Museum Collection

As part of its mission to document the history and practice of finance in the United States, the Museum actively collects documents and artifacts related to capital markets, money and banking in America. The collection includes stocks, bonds, prints, engravings and photographs, banknotes, 19th-century checks and books. The Museum has an extensive collection of stock and bond certificates from the Gilded Age, from companies that include U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, and the New York Central Railroad.

Financial Documents

The Museum is home to a formidable collection of financial documents, including a number that date back to the 18th century. These include broadsides, early stock certificates, and company charter documents. Other holdings include checks dating from the mid-19th century onwards, as well as currency from the colonial era to the present day. Among other notable items are a U.S. Treasury Bond issued to George Washington (with the first known use of the dollar sign), and a $100,000 bond issued to Andrew Carnegie in 1901 when U.S. Steel was formed as one of J.P. Morgan's outstanding corporate deals. The Museum also houses a growing collection of items relating to the Graham Newman Corporation and its founders, Jerry Newman and Benjamin Graham, author of such notable books as Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor and mentor to Warren Buffett.

Photographs

The photographic collection at the Museum includes the oldest known photograph of Wall Street, as well as lithographs, stereographs and cartoons relating to the evolution and development of financial markets in America. Additional holdings include photographs of iconic Wall Street figures, pictures taken on the day of the stock market crash of 1929, and many images relating to trading, commerce and banking in lower Manhattan and across the country.

Objects

The objects in the collection range from machinery and equipment used in trading and banking to more whimsical items, such as financially-themed board games and Wall Street memorabilia. Highlights include a stock ticker from 1897, ticker tape from the morning of October 29, 1929, and the archives and order books of the American Bank Note Company, which printed currencies for countries all over the world in addition to engraving stock and bond certificates.

Items from the Museum's collection have been featured in books, newspapers and television documentaries. Researchers may access the archive by appointment.

Please contact Becky Laughner at blaughner@moaf.org with questions regarding the Museum's collection.

Download: Object Donation Procedure (DOC, 29.00 K)