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Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1997

logo for the Smoky Hill Museum exhibit "Bonds, Bombshells and Babies" including drawings of Pearl Harbor, a pin-up girl and toy blocks.

Bonds, Bombshells & Babies

Smoky Hill Museum display of World War two items including a mannequin dressed in a sailor suit and newspapers with headlines about World War II

Now It is War

After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt declared war. The declaration of war “awakened a sleeping giant.” Thousands of new recruits enlisted. The manufacturing switched over to wartime production. Needs for employees increased. All this helped America pull out of the Great Depression and enter a time of new challenges.

Exhibit case showing war bonds and World War two pamphlets in the Smoky Hill Museum's 1940s exhibit.

Buy War Bonds

To finance the war, patriotic Americans could purchase War Savings Bonds, better known as War Bonds. Also available were War Stamps, which offered smaller denominations (10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, $5) so any citizen could support the war for as little as one dime. Artists, entertainers, stores and schools pitched in to support the bond effort.

Display showing World War Two posters to "Stamp Out Hunger" and items made of metal in the Smoky Hill Museum's 1940s exhibit.

You Too Can Aid the War Effort

To help bolster war production, the government encouraged citizens to hold scrap drives and plant Victory Gardens. Salvage drives collected any kind of metal - steel, iron and tin, paper, bottles, cooking fat and oil, rubber, silk and nylon. Items were recycled into heavy armaments, aircraft parts, parachutes, ships and tanks. Recycled cloth materials were used to clean machinery or navy ship decks.

Display showing a crib and baby's outfit in the Smoky Hill Museum's 1940s exhibit.

The Baby Boom

Nine months after the war ended, the baby boom officially began. People had put off getting married and having children during the Great Depression and the War. With the war over and a return to economic prosperity, couples were eager to marry and start families. By 1946, the birth rate was 20% higher than in 1940 and continued at a high rate until the 1960s.

Poster in the Smoky Hill Museum's 1940s exhibit that says "Third Reich Falls"

The Beginning of the End

D-Day, June 6, 1944, signaled the beginning of the end. Operation Overlord, a joint Allied forces invasion, stormed the beaches of Normandy and began the liberation of Western Europe. In just over two months, troops secured the area and helped turn the war’s tide. Germany surrendered May 8, 1945. Meanwhile in the Pacific, American troops captured the Philippines.

We Would like to thank our sponsors for this exhibit:

Anderson Leather Shop

Jilka Home Furnishings

The Cozy Inn

Vernon Jewelers

KSAL - AM Newsradio 1150

Special thanks to our sponsors:

  • Friends of the Museum

  • For A Bend in the River exhibit

  • For A Bend in the River exhibit

  • Cary Brinegar

    For A Bend in the River exhibit

  • Citywide Storage

    For A Place to Call Home traveling exhibit

  • Exline

    For A Place to Call Home traveling exhibit

  • Mid-Kansas Title

    For A Place to Call Home traveling exhibit

  • Waters Hardware

    For A Place to Call Home traveling exhibit

  • For Growing a Community platform and Street Fair

  • For the From Sod to Stone area

  • For Crossing the Crossroads area

  • For Street Fair

  • Roy & Donice Applequist

    For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • Ann Zimmerman & Dexter Eggers

    For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • Dick & Joyce Brown

    For Street Fair

  • Dean & Debra Lewis

    For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For the Street Fair's Serious Eaters Contest

  • For the Street Fair's Serious Eaters Contest

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

  • For Street Fair

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