There are so many different records that genealogists can use to try to get around a brick wall. Some types of records are surprisingly jam-packed with useful information. For example, World War II ration books include the person’s name, age, address, occupation, and even their height and weight. Today, I decided to learn a little more about ration books because they are an interesting historical artifact in addition to being a useful genealogy aid.
In the spring of 1942, the United States began a nationwide food rationing program to ensure that everyone got his or her fair share of items that were in short supply due to the war. Rationing also helped to keep prices for those items reasonable. The Office of Price Administration was in charge of distributing the ration books. Each person within a family had his or her own ration book, which contained ration stamps as well as details about how much of what kinds of foods that person was allowed to have.
Today, it is hard to imagine going to the grocery store and only being allowed to buy specific quantities of certain items. During the war, there was no other way to shop. Because of rationing, a person was only allowed to buy items that he or she had stamps for in his or her ration book, with no exceptions. Groceries were not the only items that were rationed; gasoline, shoes, fabric, and farm equipment were among the long list of items that were rationed during World War II.
If you have family members that were alive during World War II, they probably have interesting stories to tell about how their family got by during those tough times when just about everything was rationed. Perhaps they planted a large victory garden and had fresh vegetables to eat in the summer as well as additional vegetables that they canned for use during the winter. They might have learned to enjoy pies made without sugar. They might mention that while beef was rationed, other types of less commonly eaten meat such as horse and venison were not. People came up with all kinds of creative ways to get the most out of their rations. What did your ancestors do?