Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
World War II was the time of the Big Band, and Americans all across the Home Front made their ways to performances at popular venues as well as listened to the newest hits on the radio by artists like Bing Crosby or groups led by Duke Ellington. Music kept people’s spirits high while husbands, cousins, friends, boyfriends, and other members of the family were off fighting to bring liberty to a world that found itself in a fierce battle.
Music of the WWII era paralleled with the sentiments and proceedings of what was going on in the world. This hasn’t changed since. The only slight difference is that instead of 17 shined instruments, our musicians are found with guitars or mixes created with software on computers. Technology has changed the world of music, but what is has not touched is the sheer simplicity of an artist’s creation of songs that reflect the mood of the American public.
Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
RUDY VALLEE CONDUCTING THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD BAND WHILE ENTERTAINING TROOPS IN CALIFORNIA ON 30 JANUARY 1944.
Jazz was a popular genre nationwide during WWII. Before US involvement in the war, themes of music centered on American isolationism and support for the Allied forces. A popular song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II titled “The Last Time I Saw Paris” was published in 1940. There are numerous versions of this song, but singer Kate Smith’s is one of the most well-known. The song creates a nostalgic feel of reflection for the beautiful city of Paris that unluckily fell to Nazi control earlier that year.
As the war progressed in Europe, songs continued to focus on the disapproval of US involvement, but when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, subject matters changed. Some songs called for scraps to be saved, collected, and donated while others encouraged enlistment. “We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again” by Barry Wood was released only days after Pearl Harbor. It is a rally song that convinced Americans they need not worry about fighting in a second war since they had already come out of WWI victorious. The upbeat attitude of the song was a hopeful disguise of the sentiment of worry most Americans were feeling. Elton Britton, a popular country music artist, released “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere” in 1942 to reassure families who had lost loved ones in the war that a flag would always fly in their honor.
There were also songs of love and of longing to reunite with loved ones. A well-known song that was released before US involvement in the war, but rose in popularity as more and more men were sent overseas was “I’ll Be Seeing You” sung by many artists, but most popularly by Bing Crosby in 1944.
Music today carries the same value it did during the war. There are artists like Toby Keith who have released songs that remind Americans of our strength of a country as well as express gratitude to soldiers for their sacrifice. A few favorites of Keith’s among the American public include “American Soldier” and “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” There are also songs today that expand beyond our military involvement with the Middle East and zoom in more on social issues happening stateside. “Same Love” released in 2013 by pop culture artists Macklemore calls for equality in the LGBT community. Whether it was 1940, is 2016, or any year in between, singers, songwriters, and composers have the job of creating songs that boost morale, open minds, or bring people together over a common cause.
If you’re a fan of music and are looking for a new playlist to celebrate the weekend, check out the one below. Enjoy taking yourself back in time to the 1940s through these lyrics and beats.
Posted by Camille Weber, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
These days, making cupcakes or muffins or really any sort of dish, is simple. You raid your pantry, take a trip to the grocery store, and compile all ingredients you need without having to worry about limitations placed on the amount of, for example, sugar or eggs or milk that you choose to buy. This was not the case during WWII.
Certain foods were limited during the war, especially those that were processed because they could easily be sent overseas to troops. Families received ration books, and in each ration book were stamps that correlated with a particular food item. Each food required a certain amount of stamps in order to purchase it. Once a person ran out of their stamps, they had to wait until the next month to receive a new ration book. With this system came great responsibility, and families not only found their creative sides in the kitchen, but also learned to balance out their meals.
The cookbook that we’ve been using to pull recipes for “foodie” Friday, The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: Wartime Edition, holds weekly calendars in the back that lay out example plans of what meals families could eat each of the days during the weeks.
Example of the weekly layout of what families could eat for their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. At the bottom of the pages are substitute meal ideas in case a family was missing ingredients or didn’t have enough ration stamps for a particular meal.
This week’s “foodie” Friday recipe from the American Woman’s Cook Book is for cornmeal muffins with, or without, jam. This is served as a breakfast. In the above photo, it’s listed as a breakfast item for Wednesday. The recipe calls for sugar and an egg, both of which were rationed, but could have been purchased with your ration stamps. These can be served as breakfast for multiple days in a row since the recipe makes about 12. The muffins were a great dish because they lasted a while, so families could get a lot out of a recipe that didn’t call for too large of amounts from too many ingredients. It is simple, straightforward, and pleasing to the taste buds, so families on the Home Front ate this breakfast up and continuously participated in the fight for victory.
