{
  "title": "Currency Notes: The Money Archive",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir",
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  "summary": "The Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection is thought to be the world’s largest of its kind",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- The Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection (NNC) is described as being “thought to be the world’s largest collection of its kind.”\n- The NNC is housed in a storage-cabinet-filled room called “the vault” at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.\n- The vault contains an estimated 1.6 million forms of physical money and transactional objects.\n- The collection “represent[s] every inhabited continent, and they span more than 3,000 years of human history,” according to Ellen Feingold, curator of the NNC."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Notable artifacts (selected examples)",
      "content": "- A tiny electrum coin, the size of a stud earring, from 7th–6th century BCE Lydia (present-day Türkiye).\n- A 2,000-year-old example of “knife money” from China: a bronze, knife-shaped piece designed to represent value rather than for practical use.\n- A 14th century Ming Dynasty–era banknote.\n- Early banknotes from the American colonies, including notes bearing the inscription \"'Tis Death to counterfeit\".\n- Personal checks signed by early US presidents.\n- A 5th century BCE coin from ancient Greece featuring an owl (representing Athens) and Athena.\n- A tire-size stone ring from the island of Yap (featured in the museum exhibition “The Value of Money”)."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Cultural and historical insights",
      "content": "- Obsolete US banknotes in the collection display diverse imagery beyond typical Founding Fathers or Lady Liberty, including:\n  - Symbols of industry, such as shipbuilding and trains.\n  - Domestic and pastoral scenes, e.g., a woman milking cows and a child snuggling bunnies.\n  - Imagery that is “respectful and thoughtful,” as well as imagery that is “degrading and inappropriate from our lens,” including depictions of slavery and stereotypical images of indigenous communities.\n- Physical money artifacts reveal insights into:\n  - Political history and collective identity (e.g., city symbols and patron deities on coins).\n  - Cultural ideas related to values, trust, and artistic beauty.\n  - Economic health of past societies via the types and quality of materials used."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Access, curation, and public engagement",
      "content": "- The NNC’s vault is accessible to researchers by appointment.\n- The collection is being gradually digitized.\n- Selected items are on public display in the museum’s exhibition “The Value of Money” and in “Really BIG Money,” an exhibition aimed at children.\n\nF&D Magazine — The Money Archive; MELINDA WEIR; June 2024\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- The Money Archive\n  - The Money Archive (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - The Money Archive (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir"
    }
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    "Authors: MELINDA WEIR",
    "Published: June 3, 2024",
    "The Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection (NNC) is described as being “thought to be the world’s largest collection of its kind.”",
    "The NNC is housed in a storage-cabinet-filled room called “the vault” at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.",
    "The vault contains an estimated 1.6 million forms of physical money and transactional objects.",
    "The collection “represent[s] every inhabited continent, and they span more than 3,000 years of human history,” according to Ellen Feingold, curator of the NNC.",
    "A tiny electrum coin, the size of a stud earring, from 7th–6th century BCE Lydia (present-day Türkiye).",
    "A 2,000-year-old example of “knife money” from China: a bronze, knife-shaped piece designed to represent value rather than for practical use.",
    "A 14th century Ming Dynasty–era banknote.",
    "Early banknotes from the American colonies, including notes bearing the inscription \"'Tis Death to counterfeit\".",
    "Personal checks signed by early US presidents.",
    "A 5th century BCE coin from ancient Greece featuring an owl (representing Athens) and Athena.",
    "A tire-size stone ring from the island of Yap (featured in the museum exhibition “The Value of Money”).",
    "Obsolete US banknotes in the collection display diverse imagery beyond typical Founding Fathers or Lady Liberty, including:",
    "Physical money artifacts reveal insights into:",
    "The NNC’s vault is accessible to researchers by appointment.",
    "The collection is being gradually digitized.",
    "Selected items are on public display in the museum’s exhibition “The Value of Money” and in “Really BIG Money,” an exhibition aimed at children.",
    "**The Money Archive**"
  ],
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