NATIONAL COLLECTION ACQUIRES IBILL READER

As the curator of the National Numismatic Collection (NNC), I collect objects that reflect innovation in money today in order to preserve them for the historians and museum visitors of tomorrow. But what is innovative? To many, innovation means the new digital technologies emerging from private enterprise, such as cryptocurrencies, mobile money, and Apple Pay, which continue to make cash seem more and more obsolete. Over the last year, however, I have collected a variety of coins and banknotes—and objects that enable their use—that reflect more subtle technological and social innovations. Three of these objects are now on display in the New Acquisitions case in The Value of Money.

The iBill Currency Reader
The first innovative object is the iBill Currency Reader—a new technology that helps to make U.S. banknotes more accessible. American banknotes are the same size, weight, and texture regardless of denomination. This uniformity makes it difficult for people who are blind or have low vision to determine the value of their banknotes. In 2015 the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) established the U.S. Currency Reader Program as part of the Meaningful Access Program. The BEP distributes iBills for free to people who are blind or have low vision.

The iBill is a small, handheld device that reads all U.S. banknotes. The reader communicates the value of the banknote through a voice, pattern of tones, or pattern of vibrations. The vibrations setting makes the iBill useful to people who are both deaf and blind.

The iBill joins other objects in the NNC that reflect the need to make money accessible to all, including a Braille check signed by Helen Keller that was donated to the Smithsonian in 1978.

Braille check signed by Helen Keller

Check for one cent signed by Helen Keller, United States, 1933.
Donated by The Chase Manhattan Bank.

5 Brixton Pound note, United Kingdom, 2014.

10 Brixton Pound note, United Kingdom, about 2011.

To read the complete article, see:
What is innovation in money today? (http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/innovation-money-today)

For more information on The value of Money exhibit, see:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/value-money

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