overall: Height: 27.750 inches (70.485 cm) | Width: 37.375 inches (94.933 cm)
Two sided, paper mailing poster with 16 folded sections. When unfolded, the front has 8 panel illustrations in 2 rows depicting a woman demonstrating how to use ration stamps and tokens on a blue field. There are 3 lines of white text at the top, and a line of text at the bottom with a printed black rectangular tag on either end. The back has a blank left half and a right half divided into 3 printed sections. The bottom right section has a text block asking to display the poster prominently. The section to the left has text blocks containing mailing information with an address label adhered across the center. The section above has text blocks instructing the retailer about ration tokens. back, bottom right, address label, black ink : Phillip Baller
Poster instructing how to use ration tokens
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.
This poster is part of the rationing program established by the Office of Price Administration in the US during World War II. It was mailed to food retailers who were required to hang it on the walls of their shop for public viewing. To counteract rising food prices, the OPA introduced ration stamps; blue for processed foods and red for meats and fats. Ration stamps, in book form, were issued to every man, woman, and child to be used to buy food, and retailers would give back ration tokens as change. Each stamp had a number designating the points it was worth and a letter showing the exact period during which it could be used. In order to discourage hoarding, trading, and selling of stamps, the government expected people to destroy their extra ration stamps each month. Rationing was slowly phased out after the war until November 9, 1946 when President Truman signed an executive order ending all wage and price controls except on rents, sugar, and rice.
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