When the year is 1838 and anyone can open a bank and issue their own currency!
Students from the South Knox summer program M2+ visited the Old State Bank at Vincennes State Historic Sites and learned the complications and pitfalls of Indiana’s early banking system. Students discovered the value of a national currency we can all count on!
Earlier this year, we had 8th grade students from Clark Middle School participate in a similar program. Students learned how our economic system progressed from the Barter and Trade system to the fur trade, where the settlers traded specific items with the Indians. Then Indiana began to use coin money, gold and silver. It was interesting to see their reactions as they saw the Pieces of 8 and thought about what it would be like to carry around all the coins and break them into pieces to pay for goods and services. The future entrepreneurs and investors then took part in an activity in which they were given paper money similar to the currency that was printed by the numerous individual banks of the early 1800s. They were told to go trade the bills with others.
Some students were given “inside” trader tips that certain bank notes would fail and others would increase their value. It was fun to see how the students caught on to the game and who the future “millionaires” might be.
Angela Lucas is the program developer at Vincennes State Historic Sites.
Filed under: State Historic Sites, Vincennes, history, museums | Tagged: Barter and Trade, currency, fur trade, Old State Bank, Pieces of 8 | Leave a Comment »
Gearing up for summer camp is always an exciting time for me. We “test” all of the activities and crafts we have planned to see how difficult they are and how much time it really takes to complete crafts. Last week, we made a log cabin using pretzels and icing. It was a fun and tasty day. Richard’s log cabin included waffle pretzel windows!
On May 19, 
I first knew Indiana’s state tree by the name Tulip Poplar. Years later, I learned that it ‘should’ be referred to as the Tulip Tree or Yellow Poplar. All these are just common names for Liriodendron tulipifera, a member of the Magnolia family — and anyway, how can a ‘common’ name be incorrect?
Coccolithophores are marine planktonic organisms that secrete calcareous plates, called coccoliths, around a single cell. They are so tiny they are best viewed with a scanning electron microscope (an SEM). That’s one of the reasons that a large red version hanging from the ceiling in the Great Hall of the Indiana State Museum was so amusing to me. Another reason for my amusement? I had a fair amount of certainty the artist didn’t know he was creating a pretty good replica of an obscure micro-organism. But that’s the great thing about art – we interpret different meanings based on our personal experiences. 
In full flower this week is another shrub that I was unfamiliar with, and I wanted to I.D. it before someone asked me about it. Fortunately my book had a good picture, so now Deutzia and I are on a first name (Genus) basis. We’ll have to get better acquainted before I know its species.
