SCOUT STUFF book

[skeptic]

Okay, now that I have had an opportunity to peruse the book, it is time to comment. While certainly a broad coverage of the huge variation of material, books, and so on, it does not seem to have had a lot of serious thought put into it regarding photos and so on. I find it difficult to understand why there is NO mention of SCOUTING MAGAZINE for instance. A number of pages are dedicated to gum cards and related items, but barely anything to the Service Library with their hugely colorful and art deco like covers. They mention EBL, yet do not show any of the actual covers or jackets; there were three types and myriad dj designs. Why do they not show a sample of the earliest meritbadge books? Where is the connection between scouting and advertising? The use of the scouting images in the first decades for ads was common, and some of the ads are dramatic. The stamp section is very limited, and does not draw on the best examples, in my opinion. Of course, we have already discussed making GBB a footnote at best. Likely are many other areas that could have been better represented, such as music or belt buckles, of whatever.

 

So, while interesting, and has some great photos; I rate it mediocre at best. Of course, maybe if I had not collected for so long I might think differently.

[emb021]

Have to agree.

 

They didn't point out the 'other' high awards of scouting: Quartermaster, Ranger, Silver (both Explorer and Venturing).

 

I was surprised by their selection of some insignia for the other programs.

 

 

[chaoman45]

I guess I'm out of the loop. Scout Stuff has a book?

[emb021]

Scout Stuff wis the name of the book. Its about scout memorabilia, not BSA's on-line store.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Scouts-America-Scout-Stuff/dp/0756688736/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326315356&sr=1-1

[TAHAWK]

I turned to the knife pages and found:

 

The knife identified as made by Ulster was actually made by BSA's first knife supplier, New York Knife Company, and is so marked.

 

The knife illustrating the Rockwell knife series is the worst example I have ever seen.

 

Three of the four sheath knives on p. 69 are not Boy Scout issue.

 

The "Boy Scouts" marked knife on the bottom left of p. 69 is not, in fact, an example as the book says of "Boy Scout Knives" but is one of the many unlicensed foreign knifes that flooded the country before WW I.

 

The "ScoutKnife" on the top left of p. 71 is another unlicensed knife, as are two others on the page (and the one illustrated in the Handbook as the prototypical Boy Scout Knife),)

 

The "Circle-V" patch on p. 51 came with the New Exploring Program on 1959, not 1960 as stated.

 

And no Bill,

 

Slovenly.

 

Don't know or don't care?

 

 

[Eagle92]

I'm betting not only both, but also on a very tight timeline. Willing to bet that A) some one came up with the idea in 2009 and B) had to finish EVERYTHING by August 2009.

 

 

A good book that is well researched and accurate will take several years to write, edit, and get printed. And then sometimes the info is out of date. best example I know of is a book on the Cold War that came out in 2004 or 2005. The writer did such a thorough and researched job that it took 4-5 years to do. Problem was that while it was in the printing and publishing stages, Russia opened up some of their archives, and several countries in the Warsaw Pact opened up their archives completely. A whirlwind of info came out that disproved some long held views, as well as confirmed others with detailed info. But that info was not in the textbook I was using, and I had one student questioning me as to why I was disagreeing with the book.

[TAHAWK]

Good observations.