Public Engagement Visit 3: Money Museum

This is the third part in a series of museums I visited Friday for a Public Engagement in Museums class assignment to assess engagement strategies at museums. My morning visits included a trip to Intuit Gallery and the Polish Museum of America, but after going to work for a few hours I had extra time, so I decided to check out some architecture downtown. My dad had recently suggested I visit the old Continental Bank atrium, which has beautiful murals wrapped around the epic bank space on the second floor. They're a little weird about security, so people aren't allowed to just walk around the whole room, but you can see plenty from the escalator entryway, and it's definitely worth a visit!

It turned out security would be a theme for my afternoon on Lasalle street. I was leaving Continental bank and remembered the Federal Reserve hosts a small Money Museum across the street at Lasalle and Jackson, by the Board of Trade. I hadn't planned to visit this museum when I packed ahead for the day, so I wasn't prepared for the metal detector and security check. I'd brought a knife to cut my avocado for lunch! So that was left in a safe at the front desk along with my water bottle, and I was allowed to proceed unhindered. The security guard was at least very nice, with a much more laid back and cheery disposition than those you'd find at the airport.

There was an immediate difference between this museum and the other two I'd visited that day: Money. It should come as no surprise, perhaps, but the quality and caliber of exhibit and display technology far surpassed that which is usually in the budget of your average non-profit organization. Everything was sparkly, new, and clean in this 15-year-old museum. Exhibits also also gave the sense of security in their fixtures, with heavy bolts, thick tempered glass, and plentiful lighting. There was a glass floor in the entryway where you could look down and see a sea of coins. When you stepped on the glass, rainbow track lighting lit up the sunken floor and made for quite an entrance.

The exhibit content was similar to what you'd expect in some ways, there were labels that told stories about how the Fed was founded, what the Fed does for the American economy, and how money is made and destroyed. One awesome feature of the museum was the top-notch collection of antique currency. They had confederate money, revolutionary-era money, state-specific currency from before the establishment of the fed, and military currency used to pay our armed forces posted overseas in the early 20th century. Most museums would have a hell of a time getting hold of rare currency like that, but of course, the fed exists to deal with the nation's old money.

Another surprising feature was the plentiful digital technology. For comparison, the Chicago History Museum has an awesome interactive exhibit on their first floor that lets kids take their picture in a postcard, use a digital touch screen to add their name, and email it to themselves as a souvenir. There were three such stations at the Money Museum. In one spot you could take a picture of yourself next to a suitcase of money, and the photo printed out right there. In another spot you could make your own currency, adding in a photo of yourself, decorative designs, and all the proper security features, then email it to yourself. In a third area you could take a quiz game, utilizing the information recently absorbed from exhibit labels, to decide what the fed would do in various national economic situations. Once you've successfully completed the game, you took a photo and could have your face printed on a newspaper article or magazine cover as the next head of the Fed! Each station featured two computers for multiple visitors to engage at once.

There were also touch screen stations where you could find out info about the Fed, about common banking options, and the types of money the Fed shreds. At that table visitors could take away their own to-go bag of shredded money! My phone was dead by this time so I couldn't take my own pictures, but I certainly walked away with plenty of souvenirs nonetheless. There was also a traditional form of visitor engagement in the form of a feedback table, where you could fill out a card and drop it in a box, and take a postcard to send to your friends and family about your visit. A theater sat near the right of the entrance at the end of the exhibit, which could probably seat a whole classroom easily, so one could assume they have plenty of school visitors.

The Money Museum isn't rooted in a specific local ethnic community like the Polish Museum, it doesn't house a study or performance space like Intuit Gallery, but it is something we all have a certain connection to. There has always been a portion of society that has been suspicious of the Federal Reserve Bank, of centralized monetary systems, and the policies they use to alter our economy. But especially recently it seems like we've heard increased rhetoric of that sort, so perhaps museums like this one were created by the various Federal banks across the country to help educate and assuage the public about the role and benefits of such a system. Some might find financial policy boring, some might find it controversial, but they certainly work to make it seem engaging and rewarding at the Money Museum of Chicago.