Quack Medicine of the 19th and Early 20th century

Morphine, Cocaine, Heroin, Arsenic, Carbolic Acid

Electric Flesh Brushes and Cigarettes that cured Asthma.

It's a Wonder how we ever made into the 20th Century.

CRAZY

WW II Gasoline Ration Stamps (Farmers)

         WW II Ration Stamps   (Non Highway) 

I found this booklet in an old abandoned farmhouse in Sinking Spring Pa.When I was about 12.

  

  

   

  

During the Depression of the 1930s, Americans "Did Without" because they didn't have jobs to buy food and clothing. During World War II, Americans again "did without," this time because of the war effort. Rationing affected rural America particularly.The federal government set up a rationing system in 1942 and limited purchases of sugar, coffee, meat, fish, butter, eggs, cheese, shoes, rubber and gasoline. Silk and newly invented nylon was used to produce parachutes, and so women around the world found it hard to get fashion stockings.Here's how rationing worked: Each member of the household got a ration booklet, usually distributed at a the local school. Each booklet had stamps in it that translated into a certain amount of the commodity being rationed. For instance, there were only enough stamps for one person to buy 28 ounces of meat per week, 4 ounces per day. Merchants collected the stamps when you bought something, and when the stamps were gone so was the item for that week.The challenge was to use everyone's stamps to buy the food the family needed. The Office of Price Administration gave out points that could be used to purchase goods in very short supply, but it was up to the consumer to use the coupons when buying rationed items.

Other commodities were in short supply because trade routes were disrupted. Shellac, for instance, was produced in India and was used for building products and music record discs. Because of the war in Asia, trade with India was disrupted, and so new records were hard to come by.

The shortages became such a nuisance that they even got the attention of songwriters. 

Jazz musician Louis Jordan was one of those who had fun with rationing when he wrote "Ration Blues" 

      Jazz Song, Ration Blues 

                                                         click on link                                     

 Farm production, however, was vital to the war effort, so farmers got extra rations of gasoline and other staples. Yet, it was hard to get new machinery as factories were retooled to produce tanks rather than tractors.

Rationing & Scrap Drives 

Click on this link below. The Website is packed with informative Articles, Stories, Pictures, Videos and Facts.

The Home Front during the 1940s

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION DOLLAR

Found the bottom token while digging in Easton. The top pictures are what the original token would have looked like.

Animal Teeth :

Beer & Mineral Water Bottles from the Lehigh Valley and surrounding towns