(This page is now out of date. For a download of the best current listing of OA Lodge Issues, see http://www.oaimages.com )
Download The Blue Book, Standard Order of the Arrow Insignia Catalog to Your Computer's Hard Drive.
Now Available - Second Edition 1998!
The Blue Book is broken into two major divisions, the Patch Description Data and the Lodge History Descriptions. These two files were combined in Aldus PageMaker to produce the hard copy of the book. We are making the two data files available to you for both the First Edition 1996 and the Second Edition 1998, subject to the copyright restrictions listed below. The files will not look like the printed book, but we think you will find the data useful for your research, and preparation of checklists and sale lists. The copyright restrictions prohibit users from posting The Blue Book, First Edition 1996, or Second Edition 1998, in any format, application file or variation, for downloading or other transmission in any form without the consent of the copyright holder. Feel free to link to http://www.kirkdoan.com, but please don't post the files for download (or you may find out what I do for a living.).
Copyright. The information contained in these files are subject to copyright protection in favor of The American Scouting Historical Society, copyright 1996, 1998. Permission is hereby granted for use of the material in these files, The Blue Book, First Edition 1996, and The Blue Book, Second Edition 1998 and covered by the copyright if: (a) The material is used in advertising material, circulars, price lists, or WebPages for the purpose of offering patches for sale or purchase for the prices listed therein; (b) Personal use on an individual's computer or in hard copy for establishment of a check list of one's collection, or a needs list; and (c) Such material is not used as a part of a catalog, price guide or computerized system competitive with that of copyright holder without permission of copyright holder.
The Second Edition. The Second Edition 1998 contains all of the listings of the First Edition 1996, plus correction of errors and omissions, plus new issues through the 1997 National Scout Jamboree. Consequently, it is not necessary to download the First Edition.
The Patch Description Data (PDD). The PDD is presented in two formats. You will only need one of the formats, depending on your type of computer. The information in each is identical. The first format is a tab delimited file with a .txt extension and named "bluebook.txt" for the First Edition 1996 (1.3 megabyte) and "bluebk2.txt" for the Second Edition 1998 (2 megabytes). This is the quickest file format to download, and is compatible with the IBM platform. The second format is a tab delimited file with a .dif extension and named "bluebook.dif" for the First Edition 1996 (1.3 megabyte) and "bluebk2.txt" for the Second Edition 1998 (6.5 megabyte). The .dif file is compatible with the Macintosh and Apple platform, as well as IBM compatible platforms, but takes a little longer to download. There are 19,711 patches described in the PDD First Edition and about 3,600 more in the Second Edition. Once you have the file on your hard drive, you may open it in any number of applications. We have successfully opened the .txt file in Microsoft Excel, Access and Word, and Lotus 1-2-3. The file was originally composed on a Macintosh using FileMaker Pro Ver.3, so we suspect that is a good Macintosh alternative, as well as Microsoft's Macintosh versions of Excel, Access, Word and Lotus 1-2-3. The PDD was intended to be a database file, not a word processing file, so keep this in mind when you are manipulating the data.
The Lodge History Descriptions (LHD). The LHD is presented in two formats. The first format is a tab delimited file with a .txt extension and named "lodges97.txt" for the First Edition 1996 (97 kilobyte) and "lodges98.txt" for the Second Edition 1998 (100 kilobyte). This is the quickest file format to download, and is compatible with the IBM platform. The second format is a data interchange format file with a .dif extension and named "lodges97.dif" for the First Edition 1996 (178 kilobyte) and "lodges98.dif" for the Second Edition 1998 (114 kilobytes). The .dif file is compatible with the Macintosh and Apple platform, as well as IBM compatible platforms, but takes a little longer to download. There are 600+ lodge histories described in the LHD. Once you have the file on your hard drive, you may open it in any number of applications. We have successfully opened the .txt file in Microsoft Excel and Word. The file was originally composed on a Macintosh using Microsoft Word, so we suspect that is a good Macintosh alternative, as is Excel. The PDD was intended to be a word-processing file, so keep this in mind when you are manipulating the data.
