The Concept of Rationing
Rutgers University: World War II Paraphenalia, from The Oral History Archives of WWII
Why Ration? The Persuasion CampaignNorthwestern University Library: World War II Poster Collection
The Rationing ChallengeBritish Broadcasting Corporation: The Children of World War II
Description: This exhibit presents digital artifacts of the rationing campaign (rationing books, ration tickets, etc.) mounted during World
War II to insure the availability of U.S. goods for the overseas campaigns. (Primary source material).
Teaching Tips:
"Do Now" Suggestion
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Students can look through the Concept of Rationing artifacts and respond to the following questions (in a journal entry, think-pair-share):
a) Among the items listed in these artifacts, which would you find the hardest to give up? Which surprise you? b) If we had
to begin rationing today for some reason, how do you think the rationed items would be different?
Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson
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Students can do the "Rationing Challenge" to get a sense for what it was like to buy groceries during WWII. The website is
from the BBC, so the teacher would have to explain that the specifics of the rationing system were different in England and
the United States, but the concept was the same.