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Boys’ Life Archives

Scout Life magazine has partnered with Google Books to archive more than 100 years of Boys’ Life magazine. You can view nearly every issue from March 1911 to December 2012 at the following links:

Once you find the issue you’d like to read, just click on the “Preview this magazine” link. You can also search within a particular issue or across all issues.

What About Issues Since 2012?

Many articles published since 2012 are available here on the Scout Life website. You can also find recent issues of the magazine on the Scout Life app.

19 Comments on Boys’ Life Archives

  1. Chaplain's Aid // June 15, 2011 at 11:04 pm // Reply

    Thank you so much Boy’sLife editors for putting Christianity in every issue. Don’t let anyone put a stop to that. Please aways keep it Christian. God bless BSA!

  2. icant find the january 2010 issue. can some body help me with that

  3. This is amazing!

  4. Why dont they have any upto date issues

  5. dear bsa we have the July 1963 issue but there is no MICKEY mANTEL ARE you sure it was that issue? we have Oct.1963/nov./july/Dec./may/Sept./Aug./June. 1964/march/feb./oct./april./aug./may/july/jan./june. 1965/jan./feb./april. thats all the issues we have. i hope this gives you an idea of what we have. ihope that someone will want any of these. if not we are going to throw them away.

  6. grampy's girl // May 22, 2011 at 6:11 pm // Reply

    My grandfather was an advertising artist and I have an original painting of a boys life magazine cover. I’m wondering if it was used. I’m not sure when it was done, but it has 3 boys trying to start a fire by rubbing a stick on a block of wood, and a native american smiling and handing them a lighter. Anyone ever see that one?

  7. How do I print a copy of a cool article?

  8. THANK YOU! There’s a story I remember reading as a kid, but couldn’t find anywhere. Many people I talked to remembered the story, but not the title or author. Some remembered that it was in Boys’ Life, and I finally found it — Mission: Survival by Curt Fischer, in the Aug. 1988 issue.

  9. Umm, it ain’t workin’!

  10. John Thurman's apprentice // May 3, 2011 at 2:20 pm // Reply

    I love it! Thank you for making these available! As a Scout, I personally enjoy reading these 1911 issues more than I do the 2011 issues. On thing that impresses me is the amount of material in the old magazines. It takes me much longer to read it than it does to reading the current magazines, and that is a good thing! I throughly enjoy reading the inspiring, manly fiction, and love the practicality of the articles on useful skills. Scout Skills, Public Speaking, Survival, Fitness, and much more. I love reading how to do things much more than I do reading about other people doing them. I know you at Boy’s Life try to make the magazines to appeal to current boys, and as a Scout myself, I would like to let you know that I would love it if you would make the current Boy’s Life magazines more like the old ones. I have some experience in writing and am the Senior Patrol Leader of my Troop, and if you would like, I would be willing to volunteer some of my time to write some articles. Please reply if you are interested. I know that there are others Scouts as well who would really appreciate the return of some of the old-style content. I don’t mean outdated, rather up-to-date but written with the same practical value and spirit of rugged adventure that the old one’s are written in. Thank you again for your hard work in making these available.

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