For your consideration, Big Rock Publishing introduces The Centennial Edition of “The Boy Scout” series, by Maj. Archibald Lee Fletcher (1913). Each of the 12 books on the CD includes original artwork, the complete original text, and a Foreword by P. Todd Kelly (that’s me!), and Ronald G. Stacey, giving historical background for the book, a description of the culture at the time (the early 1910′s), scouting during that period, and the role that the United States was beginning to play in world politics.
A word of caution: these editions are faithful reproductions of the original books, and societal attitudes and mores have changed significantly since those long-ago days. The depiction of some characters may be quite different from the way in which we view the world today… please keep this in mind as you peek through a window into the times & places that form the context for these books. (In other words, we’ve left in all the non-PC terminology. . . just so you know.)
The CD contains all 12 volumes of this series:
- Boy Scout Rivals Or A Leader of the Tenderfoot Patrol
- Boy Scouts Test of Courage or Winning the Merit Badge
- Boy Scouts Signal Sender or When Wigwag Knowledge Paid
- Boy Scouts On A Long Hike or To the Rescue in the Black Water Swamps
- Boy Scouts’ Woodcraft Lesson or Proving Their Mettle in the Field
- Boy Scout Pathfinders or The Strange Hunt for the Beaver Patrol
- Boy Scouts on Old Superior Or The Tale of the Pictured Rocks ,
- Boy Scouts in the Everglades Or The Island in Lost Channel
- Boy Scouts on the Great Divide Or The Ending of the Trail
- Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds Or The Signal from the Hills
- Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns Or The Light in Tunnel Six
- Boy Scouts in Alaska Or The Camp on the Glacier
Set in a time in American history, when the Civil War was as recent as Vietnam is to us, this group of 12 titles is really two series. The first six titles feature the Beaver Patrol of Beverly, Indiana. Join them as they begin Scouting in its earliest days. Just a few short years after the program came to American shores.
The final six titles feature the Beaver Patrol of Chicago, Illinois. These scouts are much older and are independent (find out why – it’s a great part of the story) and are able to travel about the country, sharing adventures that today’s youth can only daydream about.
Find out on the CD some things you might not know:
- Did you know that during the early 1900′s, Boy Scout fiction was becoming one of the most lucrative genre in American publishing? Find out why.
- Do you know what the general public initially thought about the Boy Scouts? You might be surprised.
- Did you know that during the 1910′s, the Boy Scout National Headquarters in New York City directly managed many of the Scout troops around the country, rather than having local councils like they have today? Find out how that worked.
- Do you know what the general public thought about camping and outdoor activities during the early 1900′s? It’s probably NOT what you would expect.
- Do you know the major difference between the British Boy Scout Uniforms and those of the American Scouts? Find out, and learn why there was such a difference. It was cultural, AND functional.
- Find out why this series is divided into two parts. It’s an integral piece of Scouting history that many people have forgotten.
- Find out WHO Maj. Archibald Lee Fletcher was and who ELSE he was. You might be surprised! His photo and obituary are included on the CD.
