THE TICKER CONNEC TING TO COLLEC TIONS
MoAF Loans Library Collection to the
American Institute for Economic Research
By Sarah Poole, Collections Manager
on the value of personal freedom, free
enterprise, property rights, limited govern-
ment and sound money.” AIER publishes
extensive editorials and research, hosts
educational programming and supports
scholars and students with fellowships and
internships. The organization is also home
to the Bastiat Society, “a global network
of business professionals committed to
advancing free trade, individual freedom
and responsible governance.”
The mission and activities of AIER are
complementary to the Museum’s own
mission “to improve understanding of the
influence of financial institutions and cap-
ital markets on the US and global econo-
mies, and on individuals’ lives.” Therefore,
the Institute is a good fit for the Museum’s
library collection. The initial loan period
will last for five years and will help foster
a continuing partnership between the two
organizations.
THIS AUGUST, the Museum’s library
collection was placed on loan to the Amer-
ican Institute for Economic Research
(AIER). The books were sent to AIER’s
E.C. Harwood Library in Great Bar-
rington, Massachusetts, where they will
be fully cataloged and made available to
scholars for research. This partnership will
benefit both institutions, as the Museum’s
library will be better utilized and will help
AIER to expand the resources available to
its audiences. The loan is also an opportu-
nity for the Museum to expand access to
its collections while continuing to seek a
new physical location.
The Museum has been collecting books
throughout its history, and previously the
library was primarily used for research
by Museum staff. The library collection
covers subjects including biographies;
histories of banks, businesses and cor-
porations; investing; general American
and world history; economic policy; inter-
national finance and more. Due to the
size of the library (roughly estimated at
10,000 volumes), it had only been partially
cataloged and was, therefore, difficult to
search and use. The library was unfortu-
nately inaccessible to most researchers
and the general public. After the flooding
incident at 48 Wall Street, Museum staff
and volunteers packed all of the books for
storage, where they remained until the
start of this loan.
AIER was founded in 1933 as the first
independent research organization dedi-
cated to studying “the wide range of eco-
nomic, social and monetary developments
that had contributed to the catastrophic
economic contraction” of the Great
Depression. Today, the Institute operates
with the mission to “educate Americans
The Museum recently loaned its collection of library books to the American Institute
for Economic Research (AIER) to provide better access for scholars.
6 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Fall 2019 | www.MoAF.org
The Museum’s staff and volunteers packed its roughly
10,000 volume book collection for its loan to AIER.