when “Larry Fusaro asked me to chair this. I said yes, mainly because I was the only one who had a flexible schedule.”

He said the exhibit has been “very well received. I am very happy with the turnout. Everybody seems to really enjoy it and it brings back memories for the senior Scouters.”