Skip to content
  • FR
FR
  • About us
    Building, illuminated glass towers on either side of an old, square, stone building.

    About us

    We're here to help you understand what the Bank of Canada does and how it matters to you.

    About the Bank of Canada

    Find out what the Bank does, who runs the Bank and how it is separate from the political process.

    Connect with us

    We'd love to hear from you! Contact us by email, phone or mail—or join us on social media.

  • Visit

    Visit

    • Plan your visit
    • Accessibility and special needs
    • Code of conduct
    • COVID-19 protocols

    Plan your visit

    Here's what you need to know, how to make the most of your visit and where to find us.

    Sensory Sundays

    For Autism Awareness Month, the Museum will provide a sensory-friendly experience every Sunday.

  • Explore

    Exhibitions

    • Permanent exhibition
    • Special exhibitions
    • Travelling exhibitions
    • Past exhibitions

    Blog

    Collection

    • About the Collection
    • Collection Services
    • Canadian Bank Notes Series
    • Search the Collection
    Collage, photo of wild west street, old bank notes, old counterfeiting brochure.

    Security is in the bank note

    Security printing is a game of anticipating and responding to criminal threats. Counterfeiting is a game of anticipating and responding to bank note design. This cat and mouse relationship affects every aspect of a bank note.

  • Learn

    Learn

    • Activities and games
    • Education blog
    • External resources
    • Lesson plans
    • School programs
    • Video discussion guides

    Needs or wants? That is the question!

    Do you need it, or do you want it? That’s an important question to ask before buying anything. This activity is designed to teach kids how to prioritize their needs and wants, and how to make informed choices when shopping.

    Price check: Inflation in Canada

    All about inflation: what it is, what it means and how it's measured. Students will learn how the consumer price index is calculated and create their own student price index to measure the prices that matter most to them.

Notice of temporary closure
The Museum will be closed on Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30 for maintenance.
  • Home
  • The Museum Blog

Why We are Not the Currency Museum

By: Graham Iddon


December 1, 2016

(And no, we’re still not the Mint!)

In a recent meeting, a member of our team accidentally referred to the Bank of Canada Museum as the “Currency Museum.” (And nothing was ever seen of him again…) It was an honest slip, but if we are occasionally making that mistake ourselves, it’s probably worth re‑visiting this subject for our public. The Currency Museum and the Bank of Canada Museum are actually two very different things. We were first called the Currency Museum because we highlighted the National Currency Collection (NCC)—an extensive international collection and the most complete collection of Canadian currency in the world. It was, and is, a public collection as well as an effective educational tool. Building a museum to display and interpret it seemed only natural. Why we are no longer the Currency Museum is a more complicated issue.

In 1963, Governor Louis Rasminsky (left) gave the go-ahead to the Currency Museum’s first curator, Major Sheldon Carroll (right) to amass the most comprehensive collection possible of Canadian currency. (BoC Photo Collection 153-24A)

We don’t know exactly when the idea of the new Bank of Canada Museum was first conceived, but a significant milestone in its genesis occurred on 23 June 2010 at 13:41:41 eastern daylight time (roughly speaking). As a few of you may suspect, I’m talking about the 2010 Central Canada earthquake. No, the idea for a new museum wasn’t any revelation caused by a bonk on the noggin from a falling ceiling tile. However, the 5.0 local magnitude shake-up did have an impact on the renovation schedule of the Bank of Canada’s head office complex. Just as it was an opportune time to build the Currency Museum when the 1970s complex was being constructed, it seemed an opportune time to re‑build (and reimagine) the Museum when the same complex was being renovated 40 years later.


The Arthur Erickson designed Bank of Canada head office rises: 1974.



The Bank of Canada head office has been surrounded by fences and torn up concrete since 2013 but by autumn 2016, renovations are nearing completion.


For most of its 30 odd years, the Museum was part of the Currency Department of the Bank. But a few years before it closed, the Currency Museum officially became an arm of the Communications Department. And this was the crucial factor that would change the future mission of the Museum. Here was an opportunity to develop an extraordinary outreach tool to help educate Canadians about what the Bank does. If you need clarification, it’s worth reading our mission statement—there’ll be a test later, so pay attention.

