June (Duffy) Carney’s WWII War Ration Book Four

War fation books were common place during WWII. Here’s June (Duffy) Carney’s booklet.

The Start of the Rationing
By summer 1941 the Office of Price Administration believed,that with factories converting to military production and consuming many critical supplies, rationing would become necessary if the country entered World War II. It established a rationing system after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Civilians first received ration books—War Ration Book Number One, or the “Sugar Book”—on 4 May 1942. (Wikipedia)

War Ration Book Four
“Ration book four was printed in red, blue and green. Each stamp was illustrated with a military symbol such as a naval  ship, airplane, tank, gun, horn of plenty or torch of liberty, adding a patriotic flair. Ration book four also introduced red and blue cardboard tokens, each valued at one-point, to be used as change for ration coupon purchases.

“Before the use of tokens, people had to present the exact number of points for the purchase of merchandise or forfeit the difference. For example, if a can of corn was listed at 7 ration points, and the purchaser had only a 10 point stamp left for the week, she would lose three ration points as part of the purchase.

“When tokens came into use, the purchaser could receive three tokens, each worth one point, in exchange. An advantage of tokens was that they never expired, while the stamps did. Ration book four also included “spare” stamps that were occasionally validated for the purchase of five extra pounds of pork.” (AmericanCenturies.mass.edu.)

Images courtesy of June Carney.

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