Museum of Banking History
Germantown Museum of Banking History Conceptual Design 2024
The interior of the building will be divided into the three themes: the “Evolution of Money” from gold and silver coins to crypto currency will be on one side, and “The History of Banking” from the early individual money lenders to virtual banks on the other side, tied together by an overhead timeline tape. “The History of the Germantown Community Bank” that was “too small to fail,” and the people, farms, and businesses it supported will be inside and at the entrance to the vault. There will be hands-on learning activities with each theme, and interpretive signage will be in English and Spanish. The design for this Museum is attached as well as a “Walkthrough” of the Museum.
This will be the only Museum of Banking in the state of Maryland. As such, it will draw heritage tourists from all over the state as well as from other states and countries. There are other historic bank buildings in Maryland, but only a rare few have not gutted the interiors for other uses, and these few are not educational museums, only static relics. The ones that have been converted for commercial use are of architectural interest only. The nearest bank museum is in Staunton, Virginia, and is an adjunct to a working bank as a static exhibit. Bank museums created and operated by banking institutions such as Wells Fargo in Philadelphia are purely corporate mythmaking to enhance their image.
The Museum would also attract school groups from across the state as it fits well into the STEAM curriculum. It will also benefit African American studies as this bank was unusual for its time in that its customers included both Blacks and Whites and it made loans to local African Americans. In addition, bank employees may be sent here as part of their training.
This Museum will inform people of all ages and ethnicities financial literacy. Even today there are racial and ethnic disparities in lending and credit ratings which may be due to a lack of understanding about how the banking system and credit systems work, and this teaching Museum may help to close that gap.
References:
https://money.usnews.com/credit-cards/articles/how-race-affects-your-credit-score ;
