I just "came into" the possession of a couple of old Boy Scout Handbooks -- pre-1974 when the Handbook went to shit.
The 1959 Handbook, I was somewhat surprised to note, had a whole bunch of ads mixed in with the index pages. Among them were eight ads for guns and accessories. Daisy, W.R. Weaver (scopes), Colt, Winchester, Remington, Browning, Mossberg, and Savage. All but two of those were full-page. Mossberg and Colt did 1/2 pagers.
The 1965 Handbook (which I remember as being the first one I had) dispensed with all advertising. Which probably was a move to get more companies to advertise in Boys' Life.
Both books contained requirements for signalling (even a diagram showing how to build a Morse trainer). Which I don't believe survived the '74 modernizations, but I can't recall offhand.
Good times.
My 1960's era Fieldbook is still damn useful. Like the Handbook, the Fieldbook of the 1970's went all urbanized. The "modernization" of Scouting in the 1970's and beyond is what killed Scouting.
Kids want to camp and hike, swim and canoe. I was a Scout in the 1970's in a very successful troop run the old school way. As a very young Asisstant Scoutmaster in the late 80's I was part of a very sucessful troop run the old school way. We camped or hiked or did an outside activity every month -- year round.
I flirted with becoming a professional Scout back in the late 1980's; was offered a couple of jobs. It became clear the only important detail in the Boy Scout Organisation was money. Not the program, not the kids, it was about money and bodies. More bodies leads to more money.
I will say this, Scouting was important in my formative years and beyond. I would not trade my memories for anything. My hand sewn Firecrafter patch is still one of my prized possessions.