Ingredients:
1 cup of corn meal
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 egg
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of melted shortening
Step 1: Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Step 2: Sift the corn meal, flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder together.
Step 3: Beat the egg.
Step 4: Add the milk and melted shortening to the beaten egg.
Step 5: Mix together the dry ingredients with the egg mixture.
Step 6: Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy!
Taste tip: Spread some jelly on them for a touch of sweetness. Civilians on the Home Front made this breakfast their jam, no pun intended.
Posted by Camille Weber, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
As a way to relieve the stress and nerves of soldiers, numerous charities and organizations held events to offer them an escape from training and their inevitable thoughts of war. In the Broadway Theater District of New York City, the American Theater Wing, a volunteer organization, opened the Stage Door Canteen. This was a club that offered a wide variety of entertainment and food to servicemen. If you’re wondering what it was like to attend the Stage Door Canteen, check out BB’s Stage Door Canteen here at the National WWII Museum and take a trip back to the time of big band and red lipstick.
In February of 1941, President Roosevelt started the United Service Organization for National Defense (USO). It is a nonprofit that still holds events today and aims to keep the morale of soldiers high. The USO offers a wide variety of services, and during WWII their clubs hosted many popular events stateside, all of which were relevant to the interests of their community. Some areas may have had a USO club that offered live music or sporting events to entertain soldiers, while others may have had a daycare service for mothers who found themselves working their husbands’, brothers’, and friends’ industrial jobs on the Home Front.
Photo courtesy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library.
The USO holds a special place in Louisiana’s heart because the first USO house was built in DeRidder, LA. It stands today as a building that commemorates the work volunteers from the Home Front did to make sure their boys could experience a good time and take a break from the unfortunate reality of war. There were numerous soldiers all over DeRidder, so this was the perfect place to open a club. Americans on the Home Front volunteered their time at the USO houses to help soldiers, for example, write a letter, while others may have worked in the kitchen, cooked meals, and served plates. At DeRidder USO house, the events with the most people in attendance were the dances that were held at least three nights a week. Chaperoned female students from the University of Lafayette would bus over to DeRidder in formal gowns and tag dance through the night with different soldiers. Gatherings like these reminded the soldiers that their country stood with them.
The DeRidder USO House. Photo courtesy of Beauregard Tourism.
The USO is still a very relevant organization today. It constantly reminds us to support our troops, wherever they may be stationed in the world. Along with the strong volunteer support from the American public are celebrities, especially singers, who have also dedicated their time and put their talent to good use. Some, like the late Robin Williams and country artists Toby Keith, have made trips as a part of the USO Overseas Service to bring comedy, music, or a piece of home. The Overseas Service was offered during WWII as well and events like these were, and still are, what allow our troops to connect with home, and reassure them that we stand by their service.
Toby Keith in Afghanistan via United States Department of Defense.
Robin Williams on USO Tour via World Net Daily.
As was the fashion of the time, soldiers showed up to these USO events in uniform. With the WWII infantry uniform came a hat, and below you can attempt to make your own WWII origami infantry cap.
Here are the steps:
1. Find yourself a piece of newspaper, or a simple 8.5 inch by 11 inch sheet. Color of your choice.
2. Fold the paper in half on the vertical axis.
3. Fold the paper on the horizontal axis.
4. Fold the right and left corners to the center of the page.
5. Fold the horizontal strip upwards.
6. Flip the paper over.
7. Fold the tip downward so that the point meets the middle.
8. Fold the horizontal strip (bottom part of the hat). One side gets folded upward and will lay over the tip.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
To keep the past alive, and to add some different foods to weekly meals and flavor to our posts, there will be a few Home Front “Foodie” Fridays in which we share our experiences cooking a WWII ration meal from The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: Wartime Edition. This cookbook was published during the war with substitutes and economically friendly recipes for wartime meals and holds over 400 pages of different recipes. There is also a section at the end of the book dedicated to a weekly layout of how a family of five could be fed on $15 a week.
Front page of the Victory cookbook.
