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CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORP CAMP TOKENSLast week I published an image of a Civilian Conservation Corps. token and asked if these had ever been cataloged. Duane Feisel pointed me to a trial listing of CCC Camp Tokens by Paul Mandersheid in
Talkin’ Tokens, a publication of the National Token Collectors Association (NTCA).
I reached out to Paul and Talkin’ Tokens editor Jeff Smurthwaite for permission to excerpt the text of the article here. Images are from Richard Greever's Token Catalog. Thanks to all for their assistance with this. -Editor   5 Cents CCC Token Greenbriar, AR The CCC was created as a "workfare" organization to provide employment opportunities to 18-25 year old youth. The pay was set at $25 per month for basic enrollees, with most of that pay (generally $20 per month) sent back to parents or guardians of the enrolled youth. This provided much needed assistance to many families that were too proud to receive public assistance, and put otherwise unemployed youth to productive use in improving our natural resources.   10 Cents CCC Token Greenbriar, AR The CCC reached a maximum enrollment of 500,000 by 1937, thus giving many a way out of the cycle of poverty created by the great depression of the 1930's. It was disbanded on June 30, 1942, seven months after the United states entered World War II. In Michigan, The CCC operated over 100 camps, and is said to have planted over 485,000 trees, mostly in the northern two-thirds of the state. The CCC Museum at North Higgins Lake State Park, opens to the public from the Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, is a tremendous source of information for those interested in the history of the CCC in Michigan. Interestingly enough, the only known Michigan CCC tokens are from Company 672 at Camp Higgins Lake, 4 miles west of Roscommon, the current location of the CCC Museum!   10 Cents VCC Token Atlantic, IA In addition to the youth enrolled In the CCC, there was also a Veterans Conservation Corp~ (VCC), which comprised approximately 10% of the total enrollment in the CCC. The vast majority of the enrollees in the VCC were were World War I veterans. The pay for the veterans conservation Corps was about the same as what they made in the military, about a dollar a day, but in the veterans Conservation Corps they had to endure a lot less. Trench foot, cooties, mustard gas, and machine gun fire were not a part of the VCC job description. Work for the veterans included plant1ng trees, soil conservation work, building of state parks, development of the national forests, and a host of other services. CCC camp tokens were generally issued in 5¢ and 10¢ denominations due to the limited amount of spending money (generally $5.00 per month) allotted to the enrollees. About 1/4 of the tokens issued were of the "Tree" type, an attractive stock reverse,with some of these being issued for the Veterans Conservation Corps. The balance of the tokens known come from various makers, including a number of E.A. Schmidt issued tokens, as well as those of other makers. Most of the known tokens are scarce to rare, with only a handful of tokens within the series that could be considered common. Many coupon books were also issued by the CCC camps, but the decision was made not to list them in the present article. The present listings include only metal &. fiber tokens.  5 Cents CCC Token Watsonville, CA Paul Manderscheid adds: I have found perhaps 20 or 30 new listings since the 2010 revision. I still have my collection of these, numbering about 205 varieties, which I’ve put together over the last 30 years. CCC Camp Exchange Coupons My father (Edward Berger) was in the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1939-1940. Attached are some scans of numismatic-related items during his time in the CCC. An interesting side note is that these contain one of the few examples of my father's original signature. During the Battle of the Bulge he was wounded and the median nerve in his right arm was destroyed and had to be removed. As such, he had to relearn how to write using his left hand. The best he was ever able to do was sign his name and print in block letters.  Thanks, everyone. -Editor
For the complete TokenCatalog entries, see: For more information on the Civilian Conservation Corps, see: To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:  Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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