I  found a wonderful magazine page a few month’s back, full of advertisements. None of the products advertised would be particularly interesting to me, except that the magazine is from late 1945, and the advertisements make specific reference to the (hopeful) end of wartime shortages.  It’s a fascinating glimpse at rationing, and the foreseeable end to it: Unfortunately I just found two pages of the magazine, and there was no identification of what magazine it was, or a precise date, though I’m certain it’s either English (most likely) or Australian (less likely), and that it dates from late 1945 or early 1946. First, a rather sad version of Mary Had a Little Lamb: The Loving Stitch: A History of Spinning & Knitting in New Zealand, gives an excellent account of wartime wool (and knitting needle) shortages, and how women coped with them (hint, it includes #8 wire!) Next, a rather standard beauty ad, though my modern mind can’t help wondering precisely what it is men who call her Pat know about her… Another classic ad …