Since food was highly valued during WWII, a lot of different ingredients were rationed. The first of these foods was sugar. Its rationing began in the spring of 1942, and many recipes had to change. Whether in the home or at a restaurant, whomever prepared the meals needed to find a way to replace ingredients like sugar with a substitute that tasted just as good if not better. In the case of sugar, items like honey, maple syrup or corn syrup were used. If honey was used in place of sugar, the recipe would call for half the amount of honey as it would sugar as well as a quarter less amount of water.
WWII ration propaganda poster. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
By rationing these goods at home, the troops overseas were able to receive items like sugar, flour, and coffee as seen in the photo below. Elaborate foods were not supported during the war, so people stuck to simple dishes. The following recipe for Honey Rice is categorized as a dessert in The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: Wartime Edition. Simple to make, easy on the budget, and delicious for the taste buds, honey rice is just one example of the types of desserts people were eating on the Home Front during the war.
Flour, sugar, coffee, rice, cookies, and canned goods are distributed after ration breakdown at Hunter Liggett Military Base on 24 March 1944.
Recipe in The Victory Binding of the American Woman’s Cook Book: Wartime Edition.
Ingredients:
1 cup of uncooked rice
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of raisins
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup of chopped nuts
Cinnamon (whatever amount suits your taste buds)
Step 1: Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2: Cook the rice in boiling salted water until soft. Drain the rice.
Step 3: Heat the honey in a heavy pan until it’s not as dense.
Step 4: Add the honey and raisins to the cooked rice. Stir and let these cook for 5 minutes.
Step 5: Pour the mixture into a buttered, shallow baking dish and dot it with butter. Bake in over until the rice is golden brown.
Step 6: Remove from oven and stir in the lemon juice and vanilla.
Step 7: Top it with cinnamon and chopped nuts.
This recipe will serve about 8 people. It is a dessert plate, but I paired it with some sauteed chicken, and it was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.
Posted by Camille Weber, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
Knitting during World War II: During World War II, civilians on the Home Front knitted scarves, hats, gloves, and socks for soldiers on the front. Everyone was encouraged to “Knit Your Bit” and donate warm knitted items to their local Red Cross stations. These knitted items helped keep American soldiers warm during the freezing European winters as well as reminded them of their home sweet home.
In 1943, the American Red Cross listed these instructions explaining how to knit a Muffler. Courtesy of the National Endownment for the Humanities.
Knit Your Bit: The WWII knitting program has inspired the creation of the Museum’s Knit Your Bit program. In the past 10 years, the Museum has collected over 50,000 scarves to donate to veterans. If you would like to knit a scarf for a veteran or create a scarf in gender neutral colors and send it in to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans or to one of our community partners around the country follow this link.
DIY Knitting Needles: Do you want to knit a scarf, but don’t have the needles? Are you looking for a creative way to engage your kids in knitting?
You should try making your own needles because its simple, inexpensive, and a great hands on learning lesson for you or your kids.
Supplies:
2 dowel rods (each about a foot long)
1 pencil sharpener
A package of oven bake clay
Sandpaper
Step 1: Sharpen one end of each of your dowel rods using the pencil sharpener. They should be as sharp as a pencil when you are done with this step.
Step 2: Sand your dowel rods. Use the sand paper to make the dowel rods as smooth as possible so that you won’t get any splinters in your hands or in your yarn while knitting. Make sure to sand the pointed end so that it is rounded rather than sharp.
Step 3: Make the other end of the needle. Roll your clay into two balls. Push those balls onto the non-sharpened ends of your dowel rods. Mold the clay into whatever shape you desire but maintain a right angle between the dowel rod and the beginning of your clay. This will keep the yarn from falling of the needles.
Step 4: Bake the needles. Set the oven for the temperature on your clay package. Allow it to fully pre-heat. Stick the needles on a baking sheet with foil underneath. Bake the needles for no more than 10 minutes. Watch the needles the entire time and be ready to pull them out the moment the wood begins to change color to avoid burning the wood.
Step 5: Cool needles and re-sand if necessary.
Step 6: Start knitting!
WWII propaganda calling on people to knit.
Posted by Sara Scott, Public Programs Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
There seems to be a holiday for everything these days. Along with federal holidays, there are those that observe friendships or different foods and have your timeline blowing up with shoutouts and hashtags. July is a month supposedly dedicated to the celebration of hot dogs. This traditionally German dish has a history of bringing friends, family, and diplomats together, while its homeland, unfortunately, has a history of causing disruption and a world war rather than unification.
