THE ECONOMY MUSEUM AT THE ST. LOUIS FED

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V25 2022 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 25, Number 24, June 12, 2022, Article 16

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a nice article about the reopening of the museum at the St. Louis Federal Reserve. -Editor

Most St. Louis attractions — especially the free ones — give visitors lots of bang for their buck. The latest free museum to reopen, the Economy Museum at the St. Louis Fed downtown, gives visitors bang and actual bucks.

The Federal Reserve is in the business of shredding money when its time is up in circulation. So when visitors leave, they get a small bag of shredded cash as a souvenir.

The world's hardest puzzle, quips museum director Tom Shepherd, who is glad to see visitors stream through the doors again since the museum closed to the public in March 2020. It reopened this spring with an additional 1,400-square-foot currency-themed space called the Vault. The entire museum is now 7,000 square feet.

Visitors can also explore the art of cash, marveling over some of the largest-denomination notes ever printed (a $1 trillion note for your spending pleasure in Zimbabwe, anyone?), as well as colorful bills featuring exotic birds, see-through panels and vertically oriented designs.

You can learn about the security features of American bills, see if you can spot counterfeit ones, see old and rare currencies made of porcelain and glass, and spin the Journey of Money wheel, where you can learn how money flows through the economy.

The Economy Museum at the St. Louis Fed opened in 2014. Nine of the 12 Federal Reserve banks nationwide operate some sort of museum, and they're all a little different, says Shepherd.

Thankfully, the new exhibit had been in the planning stages when the museum closed for the pandemic. During the closure, Shepherd worked to put many of the exhibits online for teachers to use in classrooms. He hopes to see more school groups in the fall and is ready to greet summer crowds.

The museum is integrated into the historic 1925-era bank lobby, with historic photos displayed behind ornate brass cashier gates. Visitors watch a short movie projected high above them about the seven-state region served by the Eighth Federal Reserve District.

... about two weeks after the museum opened in 2014, Shepherd heard yelling inside. He ran in to see a group of students from Lindenwood University having a blast playing in the interactive trading pit, where buyers and sellers see who can make the most money in a timed round.

And I was just like: ‘Huh. It worked. Cool.' It was nice to see they were having fun like that.

For people when they walk in here, this is not how they expect the Federal Reserve is going to look, Shepherd says. That's kind of what we're going for. One of the best compliments we get, especially from high school students, is the phrase, ‘that's a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be.' I love that.

Found via News & Notes from the Society of Paper Money Collectors (Volume VII, Number 49, May 24, 2022). -Editor