Photocopy of an article from the Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times, September 1, 1942, announcing that federal rent control would be implemented in Manitowoc on that day. During World War II, under the Emergency Price Control Act, so-called “war boom communities” like Manitowoc County were designated as defense rental areas in which regulations governing rental housing were imposed in order to prevent profiteering and resist inflationary pressures generated by the wartime economy. Rents were rolled back to March 1, 1942 rates, and landlords could not raise rents or evict tenants without permission of the local rent control office, which in Manitowoc was headed by Attorney Jacob Muchin. This picture shows Muchin and his staff at his desk when the office opened in the basement of the court house on September 1, 1942. The office was later moved to the Manitowoc National Bank, then back to the court house, and then to the Safety Building. By 1943 the Manitowoc County Defense Rent Control Area had more than 7,500 rental units, including rooms in hotels and rooming houses, all under the jurisdiction of the rent control office. Muchin later was promoted to Area Rent Director with an office in Green Bay, and then to a position as a National Field Office representative. Rent control was scaled back when the war ended, but was not completely phased out in Wisconsin until at least the end of 1949. In this picture, seated, left to right: Adelia Altergott, clerk; Attorney Jacob Muchin, director; Attorney Lester Plotkin of Chicago, regional rent attorney who attended the office opening; Thomas McKeough, rent examiner. Standing, left to right: Frances Pieschel, clerk; Adele Courtweigh, secretary; Wenzel Tomek, rent inspector. This photocopy is from a scrapbook in the Jacob Muchin Papers, Green Bay Area Research Center, Cofrin Library, UW-Green Bay (Green Bay, Wisconsin).