Museum of American Finance

Museum of American Finance. Entrance.

Address: 8 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, Tel: 212.908.4110, Fax: 212.908.4601.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 to 16.00. Closed on holidays.

Admission: adult: $ 6; students and seniors — $ 5, and museum members and children under 6 years old — free.

You can get to the museum by subway 2,3,4,5 Wall Street, also by bus M1, M6, M9, M15. It’s harder to rich the museum by car since parking is limited.

Website: www.moaf.org

The Mission Statement

The mission of the Museum of American Finance (MAF) is to create public benefit through the acquisition, preservation and display of financial objects and information, showcasing the breadth, importance and richness of American financial history and providing a deeper understanding of financial markets and the nation’s economy. The Museum is an independent, non-profit Smithsonian affiliate creating non-ideological presentations and programs for purposes of education and general public awareness. Financial education is at the core of the Museum’s mission, seeking to promote lifelong learning and inquiry. As a chronicler of American financial achievement and development, the Museum seeks to play a special role as a guardian of America’s collective financial memory, as well as a presenter and interpreter of current financial issues, thereby connecting the past with the present while serving as a guide for the future.

The Logo

In order to draw the attention of the public, the museum has developed its brand — printing logo, which consists entirely of bright green capital letters and the letter «s» is replaced by a dollar sign. The rest of the logo is painted in gray tones, which ultimately gives the same contrasts as can be seen in the U.S. dollar. This dichotomy in the logo allows it to be separate from the museum, and to decorate different branded products that are successfully sold. As a result, the text is a clean, attractive logo that fully illuminates the concept of financial institutions.

The History

Museum of American Finance was established in 1988 as the Museum of American Financial History, which became an independent public museum dedicated to the democratic traditions of the free market and democratic foundations of the economy. Initially the museum was positioned as an educational institution. Until December 2006, the museum was located in the Standard Oil on Broadway 26. The opening of the museum at its new place in the former headquarters of the Bank of New York at 48 Wall Street was held on Friday, January 11, 2008. The museum is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum is located in the building decorated by murals depicting the place of banks in the economic history of New York. The first two floors are occupied by the museum, and a lobby with 10-meter ceilings. The repairing works of this part of the building cost $ 9 million. The museum includes a library, a lecture hall, and an exhibition hall, which occupies 1000 square meters. In the lobby there are three large screens on which you can see special movies shot for the museum. Movies, documents, photographs, and artifacts are gathered in one exhibition, which gives details on the financial system. The museum features unique exhibits such as beaver pelts, which were used by the Indians as money, gold bars, which cost $ 2 million. There you can find a $ 10 000 banknote, American Treasury bond signed by George Washington, stock quotes of the Black Monday, dated 1929.

One of the halls of the Museum of Finance

There are even stocks with the signature of Walt Disney. Just the main attraction of the museum is a convenient specially created interface with stories and suggestions from entrepreneurs who themselves have passed this way from the very beginning. Each story takes about one to two minutes and is presented in one program, so that the visitor can conveniently view the information. There is a hall with artifacts of the period of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury and the founder of the Bank of New York

Museum of American Finance has permanent exhibits in the halls:

• Money: History;
• Banks in America;
• Entrepreneurship;
• Alexander Hamilton and his legacy;
• Tracking the Credit Crisis: Timeline (2006 -);
• Financial Markets;
• Shares;
• Bonds;
• Goods;
• Market fluctuations;
• Prices and Information;
• Trading bonds;
• Trade features;
• Trading stocks.

Museum of Finance. Web-gallery

Exhibits in the halls of trading bonds, features and socks are equipped with many video screens, showing the current situation with these goods at the trading centers. There you can find expert commentaries describing the key elements of business transactions. In the entrepreneurship hall there is a set of three touch-screens, where the visitors can view superficial or deep comments of different members of a particular industry.

The Board of Trustees

David J. Cowan, President

212-908-4604

212-908-4601

dcowen@moaf.org

The membership in the museum

Museum members receive free access to the museum, a subscription to «Financial History», the constant invitations to events that are organized for members of the museum, a 10% discount on all merchandise in the museum shop. Package cost of membership is $ 150, also includes all the benefits of membership in the Smithsonian Institution.