2025 Hillcourt Silver Medal Recipients

The Hillcourt Foundation is proud to announce these recipients of the 2025 Hillcourt Silver Medal for distinguished contributions to Scouting history at a national or international level:

Sophie Wittemans has spent three decades collecting, championing, conserving, and promoting Belgian Guide and Scout history in Belgium and internationally. She presented research at the international program “Scouting: A Centennial History Symposium” at Johns Hopkins University (2008), has hosted events and conferences, and authored a number of works on Scout and Guide history, including the book A History of Catholic Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and several articles on Girl Guiding history.

Sophie has served as the General Commissioner (President), Chair of the Board, International Commissioner, and archivist and historian of the Guides Catholiques de Belgique, and is since 2006 the President of the Centre Historique Belge du Scoutisme.  She is active in working to re-open the Girl Guide archives in the United Kingdom, and heads the Sophie Wittemans Fund at the King Baudouin Foundation, which gives grants to encourage research into the history of Guiding and Scouting in Belgium.

She is the curator of the art collection at the Belgian Federal Parliament, and is completing work on a Ph.D. in Art History.

Robert Fistick is the founder and national advisor of the Scouting Memories Project, chartered by Scouting America in 2018 as a national joint project of the National Scouting Museum, the Order of the Arrow, and the National Alumni Association.  Envisioned as the national interactive digital repository of Scouting history, the online website will offer user friendly access and screened content input provided by Scouting historians as well as the general public. Digital content includes textual, photographic, video, oral histories, memorabilia, and local Scout museum information.

Bob also organized and chaired the week-long conference “Preservation Workshop for Scout Museums”, at Philmont Scout Ranch, June 2022, and has taught at many other history and museum conferences.

Bob is a member of the National Scouting Museum Task Force since 2014 and also serves on the National Order of the Arrow Subcommittee for Preservation and Awards.  He retired as a deputy director of the Library of Congress in 2011, after 35 years of federal service.

Russell Smart is a visionary leader in bringing Scouting’s history to the public.  A member of Scouting America’s National Scouting Museum Task Force for many years, he has served as chairman since 2021.  In that capacity, he leads the renovation and redevelopment of the Museum’s facilities at Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, New Mexico, in a multi-year project to update the Museum galleries and exhibits, including his personal efforts in curatorial work, historical interpretation, and fundraising.  His leadership has included partnering with national and regional historical associations to use the Museum to tell the rich story of Philmont and neighboring sites, such as the Santa Fe Trail.

He is a well-respected Scout memorabilia antiquarian and exhibitor.  He has been the chairman or a significant contributor of both memorabilia and funding for the museums at Scouting America’s National Scout Jamborees in 2013, 2017, and 2023, and at the World Scout Jamboree in 2019.

Russell is a real estate developer and community leader.