inventory · items · updated 2026-07-25
Depression-Era Company Scrip / Payroll Checks
artifact active p3
Informal local currency the company relied on during the Depression: payroll checks payable only once bottles were sold, later replaced by printed scrip that local merchants accepted and could exchange for cash as customer payments trickled in. No surviving physical specimen has been identified in sources gathered so far.
Next action: No surviving physical example identified in sources gathered so far — worth asking Kevin Mackey or the Grace Armantrout Museum whether any specimens survive in local collections.
artifactthree-rivers-glassdepression-eracurrency
Why Track This
A vivid, human-scale artifact of the company’s Depression-era financial improvisation — worth flagging as a museum acquisition target even though no surviving example is documented yet.
Current State
Per Michael David Smith’s book, payroll checks functioned as a large share of the area’s available currency in 1932-33, and printed scrip followed later in the Depression, merchant-redeemable as company receivables came in. No physical example (photograph, surviving specimen) has turned up in sources gathered so far.
Next Action
Ask Kevin Mackey / Grace Armantrout Museum whether any physical scrip or payroll-check specimens survive locally — a strong candidate for a future ingest if found.
Notes
Status kept active (documented and tracked) rather than proposed, since the concept is well-sourced even though a physical specimen is not yet located.