Why are food stamps in the National Numismatic Collection?

My first experience with Food Stamps was as a kid, growing up in Peekskill, NY. In the grocery store, my mother would give my sister and me “the glance” which meant not to stare at the people in front of us, who were ripping coupons from booklets to pay for their food. I remember feeling like we were expected to help them keep a secret—that some people couldn’t pay cash for their food. This raft of memories unexpectedly floated up a few days ago when I helped the Smithsonian bring a collection of Food Stamps into the National Numismatic Collection.

 

This time, rather than helping to protect a secret, the National Museum of American History is celebrating these ingenious slips of paper and the system of emergency currency they represent. Numismatically-speaking Food Stamps are remarkable. They tell us a story about the most ambitious system of food aid ever created by any government, anywhere.

They were money: printed by the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and backed by the Federal Government. But unlike the green dollars some of us still prefer to use instead of a debit card, Food Stamps were intended to be a single-use medium of exchange. After they did their job enabling a hungry person to go home with food, the store had to send them back to the government, where they would be counted and cancelled. Grocery store merchants got reimbursed in “real” dollars for each food stamp dollar they turned in.

But the story didn’t end there. Food Stamp purchases could not be accurately completed without a mechanism for making small change. Think about it. I use a $5 coupon to make a $4.50 purchase. The cashier can’t, by government order, give me back 50 cents. Some genius (or perhaps an avid Monopoly game fan?) invents change chits. Individual grocery stores were responsible for creating their own change and we’ve collected quite an informative array of them—tokens, printed pieces of colored construction paper, and other printed items which not only served as change but reminded the user where they came from. Change from Mike’s Meat Market could not be used at the Safeway grocery store. This gives new meaning to the concept of a “change jar,” and users of Food Stamps were expected to keep a multitude of change chits organized for future use.

In addition to this array of Food Stamps and change chits, we also collected some of the technology used for printing the coupons (including unadopted designs) and Electronic Benefit Transfer cards that let people pay without fumbling through coupon books.

Karen Lee directs projects from the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History. She most-recently helped to create the exhibition Stories on Money. Currently, she is the working on a new traveling exhibition with the United States Mint.

Comments

[Leon Briggs]

I remember food stamps well. My grandmother used them when we lived in Brooklyn. She used them in the local supermarket all the time. It's good to see them as part of the National Numismatic Collection for people and children that have no idea what they are.

[maynard]

The inclusion of the Food Stamp Program in the National Numismatic Collection is especially significant considering the current economic hardships facing Americans

[steroizi]

What a old idea ... and nowadays these methods are not implemented in all countries

[50plussam]

That's a piece of history. These coupons helped us survive. The meaning of coupons today, in a consumer society like ours is totally different.

[Bryan Silver]

This is an interesting story ... I presume there is no intrinsic value in these stamps; is there any projected (or reported) "collector" value?

[Karen Lee]

In response to the question about grocers making their own change---yes--individual retailers did invent their own systems for giving change--most were cubes of construction paper with numbers printed on them. Occasionally, plastic tokens were used. Eventually, an easement was issued by the government---49 cents or less could be given back in cash. Further revisions to the policy may have been made but I haven't finished researching the subject yet. Thanks for your comment, KL

[Ruth Cuadra]

This is fascinating. I too remember being taught not to stare at food stamp users although, to be honest, there weren't many in my community. You said, "Individual grocery stores were responsible for creating their own change". Is this still true? Seems like a big burden and a lot of duplicative effort to have each store creating its own chits.