Financial History 25th Anniversary Special Edition (104, Fall 2012) | Page 9

Reporters cover the Museum’s move to 24 Broadway, 1992. National Museum of Natural History is an 18-karat gold Monopoly set. The opening day events, including a Museum-wide Monopoly contest for middle school students, were covered by more than 65 press outlets. The Museum currently welcomes upwards of 500 school groups each year, and I sometimes tap students on the shoulder and ask where they are from. The answers: North Dakota; Silver Springs; Honolulu; the South Bronx; Stratford, England and everywhere in between. In addition to its tour programs, the Museum offers 10 classes as part of its Center for Financial Education and last year launched the Museum Finance Academy, a personal finance certificate program for local high school juniors and seniors. The Museum also hosts dozens of important events, including the first panel discussion about the intersection of finance and the environment, in partnership with The Sierra Club, as well as talks and symposia featuring such prominent speakers as Paul Volcker, Jack Bogle, David Walker, Duncan Niederauer, Bill Donaldson, Niall Ferguson and Abby Joseph Cohen, to name a few. At the annual gala, the main fundraising event, the Museum honors someone who has made a meaningful contribution in finance as well as public service, presenting the honoree with the John C. Whitehead Award for Distinguished Public Service and Financial Leadership. After 25 years, which will come along on October 19 — the anniversary of the Crash — I will become an Emeritus Trustee. I will continue my involvement helping to advise new international finance museums, as other nations realize how very great the benefits of explaining these seemingly arcane finance phenomena can be. For the development of a middle class in nations experiencing democratic capitalism for the first time, it is actually essential, and this realization should work out to some interesting trips for Diana and me. Seeing the immense satisfaction on people’s faces as they begin to understand what the Masters of the Universe take for granted is extremely gratifying, and what I have hoped to accomplish all these years. It has been a terrific ride, and it has been a great privilege for me to tell you this story.  John Herzog works on the “70 Years of American Mutual Funds” exhibit, 1994. www.MoAF.org  |  Fall 2012  |  FINANCIAL HISTORY  7