To creatively bring the work of the Bank of Canada to Canadians by demystifying the Bank’s key functions and interpreting Canada’s monetary heritage; and to provide access to the National Currency Collection.


The Currency Museum entrance, ca 2008.



The Bank of Canada Museum entrance, ca 2017.


Though we are no longer a currency museum per se, the National Currency Collection will not be taking a back seat. Its displays will cover most of the outside perimeter of the new galleries with almost 1,400 artifacts accompanied by more than 20,089 words of support copy. The number of artifacts on permanent display is now smaller, but the artifacts carry an additional burden: to provide support for the subject matter of the main galleries. As money is the blood of the economy, our artifacts can go a long way to help us understand the greater story of the economy and the Bank of Canada.


Galleries 6 and 5 of the Currency Museum showing dozens of artifacts from Canadian numismatic history.



A mock-up of a proposed arrangement of artifacts on the vault wall of the new Bank of Canada Museum with its digital label terminal in front. It may not appear like this when complete.


One of the key themes of the Bank of Canada Museum is the interrelatedness of all elements of our economy. This interrelatedness begins with the economic input of the individual. We want to make Canadians the centre from which all the museum content radiates. By educating visitors about their roles in the Canadian and world economies, we will bring the functions and purposes of the Bank of Canada closer to home.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts

Subscribe to The Museum Blog
The Museum Blog

March 22, 2023

Security is in the bank note

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, photo of wild west street, old bank notes, old counterfeiting brochure.
Security printing is a game of anticipating and responding to criminal threats. Counterfeiting is a game of anticipating and responding to bank note design. This cat and mouse relationship affects every aspect of a bank note.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, Financial literacy Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
February 2, 2023

Teaching art with currency

By: Adam Young


From design to final product, bank notes and coins can be used to explore and teach art, media and process.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Arts, Education Grade level(s): Grade 05, Grade 06, Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
January 20, 2023

New Acquisitions—2022 Edition

By: David Bergeron, Krista Broeckx


It’s a new year—the perfect time to look back at some notable artifacts the Museum added to the National Currency collection from 2022. Each object has a unique story to tell about Canada’s monetary and economic history.
Content type(s): Blog posts
December 6, 2022

Money: it’s a question of trust

By: Graham Iddon


Photo collage, parking meter, old bank notes and an early bank card.
The dollars and cents we use wouldn’t be worth anything to anybody if we didn’t have confidence in it. No matter if it’s gold or digits on a hard drive, public trust is the secret ingredient in a successful currency.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy
November 14, 2022

The day Winnipeg was invaded

By: David Bergeron


People on the street were randomly stopped and searched, and some were even arrested and imprisoned in an internment camp. Even German marks replaced Canadian currency in circulation—in the form of If Day propaganda notes.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History Grade level(s): Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
October 18, 2022

Positive notes

By: Krista Broeckx


The imagery on the Bank of Canada’s 1935 note series depicts the country’s rich industrial history.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History
June 16, 2022

Army bills: Funding the War of 1812

By: David Bergeron, Graham Iddon


In 1812, British North America had no banks and little currency. With the prospect of war drying up supplies of coins, the government of Lower Canada decided to issue legal tender notes called “army bills” to pay for troops and supplies.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, History
May 5, 2022

Between tradition and technology

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, man at an easel, paintings of birds and a goose illustration with comments written on it.
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.
Content type(s): Blog posts

More Info

30 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G9, CANADA
613‑782‑8914

  • Things to do

  • Plan your visit
  • Find educational resources
  • Search the Collection
  • Connect with us
  • Things to see

  • Canadian bank notes
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Things to know

  • Accessibility and special needs
  • Code of conduct
  • COVID-19 protocols
  • Privacy
●●
Bank of Canada Museum

Visit the Bank of Canada web site ›

We use cookies to help us keep improving this website.

Accept and continue