Wilbert E. Longfellow
{{Short description|Water safety pioneer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wilbert E. Longfellow
| image = Wilbert E. Longfellow, Field Director of the Red Cross Lifesaving Corps.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Longfellow as Field Director of the Red Cross Lifesaving Corps
| birth_name = Wilbert E. Longfellow
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|05|07}}
| birth_place = Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|03|18|1881|05|07}}
| death_place = Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, U.S.
| nationality =
| other_names =
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Wilbert E. Longfellow{{efn|His middle name is variously given as Edmond and Edmund.{{cite news |last1=Longfellow |first1=Wilbert Edmond |title=Dramatizing the Camp Water Program |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_camping-magazine_1938-05_10_5/page/14/mode/2up |work=The Camping Magazine |date=May 1938 |page=17 |language=English}}{{cite news |last1=Longfellow |first1=Wilbert Edmund |title=Following-Up the Camp Swimming Program at Home
|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_camping-magazine_1937-12_9_9/page/16/mode/2up |work=The Camping Magazine |date=December 1937|page=17 |language=English}}{{cite journal|last=Longfellow|first=Wilbert Edmund|title=Everyone Should Know About Preventing Suffocation|journal=American Physical Education Review |volume= 33| number= 7|date= September 1928|pages=468–473 |doi=10.1080/23267224.1928.10652027 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbcvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46 |language=en|url-access=subscription}}}} (May 7, 1881 – March 18, 1947) was an American water safety instructor. Credited with halving the drowning rate in the United States, his mission was "the water-proofing of America."
Beginning around 1900, Longfellow worked his entire adult life promoting swimming education and water safety.{{Cite news |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/bs-xpm-2010-08-13-bs-ed-water-safety-letter-20100813-story.html |title= Tragedy points up need for water safety| work = Baltimore Sun| date = 2010-08-03 | author = John F. Eyring}}
Background
Working in his first job as a newspaper reporter in Providence, Rhode Island, Longfellow wrote many stories on local drownings.{{Cite web |url=https://americacomesalive.com/water-safety-taught-by-this-man-in-1900s |title= Water Safety Taught by This Man in 1900s|date= 2018-08-18}} In his spare time, he began a one-man crusade to educate people on water safety with the U.S. Volunteer Life Saving Corps. This work led the US VLSC to appoint Longfellow as the organization's state superintendent in 1905 and bestow upon him the title of Commodore. In 1910, he became the organization's Commodore-in-Chief.
Longfellow lobbied the Rhode Island General Assembly to fund life saving equipment for Rhode Island beaches and for more swimming education. His success led him in 1914 to work with the American Red Cross. Upon his recommendation, the Red Cross took up water safety as one of its missions. In 1914, the organization hired Longfellow to organize the Volunteer Life Saving Corps. In 1917, Longfellow and the Red Cross began teaching swimming skills to U.S. soldiers and sailors preparing to fight in World War I.{{Cite web |title=Wilbert E. Longfellow:Water Safety Crusader |url=http://gso.redcross.org/WilbertLongfellow.php |access-date= 2007-04-19 |publisher=American Red Cross|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514225914/http://gso.redcross.org/WilbertLongfellow.php |archive-date= 2006-05-14 }}
With the Volunteer Life Saving Corps, Longfellow recruited and trained volunteers to perform rescues and teach water safety. His mission was to "Waterproof America", and his slogan became "Everyone a swimmer, every swimmer a Lifesaver". This later became the motto of early Red Cross swimming safety programs.{{Cite web |url=https://oceancitymd.gov/oc/departments/emergency-services/beach-patrol/about-us |title= About Us|newspaper= Town of Ocean City, Maryland}}
Longfellow worked for the Red Cross from 1914 to 1947, retiring shortly before his death. He is credited with halving the drowning rate in the United States, from 10.4 per 100,000 to 5.2.
Awards and honors
- Silver Buffalo Award, Boy Scouts of America{{Cite web |title=Silver Buffalo Award Winners 1929–1926 |url=http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/awards/silverbuffalo/previouswinners/1929-1926.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622110117/http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/awards/silverbuffalo/previouswinners/1929-1926.aspx |archive-date= 2011-06-22 |publisher=Boy Scouts of America}}
- International Swimming Hall of Fame{{cite web |title=Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow |url=https://www.ishof.org/honoree/honoree-commodore-wilbert-longfellow |publisher=International Swimming Hall of Fame}}
Notes
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References
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Further reading
- {{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LQmAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Wilbert+Longfellow%22&pg=RA13-PA25 |title=Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States| work = U.S. National Museum Bulletin|year=1968| page = 25 | publisher = Smithsonian Institution| editor = | author = Claudia B. Kidwell }}
External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
- {{Cite web |url=http://natedsanders.com/american_red_cross_poster____circa_1920-lot7341.aspx |title= Lot Detail - American Red Cross Poster -- Circa 1920}}
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Category:People associated with Scouting
Category:People from Cranston, Rhode Island