1926 FIRST AID GUIDE for the Official Boy Scout First Aid Kit

The museum recently received a little 80-page booklet titled First Aid Guide for the Official First Aid Kit Boy Scouts of America, with a note attached: "Here is a 1926 First Aid Guide that was given to me by a woman friend of Marge's that I believed had belonged to her deceased husband. It seems to me that it might be an interesting item for the museum. If you agree will you please deposit it there."

We get many of the vintage Boy Scout items for our museum this way--a short note and a request to "do something with it, thanks."  Boy Scout First Aid Kits are favorites because they fairly shout the Scout motto "Be Prepared" and the contents (if still intact) speak to us of the often curious treatment of minor accidents in generations gone by. 

After some introductory words about the frequency of accidents among the young, and the wrong kind of bravery in boys who pay no attention to their wounds when a minor accident happens--they think it a sign of a "softie"--a "Miss Nancy" to take care of a little cut or scratch, keeping it exposed to dirt and germs, the booklet gets down to business about arterial pressure points and the use of a tourniquet, treatment of burns and scaulds, bandaging and the use of a Boy Scout neckerchief as a sling, bites of animals (Snakebite: "...after you have sucked the wound as clean as possible, it should be cauterized with iodine or by heating a wire, nail or the blade of a knife."), the dangers of coal gas, treatment of apparently drowned persons, and how to make a rescue carry from a second story window. "Grasp his coatails and lift them over your shoulder, carrying the patient in the same way you would carry a sack of potatoes--but more gently."

Under the section, "Your Health," Scouts are advised about good eating habits. "Mixing frankfurters, pickles, ice cream and chocolate is likely to result in stomachache," and "Constipation is responsible for many a headache and many a low mark in school."   "Live up to the Scout Motto: Be Prepared."  

__________________________________________________________

The Troop 1 Unadilla Boy Scout Museum accepts donations of memorabilia that help us tell the 100-year story of the Boy Scouts of America and of the oldest continually chartered Boy Scout troop in the nation. The museum is a part of the Unadilla Historical Association, a 501c3 nonprofit organization preserving and interpreting our Unadilla community history.

Contact Brian Danforth, Scoutmaster and UHA Secretary for a schedule of when to visit the museum (607-369-2007) or Donald Tuttle, UHA Vice President and Troop Historian (607-369-7323).