Welcome to Episode 25's supplemental blog post. This episode focused on hunting, fishing, and trapping in wartime America and how that fed into the larger picture of food rationing.
Below are three great propaganda posters from the National Archives. Two are focused on the importance of the fishing industry. The third is part of a smaller, but no less important campaign that was led to educate hunters and campers about being responsible with their matches, cigarettes, and pipes to prevent forest fires. Because, like the poster points out, forest fires destroy game.
And game = food for people.
I talk about this piece of legislation introduced by North Dakota to protect wild game and conservation efforts from ideas that would wipe out wild game in the name of the war emergency situation.
And here's the Florida ad I mention in the episode about deep sea fishing being forbidden with those tempting marlins in the pictures.
I mentioned this ad in the podcast too, but didn't remember exactly where I saw it - well, here it is! So, apparently, this company supplied flies in the emergency kits for the U.S. pilots. So cool!
I talk about this article in the podcast as well. The picture of one season's take of fox furs as shown at the bottom of the article is pretty striking.
A big thank you to my friend Kelsey for spotting the following ad in one of her Life magazines and sharing it with me!
It’s very similar to an ad I found in one of my magazines!
I wanted to show the small collection of hunting and fishing magazines I acquired as source materials for this episode. I tried to gather issues from throughout the war period and on various topics. It's quite the fascinating research subject, and this part of the American homefront story is full of fascinating things to study!
Cookbook Highlight: Men in Aprons by Lawrence A. Keating published in 1944. My copy is from March 1945. This book is hilarious and definitely worth a read.
For this dessert, keep in mind that the frosting is not the greatest recipe and needs some adjustment. I recommend only cooking it to the soft ball stage. The cake, however, was really good. As a whole, the recipe was very cheeky for a wartime suggestion. I got the feeling Mr. Keating didn’t give a fig about wartime restrictions…
RESOURCES
National Wildlife Week
Books & Magazines:
Field & Stream, April 1943
Fur Fish Game, January 1945
Fur Fish Game, February 1945
Hunting and Fishing, October 1944
Sports Afield, February 1944
Sports Afield, July 1942
Sports Afield, November 1942
Life, 13 March 1944
Books:
The Sportsman’s Way: How to Prepare Wild Game & Waterfowl, 1945
Men in Aprons by Lawrence A. Keating, 1944
Images:
America’s Fishing Fleet and Men. World War II Posters series. Office of War Information. National Archives, 1941-1945.
Fish is a Fighting Food. World War II Posters series. Office of War Information. National Archives, 1941-1945.
Forest Fires Destroy Game. World War II Posters series. Office of War Information. National Archives, 1941-1945.