Later Editions. The Fourth Edition of The Blue Book is available for download from http://www.oaimages.com.
Instructions for downloading. First, a caveat. Please do not contact me with download problems until you have exhausted all your alternatives, as we simply do not have the time or expertise to tutor people on computer science. This information is being provided at no charge as a service to the hobby, and we anticipated people will contact us only if the communication is mutually beneficial - e.g.- will make the information more accessible or easier to use or helps us correct a glitch. I would appreciate well composed e-mails describing applications which open the data files, and your experiences manipulating the data. :-)
To download, click on the appropriate link below and the file will appear in your browser. Pull down your file menu and pick "save as" and select a file location to park the data on your hard drive. If the file is less than 1.4 megabytes, you can save to a floppy disk. Good luck and we hope this enhances your collecting enjoyment. Remember, this has been a lot a work for the National Editors, Regional Editors and Contributors who received no compensation. Send constructive comments to kirkdoan@sbcglobal.net.
Corrections and Updates. Please mail corrections and updates to the Regional Editors of the Blue Book for the appropriate Region from which the patch originates. The mailing addresses for the Regional Editors are linked here. If you have any corrections or additions to the listing of the OA Lodges of Regions 8 or 10 for which I was the Regional Editor, please first check my Regions 8 and 10 Errors and Addendum - Fourth Edition. WebPages listing to see if they have already been noted. If not, please e-mail me with full descriptions and a photocopy. Please consider being a Lodge Contact Person to help me keep your lodge's listing current. I also have a collection of all issues form all OA Lodges and would like to trade for new issues, please see my duplicates listing and make trade offers. We hope that the other Regional Editors will have similar update pages on line soon, and when they do, we will provide links to them.
We are working on the Fifth Edition, if you know of any issues for the Regions 8 & 10 Lodges not listed, please let me know ASAP!
The Download Files:
Click on the file you want, and when the file is loaded on your computer, select "save as" from your menu to save the file to your hard drive. You only need one copy each of the PDD and LHD files. I will post tips on how to open the files in various applications as I receive information from users. A description of the field name abbreviations used in the bluebook file is also available. Also, consider a reciprocal link to this, one of the most active Scout memorabilia collecting sites on the Web.
The Blue Book, First Edition 1996:
The Patch Description Data (PDD), 1.3 megabytes in .txt format: bluebook.txt
The Patch Description Data (PDD), 3.5 megabytes in .dif format: bluebook.difThe Lodge History Descriptions (LHD), 97 kilobytes in .txt format: lodges97.txt
The Lodge History Descriptions (LHD), 178 kilobytes in .dif format: lodges97.difThe text version of the Patch Description Data (PDD), is also available as PKZIP files to speed downloading if you have a slow modem, get logged out by your intenet provider after a period of inactivity, or just want a speedier download. The bluebook.zip file is 388 kilobytes and needs to be unzipped by a copy of PKZIP resident on your system. The bluebook.exe file is 403 kilobytes and is self-extracting, you don't need a copy of PKZIP on your system, just click on the file and it will self-extract.
The Blue Book, Second Edition 1998 (Contains all info contained in the First Edition, plus error correction and new issues through the 1997 National Scout Jamboree):
The Patch Description Data (PDD), 2 megabytes in .txt format: bluebk2.txt
The Patch Description Data (PDD), 6.95 megabytes in .dif format: bluebk2.difThe Lodge History Descriptions (LHD), 100 kilobytes in .txt format: lodges98.txt
The Lodge History Descriptions (LHD), 217 kilobytes in .dif format: lodges98.dif
Kirk Doan: Phone: (816)691-2739(24 hour voicemail); Fax (816)474-4208.
E-Mail: kirkdoan@sbcglobal.netSend snail-mail, packages or anything insured to:
Kirk Doan
1201 Walnut Street, Suite 2800
Kansas City, MO 64106-2150
This page last updated: 07/26/13.
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