## Currency Notes: The Money Archive

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Currency Notes: The Money Archive](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir)

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- [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir/index.json)
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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: MELINDA WEIR
- Published: June 3, 2024

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### Overview
- 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.

### Notable artifacts (selected examples)
- 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”).

### Cultural and historical insights
- Obsolete US banknotes in the collection display diverse imagery beyond typical Founding Fathers or Lady Liberty, including:
  - Symbols of industry, such as shipbuilding and trains.
  - Domestic and pastoral scenes, e.g., a woman milking cows and a child snuggling bunnies.
  - 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.
- Physical money artifacts reveal insights into:
  - Political history and collective identity (e.g., city symbols and patron deities on coins).
  - Cultural ideas related to values, trust, and artistic beauty.
  - Economic health of past societies via the types and quality of materials used.

### Access, curation, and public engagement
- 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.

*F&D Magazine — The Money Archive; MELINDA WEIR; June 2024*

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## Content in this bundle

- **The Money Archive**
  - [The Money Archive (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2024/06/currency-notes-june24.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [The Money Archive (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2024/06/currency-notes-june24.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2024/06/currency-notes-the-money-archive-melinda-weir_