Reddit mentions of The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It, Centennial Edition

As a young kid in the 60s and 70s (off my damn lawn, you pesky kids!) my parents were both teachers and when they were out of school for the summer my older brother and I were also out for the summer, so we did a lot of camping. As educators they didn't have much money so my dad got really creative with some equipment. One thing he did was to make my brother and me some "survival kits". They were tupperware-like containers with some key supplies etc. And then in addition to that he made us all survival belts that were essentially the same thing as what you've got there. (They were simply white cord though.)

We never had to use them, but my brother and I secretly wanted to be in a situation where we "had to". We religiously read both the Boy Scout fieldbook (though neither of us was ever in the scouts), and perhaps just as avidly, The American Boy's Handy Book. So many useful things in there!

But the one thing I still remember perhaps more than any other about those days were the "survival kits" and the belts.

Thanks for the reminder! :)

Literally: The American Boy’s Handybook

Now that drawing in this marvelous book finally makes sense!