Take Stock Of Financial History - The Smithsonian at Wall Street - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, March, 2001 by Sean O'Neill

MUSEUMS | The Smithsonian invests its assets in a WALL STREET SHRINE to American business.

IT'S NOT as hot a Broadway ticket as The Lion King, but the Museum of American Financial History is a lot cheaper (admission is $2) and it's worth a visit the next time you're in New York City. The 13-year-old museum at 28 Broadway--the site of Alexander Hamilton's law office and John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil--recently hooked up with the Smithsonian Institution and reopened with an infusion of new items from the Smithsonian's collection.

See John Hancock's John Hancock on a 1792 contract. Ogle an actual ticker tape wept over by brokers watching their fortunes crash in 1929. Kids circa 2001 can look up their own favorite stocks via computer. Adults may get a kick out of seeing memorabilia from companies once big but now gone, such as Kidder, Peabody.

Starting in April the museum will have an exhibit on the life and times of financier J.P. Morgan. If you go, try to stop by on a Friday morning, when you can take a guided tour of the financial district.