Figure 1.--Here we see four boys headed cforvthe National Jamboree in Washington showing off their classic ribberized green poncho. The press caption read, "LET IT RAIN" Say these Boy Scouts of Troop 10, Brookline, Mass., gathered Washington, D.C., for the Boy Scouts Jamboree, The ponchos they're wearing are guaranteed to keep them dry. Left to right: (front) Charles Bain, John Vanderburgh, James Henneberry, and J. R. Ward. In rear are Joe Connolly (left) and Fritz Saunders." The photograp was dated July 1, 1937.

Scouts had to be prepared when outdoors for the rain what ever the season. Here a useful item was the poncho, especially the ruberized poncho. We are not sure when the first Scout poncho appeared, but it is an important Scout item when camping with tents. We note Scouts using these ponchos in the 1930s. One group was pictured with ponchos at the first American National Jamboree in Washington D,C. (1937). The Jamboree received a lot of fress coverage so we known a great deal about the uniforms worm, including the rubberized poncho wehich the BSA apparently claimed was 'guaranteed to keep them dry." These official BSA ponchos were dark green rubber coated cotton. The BSA didn't change them until the late-1960s. A reader tells us, "These ponchos were a classic. I've still got a like new poncho of this type in my BSA foot locker buried deep in our basement."