A Newsletter of the White River Valley Museum April 2004

Prudence Penny's Wartime Wisdom by Alyssa Shirley Morein, Curator of Collections   World War II had a great impact on daily life in America. Among the many new realities of the time were air-raid drills in schoolrooms, scrap-metal and rubber drives, and rationing of food and other goods imposed by the Office of Price Administration. American women, who had been called to duty in the workforce and possibly also had spouses overseas, grappled with another new hardship: grocery shopping with ration stamps. This was no easy task. Shoppers received stamps of different colors for different types of food÷some good for thirty days, others valid a week at a time but could be held over until they expired the last week of the month÷and point values of foods were subject to change, so planning at home often proved difficult.   Prudence Pennyâs Coupon Cookery, front cover. Murray & Gee, Publishers: Hollywood, CA, 1943. ãAn investment that will pay for itself many times over in money, time, patience, nutrition value, and good meals!ä ÷Museum Library.   Thankfully, shoppers were not without help. In 1943, the 128-page Coupon Cookery was published. Its author, Prudence Penny, counsels readers how to provide their families with ãsound nutrition plus appetite-appeal within the bounds of Uncle Samâs allowance.ä The book, which sold for $1.50, contains a number of tongue-in-cheek illustrations featuring a perky-looking, apron-clad housewife, and patriotic poetry is peppered throughout. Its dedication begins, ãTo the housewives of America/ those soldiers, tried and true/ who are struggling on the homefront/ to serve good meals to you!ä Good nutrition is presented as the ultimate patriotic statement, as is good cooking: ãU. S. needs US strong!ä ãWars may come and go, but real, red-blooded American Homemakers will put up a struggle to preserve that cherished custom of Good Eating!ä It may not be convenient But we don't admit defeat For in spite of War and Rationing America must eat It may take a deal of cunning And a bit of laughter, too To keep the meal-time pleasant When the coupons are too few! To cook ãGood Meals, In Spite of It Allä required a little magic. ÷ Coupon Cookery, p. 21.   In addition to advice on organizing and ãs-t-r-e-t-c-hingä ration points, Ms. Pennyâs book includes tables for keeping track of different foodsâ point values and hundreds of recipes designed to make the most of available ingredients÷for example, ãPork Knuckles in Sour Cream,ä ãLiver Gems,ä and ãHearty Lima Molds.ä In the chapter ãPrudent Tips and Penny Savers,ä readers are reminded that tough cuts of meat can be made more enjoyable by long, slow cooking, and learn how to substitute baking powder for eggs. Coffee, which was strictly rationed, could be stretched by being mixed with Soyfee, an unrationed coffee substitute. And through it all, of course, readers were urged to turn in cans for scrap metal. World War II ration stamps belonging to Auburn citizens. ÷WWII Ephemera Collection, Museum Archives The extreme economies suggested by this book may seem to some as antiquated as its bright, booster-ish turns of phrase and old-fashioned recipes. But those who lived through World War II witnessed a unique period in American history÷when civilians across thousands of miles were unified in their actions and struggles by a single purpose. Prudence Pennyâs book is an intriguing and irreplaceable symbol of that era. Alyssa Shirley Morein