I have a 50s vintage Scout Handbook, its a valuable resource and an interesting read, but I wouldn't try to train up young Scouts according to it. Alot of knowledge has flown under the bridge in 50 years. I was reading the Wilderness Survival merit badge book last night (sad, what I do in my free time) and was pretty impressed with how current and accurate was their advice on things like surviving heat stroke (something like "don't let your brain get to 103 degrees, you will die"). There can be valuable nuggets of info, but for actually passing on knowledge to a younger generation check out the most recent resources.

All of which isn't to dismiss the survival knowledge of anyone who made their bones in the 50s or 60s, I'm not, alot of what I know came from guys who did just that (my brother the Eagle Scout, my Dad the Eagle and Scoutmaster etc). You can probably survive according to texts from any era, but in terms of training a new generation, not alot has been lost from the 50s, but alot of newer info has been gained since then that we have to cover. Maybe relying on a 50s era first aid manual would be a better example of what I'm talking about.