The National Hot Dog Summit of 1939 took place from June 8 through June 12 and King George VI of Great Britain became the first monarch from our previous motherland to step foot in the United States. President Roosevelt aimed to change the American feelings from anti-British to acceptance, and that he did. The Hot Dog Summit, also known as the British royal visit, welcomed King George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, to Washington, D.C. for two days before they made their way up to Hyde Park, New York for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the politically active city life of the nation’s capital. A picnic was held at the Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park and none other than hot dogs were served. They also offered fancier items, but hot dogs were all the rage. The image of the King and Queen eating a hot dog really stuck out to the American public because they were seen more as regular people rather than pretentious rulers.
America was able to stay neutral for some time after this conference while supporting Great Britain both diplomatically and financially as they declared war against Germany in September of the same year. If you’re interested in learning more about the National Hot Dog Summit, catch up on some more information here.
Photo courtesy of FDR Library’s Digital Collection.
Photo courtesy of The New York Times.
The hot dog has its origin from the Frankfurter of Germany that was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants. It is unusual that two Allied countries found their common ground and relationship over a food from the country that they would both fight against. Two years later, in 1941, when the U.S. joined the war, the government started to encourage civilians to eat skinless hot dogs or Frankfurters because they were a no waste food due to their lack of casing. Both the National Hot Dog Summit and the encouragement to eat hot dogs were quite frankly ironic during WWII because on the Home Front, a German item unified people, but in Europe, some German items divided.
via LIFE magazine
Since July is reaching an end, you should enjoy the last couple days of your month with a hot dog in hand to honor the role the food played on the American Home Front, or to just embrace its pure deliciousness.
Let’s be frank, you’re probably wondering how to spice up your dog with toppings because the classic ketchup, mustard, and relish combination just isn’t cutting it anymore, so here are a few savory options:
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
We live in a day and age where merely one cup of coffee will not suffice to give you the caffeine boost you need for your workday. This addiction is not a new trend, though. Our fellow Americans were craving a second cup of jo’ long before the era of World War II, as well as during. Coffee was, and is, not simply a drink, but rather a way of life. It brings people together, today, at cafes to catch up with old friends, make new friends, or finish a great book. During early WWII up until April 1942, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt held a popular radio show called, “Over Our Cups of Coffee.” She discussed current events with the American public through the radio, with the goal in mind to share the discussion over a cup of coffee, as is implied by the name of the show. It was only a matter of time before this popular drink was soon added to the list of items that needed to be rationed.
War ration book that holds stamps to buy coffee.
Coffee stamps, as well as stamps for other rationed items.
On November 29, 1942, the rationing of coffee commenced and people quickly learned how to creatively extend the life of their grounded beans. Coffee experienced cuts because a majority of ships needed to be used by the Navy, and merchant ships traveling from the South American and Latin American countries that grew coffee beans were in too much danger of attack by German U-boats that patrolled the open waters. Also, soldiers fighting in the European and Pacific Theaters relied on coffee for boosts of energy during their long days and nights. To learn more about the time span of coffee rationing, check out this article.
Lee Harris of the American Red Cross offers coffee to Private Joe Bergles in Loiano, Italy on 2 January 1945.
Description of the above photo from the collections of The National WWII Museum.
Newspaper articles were published as well as write ups in LIFE magazine to give ideas to people of how they can get more drink out of their bean. One of the suggestions made was to add chicory to their supply of coffee for the week. The hot commodity added to New Orleans coffees today was used by Americans on the Home Front to create a larger blend and to add a hint of flavor.
This ad from the Pan-American Coffee Bureau informs people that the cuts on coffee are due to shipping problems. It goes on to remind people that coffee is too good to waste.
Little to our surprise, coffee rationing was not so popular, so when President Roosevelt removed it as one of the first items to come off of the ration list in July 1943, coffee consumption found itself at a new high a year later. Distance does truly make the heart grow fonder, and in this case, the heart was in dire need of fulfilling its coffee craving.
When you are met with extra coffee in your pot on your way out the door to go to work, what can you do with it besides dumping it down the drain? There’s always the option of a to-go cup, but think of all the ways you can salvage the perfectly usable drink just as our Home Front citizens had to during a period of constantly working to save, reuse, and recycle.
Here are a few ideas to expand your coffee horizons:
Coffee Ice Cubes: pour the coffee into a tray and let it freeze. Add them to your iced coffee in the morning or enjoy a popsicle.
