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Finance Museum Now Calls Wall Street Home
 | By George S. Cuhaj, Bank Note Reporter
January 30, 2008 |
The Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, has reopened at its new home at 48 Wall St. in New York City.
During a week of gala preview events, benefactors, members and the press were given the opportunity to view the new exhibition space and hear presentations of the museum staff. The public opening was Jan. 11.
John Herzog, chairman of the board of trustees and founder of the museum, announced that as the museum is located just one block from the New York Stock Exchange, the museum will be the Exchange's de facto visitors center. (The NYSE visitor center has been closed to the public since the events of September 2001. In the year prior, 800,000 visitors viewed the NTSE venue).
The museum has a 20-year lease to 30,000 square feet spread over three floors of space in the former headquarters of the Bank of New York. This is made up of the former main private banking hall, in addition to a state-of-the-art financial education center for school groups, a 250-seat auditorium, library, archives, research facility and offices.
The theme of the permanent exhibition is "The Money. The Power. The History."
Museum displays are in several groups housed on the 7,000 sq. ft. main banking floor.
The financial markets area discusses trading in stocks, futures and bonds. It displays examples of bonds, stocks, commodities, as well as discussions of market fluctuations and pricing information and how it was delivered (from ticker tape up to the present electronic versions). Of interest is a display of ticker tape showing transactions from the beginning of trading on Oct. 29, 1929, the day of the "Great Crash."
Freestanding video areas house interviews with 16 entrepreneurs who discuss their vision and the work involved in their successes.
Around the top of the curved marble entrance stairs is a feature on the development and current workings of the part that banks play in American finance.
Additional features of the exhibition area include displays of Money in America, Alexander Hamilton's Legacy, an area for temporary displays and a top-notch theater. Many of the exhibits have audio headsets for more information, and many other displays require viewer participation and are quite interactive.
Dr. Richard Sylla and Dr. Robert Wright, both financial historians and professors at the New York University Stern School of Business, are the primary curators of the permanent exhibitions. The director of exhibitions is Robert Vinci.
The museum shop is managed by Rita Fabris. It features art, postcards, books and items of money or a financial theme. There is also a special emphasis in downtown New York (financial district) history.
Around the walls of the 30-foot-high interior of the main exhibition area, eight large murals and four lunettes painted in 1929 by J. Monroe Hewlett depicting images related to banking, manufacturing and international trade have been restored.
Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students/seniors, kids under six get in free. The museum facility is also available for private functions.
Museum membership is available at several levels.
Regular individual membership, $55, includes one-year subscription to the museum's quarterly magazine, Financial History, as well as notice of special events, invitations to exhibit openings and a 10 percent discount in the museum shop.
Student/Senior (65 or over) membership, $45, includes the same benefits. For members outside of the United States and Canada, an international membership, $65, also includes these benefits, as does an institutional membership, $75, for academic and institutional libraries. An $85 family membership includes the benefits above for all members of the same household.
For $150 you can get a Smithsonian Affiliate membership, which includes the benefits of Smithsonian membership and a subscription to Smithsonian Magazine.
Higher levels include the $500 Alexander Hamilton Society, which adds a Society listing in the museum magazine, and a $1,000 Donor membership that features a Donor listing. Corporate memberships are also available.
All memberships are effective for 12 months from the date of contribution, and may be tax deductible. Call the museum at (212) 908-4695 for information concerning memberships.
For additional information, visit Web site www.financialhistory.org.
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