(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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This sugar certificate belonged to Mrs. Caryll M. Crafts of South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Issued by the local rationing board, it authorized her to "accept delivery of" 38 pounds of sugar at a price "not to exceed the maximum price established by the Office of Price Administration (OPA). Rationing became a way of life for people on the home front during World War II (WWII), from 1941-1945. It affected the quantity and kind of food people ate, the distance they could travel, and the clothes they wore. Rationing insured that each person could get his fair share of the products and food goods that were in short supply due to the war effort and import reductions. Factories turned their attention to producing ammunition, guns, airplanes, uniforms, and tanks; consumer goods went first to soldiers and others involved in the war effort. Items like rubber were scarce because they came from the South Pacific, an area occupied by the invading Japanese.

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