Store it in a pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to have a cup of iced coffee the next morning or later that day for an early evening pick me up.
Coffee Brownies: next time you make this chocolate-y dessert, use your left over coffee instead of milk for a distinct mocha taste.
Stain white paper for an antique look.
“Coffee” acid loving plants are real. These include Holly, Azaleas, and Japanese iris, just to name a few.
Hot Chocolate with coffee instead of milk: sweet and savory in a single warm cup.
If you add coffee to your pot roast, it makes the broth richer.
Posted by Camille Weber, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
It’s a new year, and while we’re making resolutions and plans for a successful 2015, why not consider trying something different with your hair? Take a tip from the women of the 1940s who could set a pin curl like it was nobody’s business. They found a way to look elegant no matter what they were doing – from nursing on the front lines to operating machinery on the home front. Whatever occasion, the vintage hairstyles popularized during WWII will bring a casual yet sophisticated look to this new year!
cover of March 3, 1941 LIFE magazine
Margaret D. Bailey sorting mail at the Army Post Office, Fort Benning, Georgia on 12 July 1944
Close up portrait of a civilian woman on a California beach during World War II
The 1st WAC to hold the rank of Master Sgt. at Fort Benning, Georgia on 14 July 1944
There were multiple hairstyles during this period, that women wore whether in service, at work or at play, and you can easily recreate any of them using Lauren Rennells’s book, Vintage Hairstyling. For now, we’d love to share Rennells’s eleven simple steps to creating Victory Rolls!
This style is said to get its name from the exhaust trails left from WWII fighter plane maneuvers. Essentially, anytime hair is rolled up with a visible opening, it is a victory roll. It was useful to keep hair out of women’s faces when they entered the work force. Due to the rationing, women pulled this look off with pipe cleaners decades ago, but you won’t have to do that!
Things You’ll Need:
Hot rollers and clips
Thermal spray
Styling comb of choice
Styling brush
Bobby pins
Hairspray
Pomade
Step 1: Set the hair in hot rollers and let cool. Hair can be slippery and if hair is too fine, the rolls may look skimpy. For this reason, back brushing or teasing is helpful. It adds locking power to the roll and fullness for high impact. Hold the entire piece that will be rolled up in the direction it will be rolled. Use a brush or comb to tease gently.
Step 2: Then use a comb to smooth out the hair that will be on the outside of the roll. Spray a little hairspray on the hair to hold on to what was just formed.
Step 3: This is where the bend from the hot rollers comes in handy. Allow the ends that now curl to curl into themselves.
victory rolls on the cover of March 3, 1941 LIFE magazine
Step 4: This style works nicely when the ends of the hair are actually hidden inside the roll. It creates support in the style and staying power.
Step 5: Hide large bobby pins inside the roll to attach to the hair at the scalp.
Step 6: The victory roll can be made any size. Traditionally, it sits on top of the head facing forward, but experiment with different directions and placement. See the Final Styles section of the book for creative things to do with victory rolls.
Step 7 & 8: If it is not desired to see through the roll, gently insert a comb at the side of the roll and shift the hair back until the side of the roll is lying flag against the hair.
Step 9: Insert a couple of small bobby pins where the hair has been pressed against the head to hold a beautiful swoop.
Step 10: Victory rolls can be created with any amount of hair desired. For this demonstration, very large pieces have been used, but breaking it up into smaller, more manageable pieces makes for good practice.
Step 11: The second section of hair is rolled back, but held at a diagonal to center the roll. Also experiment with the direction that the section of hair is pulled to achieve different placement. Notice the first roll was pulled straight up for its base placement.
If you like the classic and beautiful hairstyles of the 40’s and 50’s, try this (or another style) out for yourself and start 2015 with a bang (pun intended)!
Posted by Laurel Taylor, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
During World War II, a sense of civic duty and responsibility united the nation and fueled America’s war effort like nothing before or since. People stepped forward to fulfill the jobs demanded of them, and they excelled beyond all expectations. Civilians on the Home Front who worked to assemble America’s “Arsenal of Democracy” were essential to securing an Allied victory, and their stories serve as a reminder of what patriotism truly means.
