16 Tons: Coal Company Scrip & Tokens (Exhibition)
Title: 16 Tons: Coal Company Scrip & Tokens
Curator: Shaun Slifer
Abstract: For decades, many coal companies in Appalachia paid their miners primarily in a privately issued currency known as scrip. Typically minted in inexpensive metals, these specialized coins were only redeemable at stores owned by the company that issued them. Companies often claimed that the scrip system smoothed over the process of payment in isolated rural areas, but more often than not this also created a kind of debt bondage that kept coal miners and their families tied to their employer for almost everything they needed to survive. 16 Tons, our new online exhibit of company scrip and tokens, highlights the unique scrip coinage of the southern West Virginia coalfields.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: http://https://hub.catalogit.app/4046/folder/31171da0-1e44-11eb-9f4f-bf1de2f3133e
Primary URL Description: This URL will take you directly to the online exhibit hosted by CatalogIt.
Secondary URL: http://wvminewars.org/online-exhibits
Secondary URL Description: This URL will take you to the webpage for all online exhibitions produced by the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.

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