The Bank of Canada Museum (since July 2017), formerly known as Canada's Currency Museum, opened in 1980 on the ground floor of the
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada (BoC; french: Banque du Canada) is a Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: Ca ...
building in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Ontario, Canada. Temporarily closed in 2013 for major building renovations, the museum reopened in a new space on July 1, 2017, in a new building, with a completely new design and concept. It is, however, connected to the main building through the Bank of Canada's underground conference centre.
The museum used to be the public face of the National Currency Collection, which contains over 100,000 currency-related artifacts from around the world. These include coins, banknotes, dies, plates, and engraving tools, bank and government ledgers, weights and scales,
cash register
A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a drawer for storing cash and other v ...
s, wallets, numismatic medals and cards and examples of
counterfeit money
Counterfeit money is currency produced without the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or fo ...
. This collection was on display until 2013, and currently, most of it is in storage and is not available to visitors.
As of February 2021, the museum is working on replacing these artifacts, both by putting them out, and digitizing them.
The National Currency Collection also encompasses a library and archive, which contain over 8,500 books, pamphlets, catalogues and journals dating back to the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
.
The Museum offers various educational programs for school groups and the public, in both English and French.
History
![Rai stone from Yap currency](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Rai_stone_from_Yap_currency.jpg)
The creation of a national currency collection was first proposed in the late 1950s by Bank Governor
James Coyne.
Numismatic consultant G.R.L. Potter was hired in 1959 to help develop the collection. Under his guidance the Bank began collecting artifacts that depicted the development of Canadian currency over the previous 150 years.
By 1962 Sheldon S. Carroll had been hired as the Bank's first Curator. Governor
Louis Rasminsky
Louis Rasminsky, (February 1, 1908 – September 15, 1998) was the third Governor of the Bank of Canada from 1961 to 1973, succeeding James Coyne. He was succeeded by Gerald Bouey.
Born in Montreal, he was raised in Toronto, graduated at ...
directed Carroll to develop as complete as possible a collection of Canadian coins, tokens and paper money. Carroll also established collections of ancient, medieval and modern foreign currency, and of artifacts related to banking and monetary matters. The core of the Collection was assembled during this period.
Artifacts were acquired from individual collectors, private-sector firms and public agencies. The collection of J. Douglas Ferguson, perhaps the best-known Canadian numismatist of his time, was purchased in 1963. This acquisition included paper money issued during the French regime, and a selection of ancient, medieval and contemporary coins.
Another significant acquisition came in 1965 with the transfer of a large collection of coins from the Public Archives of Canada. These included the Hart Collection, which had been purchased by the Canadian government in 1883.
In 1974 the Bank purchased a large collection from the
Château de Ramezay, home of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montréal, Canada's first numismatic society. This acquisition included the collection of R.W. McLachlan, Canada's leading numismatist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1977 the Canadian Secretary of State formally designated the Bank's acquisitions as the National Currency Collection.
The museum opened its doors to the public in the newly expanded
Bank of Canada Building
The Bank of Canada Building is the head office of the Bank of Canada. It is located at 234 Wellington Street in Ottawa, Ontario.
Description
It was built from 1937-1938 by architect Sumner Godfrey Davenport of Montréal, Québec, and complet ...
on December 5, 1980. On July 2, 2013, the museum was closed for four years, while the Bank of Canada building was remodelled. On July 1, 2017, it re-opened as the Bank of Canada Museum.
Exhibits
The new museum consists of many exhibits. They are aimed at both children, and adults. It contains currency from around the world, although generally Canadian.
Temporary exhibits are usually replaced every few months. The most recent examples, were of
Viola Desmond
Viola Irene Desmond (July 6, 1914 – February 7, 1965) was a Canadian civil and women's rights activist and businesswoman of Black Nova Scotian descent. In 1946, she challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia by refu ...
, and
luck
Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
s in lucky coins, and luck related to currency in general (wishing wells)
To view most exhibits, and artifacts, visitors are encouraged create a virtual '
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
'. Visitors will receive a wristband, which will connect to computers to see interactive, and digitized artifacts and exhibits.
An example of an
interactive
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
artifact is the '2% inflation Rate' game. Visitors can play an interactive ''
Space Invaders
is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...
''-like game, where you have to shoot targets relating to inflation rates.
Visitors can also create their own "currency", with their learned knowledge from the exhibits.
Cartoon-style characters are used.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with
CMA,
CHIN
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a we ...
, and the
Virtual Museum of Canada
The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity.
Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...
.
References
External links
History of the earliest forms currency in Canadaat Will's Online World Paper Money Gallery
{{Canadian currency and coinage
Museums in Ottawa
Numismatic museums in North America
Museums of economics
Bank of Canada
1980 establishments in Ontario
Museums established in 1980