An AI Alexander Hamilton? JFK’s blank check? Museum of American Finance shows off the history of money.
Giggles vibrated through the Museum of American Finance, where fragile bills, analog gadgets, and an AI-interactive portrait of Alexander Hamilton educate all who pass through.
In one room, visitors laughed at the rendering of Hamilton — a patron saint of American finance — which answered any financial questions posed by the audience.
For instance, someone asked for an explanation of compound interest in a way their son, who is interested in Minecraft, would understand.
“Imagine you have one diamond pickaxe, and each day it magically duplicates not just the original, but all duplicates from the day before,” the display said.
The 5,400-square-foot Seaport museum opened its doors Friday and will be now be open Wednesday through Sunday. The opening marked the first time since early 2018 that the Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, has occupied a permanent home. Eight years ago, its New York headquarters was flooded. Since then, the museum has traveled across the country with temporary installations.
Entrance to the museum is free, with no tickets or reservations required, unlike the $8 fee formerly at the New York location.
The savvy Hamilton display — which can understand and speak in dozens of languages — is trained with OpenAI and Google Gemini models. It also asks trivia in three difficulties, depending on visitor proficiency. After talking to AI-Hamilton, guests can provide feedback to help refine its model.
“It made a boring topic a lot more engaging,” said Matt Fergus, a member of the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology team, which helped develop the Hamilton display.
Another exhibit is the Hub of Innovation, which highlights Massachusetts’ and Boston’s financial evolutions. One display includes a 1912 stock certificate for 25 shares of the Boston American League Base-Ball Club, now the Red Sox.
The museum also shows one of Paul Revere’s bank books, a bond used to fund the Louisiana Purchase, and a blank check carried by President John F. Kennedy at the time of his assassination in 1963.
The museum balances the histories of America, Massachusetts, and Boston without focusing too much on one in particular, many visitors said.
Read more Getting a parenting break? Unwind with one of these great beach reads.
“The ratio is just right,” said Gabriel Altbach, a 50-year-old who works in finance and lives in the neighborhood. “I’m excited that there’s a museum dedicated to finance, especially knowing Boston’s role in it.”
All of the exhibits are new except for “America in Circulation,” a history of the nation’s colorful paper currencies, said John E. Herzog, the museum’s founder and chairman emeritus. Many of the displays, excluding the collection of print currency, are his.
During Herzog’s more than 60 years of collecting the museum’s financial documents, he preserved them with special sleeves approved by the Library of Congress, he said. Some he commissioned to be restored — many trace back as far as 1776.
Jacque Pfeifer, 63 of Kansas City, Kan., stopped late Friday morning for a few minutes after her Fourth of July cruise ship docked in Boston Harbor.
The museum’s display of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, a computer record of transactions, left her wondering how the software that supports bitcoin and other projects could develop in coming years: “What is that going to look like?”
This fall, Boston Public Schools will pilot a trip to the museum for students that includes transportation, a guided tour of the exhibits, lunch, and a hands-on classroom program, said Anne Rogers Clark, the system’s development officer for strategy, partnerships, and innovation.
“The timing could not be better,” Rogers Clark said. “With Massachusetts’ new financial literacy graduation requirement for students, this museum arrives at exactly the right moment.”
The museum is one of the projects announced as part of Commonwealth Pier’s redevelopment. It shares 200 Seaport Blvd. with mixed-use tenants including restaurants Daily Provisions and soon Ci Siamo. Fidelity Investments also has its headquarters there. In April, the financial services firm announced that thousands of staff would need to work in person five days per week starting September, doubling their commuting days.
Jon Hillman, 39, of Andover, entered the museum to learn more for a book that he is currently writing about American savings.
Hillman enjoyed the exhibit on personal finance, he said, which includes 10 touchscreen hubs explaining key strategies to invest and save money. “Maybe I’ll bring my kids next time.”
Read more Pilot was bitten by bat after swarm invaded hotel room, lawsuit says
Post Comment