At the 1938 National Lodge Meeting, Thomas Cairns introduced the idea of presenting a certificate to each Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow (OA). The National Lodge approved the idea and gave Cairns the authority to have the certificates printed and presented.

Once the certificates were printed, a certificate was presented to all living Vigil Honor members. Each certificate had the date the Vigil was held. As a result there are certificates with dates as early as 1915 even though they were not printed or distributed until 1938.

The tradition of the Vigil Honor Certificate continues to today. The printed certificate has undergone changes through the years.