Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council has a good collection of the National Equipment Service catalogs. During the ten plus years the History Committee has been collecting memorabilia over 90 different catalogs have been acquired from donations. This is not a complete collection of all catalogs that have been produced, but it is a very useful collection. Two magazine racks not only display the collection but also make the catalogs accessible for use
The Equipment Department (now called National Equipment Service, NES) was first organized in 1917, five years after Girl Scouts began. For the next ten years price lists and catalogs were issued from time to time. It wasn’t until 1927 that the catalog began to be issued on a regular basis. Until 1958 two catalogs were issued each year. Since the Fall of 1958 there has been a single equipment catalog each year. Publication was in black and white at first. In 1934 a rotogravure process was used to produce the first catalog in color. We are all familiar with the colorful catalogs that NES now provides annually for each member.

Recently I had occasion to try to date a Girl Scout pocket knife. Browsing through the catalogs looking for an illustration and description that would match the knife in question, it occurred to me that you might like to join vicariously in a search of the catalog collection for pocket knives.

GSSJC’s oldest price list, 1917, does not list any knives. The History Committee was told that the 1918 equipment catalog offered two official Girl Scout knives. There were no descriptions but one knife was $2 and the other was 75 cents. In 1919 the prices had each been lowered 25 cents. The GSSJC collection does not include these catalogs.

The first catalog (actually GSSJC has only a copy) with illustrations in the San Jacinto collection is dated 1926. A four bladed pocket knife is shown with this description: “Official Knife with trefoil seal, stag handle, large blade of finest steel. Has screw-driver, bottle and can opener, punching blade, and ring for belt.” The knife is listed at $1.60 and a “small size” at $1.05.

The 1929 spring catalog uses the same illustration and description with prices of $1.50 and $1. The second knife is described as “with two blades.” The 1931 description changed words slightly, but it seems obvious it is the same knife at the same price. The second knife was described as “The Girl Scout Whittling Knife has two blades suitable for whittling and wood carving. Also hangs from the belt ring.”

The GS SJC archives next catalog, 1934, has illustrations of four knives, each having a separate description. The “Official” knife has four blades at $1.50, and the “Whittling” knife has two blades at 85 cents. Both of these knives have stag handles. The “Featherweight” knife appears to have three blades at $1, and the “Featherweight Whittling” knife has two blades at 75 cents. These latter knives have handles of mottled green mother of pearl.
Six years later, 1940, there are still four knives although the names have changed. There are two official knives, one with a stag handle at $1.50, and a featherweight one with a green pyralin handle at $1. Both have four blades. The other two knives have two blades and stag handles. One is a craft knife at 75 cents, and the other is a whittling knife at 85 cents.

In the spring of 1942 the craft knife is not listed. Both official knives with differing handles from 1940 are available at the same prices. The same whittling knife is now priced at $1. Two years later, 1944, the stag handled official knife is no longer listed, the green plastic handled one at $1 is the only “official” knife. The whittling knife is now $1.35. During the years of WWII materials for knives had changed from year to year.

In 1947 two knives were listed. The $2, four blade knife with a green acetate handle is called “official.” A second four blade knife for $1.35 with a plastic handle is listed as lightweight. The following year a two blade knife is called a “Pen” knife and has a dark brown stag handle. The price of the pen knife fluctuated. In 1950 it was $1, up to $1.10 in 1952, and back to $1 in 1953. During those years the official knife was $2.

A Brownie single blade knife with safety lock was introduced in 1957. It had a red handle which said “Brownie” on one side of the handle and on the other had a two line motto: “Be Wise, Beware, Use me with Care.” The price was 85 cents. In 1973 the handle changed from red to brown and the price was $2.15. In 1979 the logo became the “three faces” and the price was $3.75. By 1982 the Brownie knife was no longer available. The last year the Brownie knife was available it was $6.25.

In the Fall of 1963 the Girl Scout four blade knife was still $2 and the two blade pen knife was $1. Two years later the prices were $2.25 and $1.25. By 1967 each knife had increased another 25 cents in price. The price in 1969 was up to $2.75 and $1.75.

During most of the 1960s Girl Scouts could choose the official four blade knife or the two blade pen knife. Prices increased gradually until in 1969 the prices were $2.75 and $1.75.

The 1970s brought more changes. The 1975 catalog lists only a “multi-use” four blade knife at $3.40. By 1979 it was selling for $5.95 and the traditional trefoil with an eagle changed to the contemporay three faces logo.

From 1980 to 1986 the price increased from $8.75 to $13.75. In 1984 the handle had become “delrin,” probably a trade name for the specific plastic. The new knife introduced in 1987 as a “camper” knife was priced at $12.25.

A smaller Swiss Army style knife with dark green handle became available in 1994. It was priced at $20.50. At that time the “camper” knife was $16.50. In 1995 when the camper knife sold for $17, the handle color changed to bright blue. Since the 1996 catalog the four blade knife has been called a “camp” knife.

In 2002 the smaller Swiss Army type knife began to be made by the Swiss Victorinox company at a price of $22.

In a search of the new 2004/2005 catalog the only Girl Scout knife found cost $22.

Note: Are you wondering if the knife that started all of this was ever identified? It was decided it must be from a year for which the GSSJC collection does not have a catalog.