Figure 1.--We thought these Ameicamn Scouts boys we headed to the 7th U.S. Jambore in Idalo, held in 1969, but as the snapshots were dated August 1968 nd the probbly taken in July, they must be headed to a regiular Scout camp. .

American Scout uniforms were little changed in the 1960s. We see both greenish and tanish colored Scout uniforms. We are not sure why that was. Most American boys in the 1960s wore the long pants Scout uniform. This was in part because American boys at the time did not commonly wear short pants. There were some exceptions. Some boys wore shorts during the summer. A few boys, mostly younger ones still had short pants suits, but this was becoming increasingly less common, especially as the decade progressed. As a result, it was undestandable that boys wore the long pants uniform, except for camps or jamborees. Uniform trends varied somewhat by region. Shorts were worn more in California. Boys in other regions were more commonly wear the short pants uniform during the summer, but long pants were by far the most common. One HBU contributor tells me that he was an Eagle Scout in the 1960s. "Yes, I remember wearing the shorts and knee socks and all, at least during the Summer months. The shorts didn't seem any more "sissy" than the regular long-pants uniform, but you didn't dare wear either of them to school past about the 6th grade--unless you wanted to get teased by the other boys." There were no major changes in the Scout uniform during the 1960s. Scouts did begin wearing more diverse neckerchiefs. Scouts in the 1950s wore the traditional red and black neckerchiefs. Scout troops in the 1960s began wearing their own distinctive neckerchiefs. A reader writes, "For American scouts the shorts seem more short than I remember in the 1960s." Yes I thought so too. Note that not all the Scouts have short cut shorts. It ;ooks like this might be a scene at camp. One might think boys had camp might take some older uniform items for some of the activities.