You are mainly seeking 35mm film containers placed at the base
of a metal post or in a guard rail. However there are a few
magnetic key holders. They are only hidden in areas with wide
shoulders and/or ample parking and they tend to shy away from homes
and businesses. As always, be careful as you hunt them, the world
can be a dangerous place.
Ninth Edition –
Black Lettering / 1979
The cover artwork was by Norman Rockwell and it was a 1970 Brown
& Bigelow Scout calendar painting "Come and Get It," featuring
a scene at Schiff Scout Reservation (former BSA National Training
Center in New Jersey) of Scouts (in yellow neckerchiefs) cooking
and canoeing.
The Ninth Edition will probably be the last Handbook to have a
Norman Rockwell cover. Because Rockwell painted his last Scout
picture before the BSA redesigned the Scout uniform in 1981, modern
Scouts will tend to think of the Scouts in Rockwell's paintings as
old-fashioned, much the way most of us probably think when we see
earlier Rockwell paintings showing Scouts in knickers and campaign
hats. The back cover has a quick reference tab and a table of
contents.
William Hillcourt came out of retirement and donated a year of
his life to write the Ninth Edition, which represented a return to
the traditional Scouting program after the disastrous membership
losses suffered by the 1970s program. The Ninth Edition has a great
deal in common with Hillcourt's earlier Handbooks (Sixth &
Seventh Editions); entire paragraphs and pictures are reprinted
from the earlier editions.
While preserving many of the Eighth Edition's topics (such as
family and community living, general communication, information on
ethnic groups, the extensive information about abusable drugs), the
Ninth Edition restores many traditional subjects missing for
several editions: how to wear the neckerchief, when to wear the
uniform, lashings, rowing and canoeing, stars, fire without
matches, measuring heights and distances, Scout games,
tracking/trailing, suggested books to read, weather, silent
signals, semaphore, Morse code, Indian signs, manual alphabet for
the deaf, sign language for the deaf, edible wild plants, the
extensive information about wildlife.
It also adds new subjects never before covered:
hypothermia/exposure (barely mentioned previously), splicing, and
backpacking. Indeed, it contains extra information on many subjects
that is not required for advancement but is there for a Scout's use
as needed, making this as much a Fieldbook as an advancement
manual.
The puberty discussion is less complete than has been the case
for several editions. There is no mention of masturbation or wet
dreams. However, there is good guidance on sex, the first Handbook
recognition since the Fourth Edition of adolescent problems with
sex.
This is the first Handbook edition to state than a small spade
is a useful and important camp tool. But it also harks back to the
days of heavy-handed pioneering by showing how to cut a tent peg
with an axe (destructive and unnecessary once lightweight aluminum
and plastic pegs became widely available).
The book uses the cheap "perfect" binding. This edition drops
the merit badge requirements; it includes only the requirements for
the 14 badges required for Eagle Scout (it has color drawings of
the other merit badges). The book's artwork is excellent. In
addition, the BSA redrew the artwork on 75 pages for the 4th
printing (1981) to show its newly redesigned uniform (the first
redesign since 1922).
There are two variations of the same cover. Earlier covers had
title & BSA insignia in black ink (seen below), while later
covers had with blue & red lettering with a gold/black BSA
insignia. There were over 4,000,000 copies printed.
