Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2022/Fall/Section087/James Grigsby

James Grigsby was a debt collector and salesman from Columbia, South Carolina. On March 15th, 1939, he was interviewed as part of the Federal Writer's Project by John L. Dove.

Early Childhood
James Grigsby was born February 8th, 1870, on a small farm in Fairfield County, South Carolina. He grew up going to Sunday School at the local Methodist church with his five brothers and four sisters. Although Grigsby was not educated past the seventh grade, he was forced to start working when he was 17 due to the death of his parents. In 1888 Grigsby moved in with his sister in Columbia and earned money by selling newspapers on the streets of Columbia.

Adult Life
In February of 1890 Grigsby married a woman from Camden, South Carolina, by the name of Margaret Epting. Grigsby and Epting had a total of four children together, three daughters and one son. After working at the state dispensary for some time labeling whiskey bottles, Grigsby began his career as a salesman. In 1903 he began his work for the Van Meter Furniture Store, and, shortly thereafter, Grigsby switched to working for another furniture company by the name of P. O. Roberts & Company. In 1913, around the start of The Great Depression, Grigsby landed a position as both salesman and debt collector for the Congaree Furniture Company. He was noted for his clever debt collection tactics and habit of squinting his eyes while considering the solution to a complicated problem.

American home furnishing during the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression
Home furnishing during the Roaring Twenties was marked by several unique stylistic properties. Arts Decoratifs, or Art Deco as it is commonly referred to, was one prominent decorative design style that emerged in America during the Roaring Twenties. This decorative style originated in France and featured hard-edged, geometric themes and sleek, “modern,” designs. The Roaring Twenties also saw the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement “emphasized the importance of nature and stained woodwork, simple lines, graphic stained-glass windows and repeating natural shapes.” The Arts and Crafts movement emerged as a response to the industrialization that was the central theme of America’s Gilded Age. ,

The stylistic properties of interior design shifted with America’s movement into the Great Depression in 1939. During the Great Depression home furnishing products were designed with middle-class consumers in mind, featuring an emphasis on comfort and efficiency. In contrast to the Roaring Twenties, the stylistic properties that emerged during the Great Depression reflected the overall mental state of Americans during that time period.

Debt collection during The Great Depression
Widespread financial hardship during the Great Depression caused many Americans to shift their household budgets to focus more on necessary expenses, such as food and utilities.

Additionally, Many Americans were unable to make payments on debts that they owed. As a result of this, companies began to employ debt collection tactics to obtain funds owed to them for purchased products. Debt collection tactics are considered either “first-party” or “third-party.” A third-party debt collection tactic involved the employment of an outside organization by the creditor to collect debt owed by a consumer while a first-party tactic involved the collection of debt occur directly between the consumer and creditor.