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• 1 media/Whitney Glassworks script currency.jpg 2018-12-13T13:15:36+00:00 Scrip Currency - The Origins 11 image_header 2018-12-16T21:44:07+00:00

  Glassboro, originally known as the Glass House in the Woods, was one of many company towns in the 1800s that paid their workers in company-made money. Company money, known as scrip currency or shin plaster, was common among the glassworks of the early nineteenth century. The name shin plaster derived from “chein piastre,” which means dog money or dog-eared money. This money was paid to the workers as their wages and was accepted only at the company-owned general store. They would also use this money to barter with others in the town for services such as the blacksmith or carpenter. This would have limited the worker’s options as to where they could spend their money and in essence kept them trapped by the company. Workers could sometimes sell company currency for real cash, but it was usually quite discounted. 
  
  

  Paper currency was just one of the forms that company money took. Less common than paper currency was metal tokens or coins issued by the company. By 1863, however, the metal used to make the tokens had a greater value than the face value of the token, further decreasing their popularity. Another method that companies used was passbooks. These were ledgers that the company would keep and they would add the worker’s wages and then subtract any purchases that they made from the company store. This bypassed the need for paper scrip and was more common among smaller glassworks.

  All forms of company currency were outlawed in New Jersey in the late 1800s. Sources seem to attribute this to the devaluing of company currency and multiple strikes by glassworkers demanding to be paid in U.S. currency as it was more stable and worth more than the scrip currency. 
  
  Scrip currency helped to shape Glassboro. Glassboro was a company town and the use of scrip currency helped to maintain that. Workers were in essence trapped by the glassworks. Their money was only accepted at the company-owned store in town. While the store would have had everything that town residents would have needed, they would not have had the option to go anywhere else, thus being trapped by their money.