Financial History 134 (Summer 2020) | Page 6

THE TICKER MUSEUM NEWS Museum Participates in Business History Conference Bibliography of Business History and Race By all accounts, 2020 has been a most unusual and challenging year. From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic early in the year, to the recent wave of racial and social justice campaigns throughout our nation this spring and summer, many of us have never felt as ensconced in living history as we have in 2020. Message to Members David J. Cowen | President and CEO This spring, several members of our staff and board attended a webinar featuring Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. One of his many insightful remarks was that museums today should play an active role in their communities as history unfolds, rather than being places where “history and science go to die.” We have taken that advice to heart, launching our “Pandemics & Epidemics: Financial and Economic Effects” online exhibit in June, dedicating the Spring issue of Financial History to the exploration of the historical impact of national and global pandemics and featuring numerous programs this summer on various aspects of this subject as well. Program highlights include veteran CNBC Reporter Bob Pisani and “Wealth- Track” Anchor and Executive Producer Consuelo Mack on “The Rally and the Recovery: Where Are We?,” economic historian and MoAF Chairman Richard Sylla on “Pandemics & Epidemics: Financial and Economic Effects” and entrepreneur and financial communications expert Dan Simon on “Innovation in Crisis.” Videos of most programs become available on our website a few weeks after they are presented. In addition, I am pleased to announce that several articles from Financial History magazine have been accepted for inclusion in the Business History Conference Elsa Ruiz (BHC)’s Open Bibliography of Business History and Race. This crowdsourced bibliography, which launched in July, is a major new collaborative effort to promote published resources that explore the history of business and race on an international scale. This important initiative will help scholars better understand the role that race has historically played in business and economics, and it will help historians identify gaps in this history that need to be filled by additional research. It will also serve as a consolidated resource where students and laypeople interested in history can access hundreds, and potentially thousands, of published works on this subject. The full bibliography can be found at https://www.zotero.org/groups/2527203/ business_history_and_race_a_partial_ open_bibliography, and some Financial History articles that have been included are listed in the sidebar on the next page. The cover story of this issue, “New Deal or Raw Deal? Black Americans in the Roosevelt Years,” by Jill Watts, will be added to the bibliography this month as well. As members and friends of the Museum of American Finance, we know our readers are inherently interested in the history of business, economics and finance, and we invite you to submit any articles or publications you have read and would recommend that pertain to business history and race (see instructions, page 5). We welcome your participation in this important initiative. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on inclusivity in our programming and content. For those who may have missed our 2017–2018 exhibit with the Museum of UnCut Funk titled “For the Love of Money: Blacks on US Currency,” we are highlighting the men and women featured in that exhibit on our social media channels in commemoration of important moments in Black history. The positive representation of free Black people on commemorative currency is one of the earliest forms of public recognition of Black excellence, contribution and value. An overview of the exhibit including materials and resources can be found at www.moaf.org/exhibits/ftlom. Finally, I would like to thank our supporters for continuing to attend our programs and utilize our resources in what has been a difficult time for museums. We are planning several exciting virtual events for the fall, all of which are free to attend, and we welcome our members and friends to tune in and spread the word. The 2017 “For the Love of Money” exhibit, in collaboration with the Museum of Uncut Funk. 4 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2020 | www.MoAF.org