Museum of American Finance (Manhattan, NY)

The Museum of American Finance is the nation’s only independent museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting and teaching about American finance and financial history. Housed in an historic bank building on Wall Street, the Museum’s magnificent grand mezzanine banking hall provides an ideal setting for permanent exhibits on the financial markets, money, banking, entrepreneurship and Alexander Hamilton.

The Museum is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) 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 Museum of American Finance was founded in 1988 to illustrate the role of finance in American history. The museum’s permanent collections include priceless antique stocks, bonds, and currency; historic documents and photographs; and equipment once used on Wall Street.

“The main objectives of the Museum are to collect and preserve historical financial artifacts, and to research, organize, and display them in ways which bring the nation’s financial history alive – to students, policy makers, the media, and the general public.”