Heppner Sheepskin Scrip, front side
- 371N3184
- Item
- 1933-03
Photograph showing the front side of a piece of scrip. On it is the following text: “ONE DOLLAR / HEPPNER SHEEPSKIN SCRIP / $1 / This Scrip is secured by Morrow County municipal warrants, and will be redeemed only on or before December 31st, 1934 / ONE DOLLAR.” Behind the text is an illustration of a sheep. This photograph and image No. 371N3185, showing the back side of the scrip, were published on Page 16 of the Oregon Journal on March 5, 1933, under the headline “Sheepskin Currency.” The photographs had the following caption: “This is a reproduction of Heppner scrip now in circulation, not to take the place of real money but to aid business conditions, especially teachers in cashing their warrants without a discount. It has met with approval of merchants and citizens. The trustees are Dean T. Goodman, chairman; Charles Thomson, David Wilson, L. E. Bisbee, Spencer Crawford, and J. J. Nys, legal advisor.” No story was published with the photographs. Almost a decade later, in an article on July 11, 1942, about improvement in school finances in Heppner, the Journal reported the following about the scrip: “The city backed this almost to a man and this unique scrip, made from real sheepskin and stamped with a sheep, gained world-wide sale and the name of Heppner was spread over the globe by souvenir hunters.”