I wasn't around in the 60s but I had a chemistry set from Salter Science in the 80s and loved it. They had details on how to make simple glassware and so many other things. I didn't have carbon rods for the electrochemistry section but I managed to supplement the manual with another "science experiments book" and pulled out a few from spent batteries. Even synthesised a few simple salts based on my understanding of how things worked so that I could try out the "advanced" experiments from the book.

Modern chemistry sets are extremely lightweight and boring in comparison.