Mike Tiefenbacher sent me the following…
One fact in your write-up on Treasure Chest is incorrect. I never had a subscription — that seemed to be limited to students who attended Catholic school, and I was only a Friday afternoon visitor for my weekly Catechism class — though Jerry Sinkovec did, and had actually "bound" (he punched holes in them and put them together with o-rings by year) his issues together so as to easily keep track of them, and re-read the serials. Since I'd see them in the classrooms on Friday afternoons, I presume the subscription copies were delivered and distributed like the Weekly Reader was in public schools, and that kids didn't get them through the mail (though that was probably an available option).
Anyway, my cousins (who also attended Catholic school) also had a subscription, and somehow I got an issue from them circa '60 or so, which had a Joe Sinnott story about Pope John XXIII, which held my interest in finding out more about them eventually. This is why I was fully aware of the subject matter when Treasure Chest showed up on newsstands about…well, obviously by '71 to '72, the last volume and the first one that was issued monthly. I'm wasn't certain when this was, exactly, but my memory of it — and I'm rather sorry that I ignored it at the time, because then I could determine exactly when it was — was also that it was 35-cent giant, which I see is the actual cover-price on those last eight issues. They are also the only volume to display the Comics Code Authority stamp — ironic, since the subject matter could hardly have ever been in danger of triggering anything by them. I treated them then like I treated Classics Illustrated (and all humor comics): I rarely gave them more than a passing glimpse. Had they continued, by the mid-'70s I probably would've started collecting them, like I eventually did everything else…except Classics Illustrated.
Now, I'd like to see Boys' Life put their comics online…
Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall seeing Treasure Chest on a newsstand or two, late in its existence. I'm guessing that circulation via the old method had declined a lot and someone decided to see if it could hold its own against Spider-Man and Batman on the racks. I'm also guessing it didn't. But I think you're wrong about the Comics Code stamp. Scanning that website I linked to, I see a lot of Code symbols on books from earlier years.
The in-class distribution I recall from elementary school in Los Angeles was of Scholastic Books, sometimes known as Tab Books. Once or twice a semester, they'd pass out these little catalogues to us and we were encouraged to order very cheap paperbacks from it. You'd pay your money in and the teacher (or some designated pupil) would compile a bulk order for the class and send it off. Then a few weeks later, a big crate would arrive and we'd all get our books.
A couple times, I was the pupil in charge of the order and I recall taking the job very seriously, keeping careful records of who'd ordered what and collecting all the money. I had to count it over and over to make sure I had the right amount and then take it all down to the principal's office where they'd write one big check for all the orders that were going in from the school. Then every single day, my classmates would ask me — like I had any more information than they did — when their orders would be arriving. When they did, all learning stopped for about an hour while I opened the crate and passed out the books. There were always a few missing but there were also always extras included. I could usually use the extras to appease the kids who hadn't received what they'd paid for. Also, there were other snags in the system…like what to do with the books ordered by a kid who'd been expelled the previous week. I think in that case, I just took his books home and kept them for myself. Which is what you'd have done. Admit it.
I still have a number of these paperbacks on my shelf. I believe some of them — like a nifty collection of the newspaper strip, Miss Peach — were only available through this program.
Getting back to Treasure Chest: I know there have been other comics distributed by this method. Were the EC Picture Stories from the Bible and their other educational items sold this way, either exclusively or in addition to some other means? Does anyone know? And a big Thank You to Mike for the additional info.