This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/zV.2ADI/1799.1 Message Board Post: The depression years were over when WW II started, you know. I remember the black-outs and the ration stamps. Some people had black-out curtains, and some didn't. We didn't have them, so we just had to turn our lights off. There was a block warden for each block, who would go from house to house to tell people that it was black-out time. . . I still have 3 of the old ration books--one for me, one for my mother and one for my father. In fact, they still have stamps left in them. So they must have been books that were issued just when ration time ended. By golly, if we go back to rationing, I'll be ready!