Financial History 25th Anniversary Special Edition (104, Fall 2012) | Page 8

so there wasn’t much time to prepare. I
had some Hamilton material and started
to work on what was the first exhibit in
America commemorating Hamilton’s contributions to the founding of the nation. I
called Joanne Freeman, a doctoral student
at the Library of Congress where the Hamilton papers are housed, and learned that
she had designed an exhibit for the US
Treasury that had not been displayed and
could be available. When I heard that, I
said “Okay, sold.” I knew I could rely on
her scholarship, and all I had to do was
raise the money, about $50,000.
The exhibit opened on time, with a
ceremony featuring some notable speakers and the Fort Hamilton marching band
from Brooklyn. About 6,000 people saw
it, and the exhibit got favorable press. That
was a great feeling, and, encouraged by
the momentary success we had achieved,
I made the decision to carry on with the
project. I applied for tax-exempt status
for the Museum, which was granted with
a provisional charter that year (the Museum’s absolute charter was granted a few
years later, by the New York State Board
of Regents). I hired an assistant to attend
to all the Museum issues, and I continued
being the CEO of Herzog Heine Geduld.
As the Museum developed and grew,
we realized it needed its own physical
space. This was obtained by using a small
entry area the trading firm was not using,
which was only about 250 square feet. One
of the first exhibits in that space was called
“America, Money and War,” and it told
the story of financing the Civil War for
the first time. The exhibit was beautifully
researched and presented by Douglas Ball,
a nationally-recognized numismatist.
At the time, I often acted as a host for
visiting Congressiona