The Museum’s current special exhibit, Manufacturing Victory: The Arsenal of Democracy, now showing in the Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery, tells this lesser-known story of American unity on the Home Front and how it culminated in the creation of America’s mighty industrial war engine. The exhibit examines several key industries whose operations and facilities completely rearranged to make way for wartime production. We are proud to have two of the key industrial leaders featured in the exhibit as supporters of the Museum as well.
Boeing’s B-29 Super Fortress Bomber. Courtesy of Boeing.
During World War II, The Boeing Company manufactured two of the most iconic bomber aircraft. Over 12,000 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers were produced, becoming instrumental in the bombing of German-controlled Europe. Boeing’s second contribution to the war, the B-29 Super Fortress bomber, was used to lay waste to Japan’s urban centers, aiding the Allied victory in the Pacific. Now 70 years later, Boeing shows its support of the Museum’s mission of preserving the story of the war the naming sponsor of our US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, which paints the picture of a nation mobilized for war .
Workers install cylinders on a new Pratt & Whitney radial aircraft engine in 1942. Courtesy of National Archives.
During the war, the need for aircraft production was at an all-time high, though incredibly complicated due to the large number of parts and pieces involved. Pratt & Whitney built engines for aircraft that could be shipped for assembly in other plants. Their R-1830 Twin Wasp engine powered a variety of American planes, and over 170,000 of the engines were produced during the war. Without the increase in engine production, the Allies would not have been able to take control of the skies. Pratt & Whitney has helped the Museum immortalize the war’s airpower through the generous sponsorship of the Vought F4U Corsair warbird that hangs in The Boeing Center.
The National WWII Museum is very thankful for the support of Pratt & Whitney and The Boeing Company for their generous contributions to the expansion of the Museum’s campus and their strong efforts on the home front during a time of necessary American production. It is with their efforts that helped our nation at war and that the story of the war is preserved for future generations.
Dorothy Harrell, star shortstop for the Chicago Colleens (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)
On May 30, 1943, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) made its debut, with the South Bend Blue Sox (Indiana) beating the Rockford Peaches (Illinois), 1-0 and the Kenosha Shamrocks (Wisconsin) beating the Racine Belles (Wisconsin), 8-6.
Women in Baseball
Women have been playing professional baseball since the 1940s, yet it wasn’t really a well know fact until the 1992 Penny Marshall movie, A League of Their Own, starring Tom Hanks, that put these women in the public eye.
In 1943, The United States was in full force fighting in World War II. P.K. Wrigley received word from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the 1943 Major League baseball season might be suspended due to manpower shortage. He wanted Wrigley to do something to keep the baseball game going until the men got home from service.
In the midst of removing barriers for women to be able to work in the industry to help the war effort, Wrigley joined forces with Branch Rickey and several small town entrepreneurs to create the first professional baseball league for women. A new game was born. Using rules from the men’s game the game became a faster action game than softball. In 1943, when the league began, the girls were actually playing fast-pitch softball using an underhand pitching delivery, but with certain variations to make the game faster. Runners were allowed to lead off and steal, and the size of the diamond was larger than the field used in softball but smaller than a baseball diamond.
The women of the league were expected to act like ladies and had to abide to the rules of conduct and had to attend charm school to continue to act as a proper lady. Wrigley and his advertising agent promoted the new “Girls Baseball” as wholesome family entertainment for war workers.
Thirty scouts were hired to start looking for outstanding softball players all over the United States and Canada. Four teams were formed and the league started its first season in 1943. In 1944, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League expanded to six teams. By 1946 eight teams were playing 110 games per season.
The schedule of 110-120 games per season consisted of playing single games six days a week plus double headers on Sundays. The only time off were rained out games and then they were made up by doubleheaders next time around. Traveling was done by bus between the different cities leaving right after the game and sometimes arriving just in time to play the next game in the new city.
The pay schedule was from $55.00 to $125.00 per week. In the 1940s and early 1950s that was not bad pay for playing a game that was fun. Expenses on the road were paid by the team including $2.25 per day for meals.
The league lasted from 1943 – 1954. In 1948, the league drew a record 910,000 fans for the 10 team league. The All American Girls Professional Baseball League memorabilia was enshrined in the Cooperstown, New York Hall of Fame on November 5, 1988. Over 550 names are on a plaque in the exhibit named Women in Baseball.
Posted by Lauren Handley, Education Program Coordinator.
All American Girls Professional Baseball League player Marg Callaghan sliding into home plate - April 22, 1948
