(NEXSTAR) – With the possible exception of the first Girl Scouts to sell cookies in front of marijuana dispensaries, the Scouts of the early to mid-1940s were perhaps the most innovative in the history of the organization.
Due to wartime rationing during World War II, the councils and bakeries supplying Girl Scouts with cookies were facing a shortage of the ingredients needed to make their signature offerings. But instead of halting their fundraising activities altogether, the Scouts pivoted and began selling non-food items: specifically, calendars.
The 1944 Girl Scout calendar — the first of its kind — featured staged photos of Girl Scout troops alongside “the Girl Scout laws,” according to a representative for the organization.
The 1944 and 1945 versions also “stressed the need for patriotism and good citizenship,” the National World War II Museum noted on its official site.
At 25 cents apiece (or around $4.30 in today’s money), the calendars soon became a “major source” …