c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. >> former dealer and cataloger in u.s. and world paper money bruce martin discusses banknotes from 1861 to 1928. he talks about the people depicted on them, as well as legislation that appears on currency. he shows a number of banknotes from his personal collection, as well as rare bills including images of martha washington and a native american. the museum of american finance hosted this >> today i have the pleasure of introducing bruce smart. he received a b.s. in math from kansas city. from 1970 to 2006 he was employed by the dupont company.

at dupont, he was responsible for 55 u.s. patents and he authored or co-authored more than 100 technical publications. in 2002, he began consulting for a cataloging and dealing company for paper money. he is a 15 year member of the international bank notes society. in today's talks bruce will review the type of bank notes in circulation and will include some anecdotes. following his presentation, he has brought some objects from his personal collection and they will be available for the audience's inspection. i will not turn the program over to dr. bruce smart. [applause]

>> thank you. today i am going to talk about a financial period in u.s. history where some of the most beautiful, artistic, and historically interesting bank notes were issued. unfortunately, almost none of the general public has seen or heard of any of these banknotes. today, you are going to see quite a few of them. i'm going to focus mainly on the various portraits of people that are engraved on these banknotes during this 67 year. period. some of these people you will easily recognized. some names might ring a bell. then there will be several people who are basically forgotten, like these two handsome bearded gentleman on this slide. the fellow on the left

precipitated an act of congress which had a lasting effect on the design of our currency. the guy on the right was a very high ranking union general. i will comment on both of these more as we get into the talk. let's start out by looking at today's currency, which everybody should be familiar with. everybody should know who is depicted on the currency. the one dollar bill is washington, the two is jefferson , lincoln, hamilton, and so forth. the interesting thing is that exactly the same person has been on the same denomination of our so-called modern banknotes since 1929. these are truly a standard design. some of you will recognize that in the mid-90's, they started filling with portraits. this is the traditional franklin portrait. that is the so-called "big head"

or trick. it is still the same individual on the same denomination. these are all in circulation today. there were higher notes in in circulation until 50 years ago. the $500 bill had mckinley, the thousand dollar bill, president cleveland. president madison is depicted on the 5000, and this is solomon chase. he is a very important statesman and a figure in finance. surprisingly, there is even a $100,000 bill. it is the highest denomination ever produced. it was only used for internal

bank transfers. it is a gold note. it is the only note that has woodrow wilson on it. that is a snapshot of what i would call more modern notes. what we are going to talk about is this period where the united states issued large sized notes in something called fractional currency. there were 12 different types of these notes. many of these were in circulation at the same time. i want to have time to go into detail on many of these notes. let me just comment on a couple of them. let me show you right now what we mean by a large sized note. if you can see this, this was what is considered a large sized note or a horse blankets.

they were issued in this size from 1861 to 1928. if you contrast that size with the current one dollar bill, you can see why they are called large sized. even more strange, perhaps, this is what is called fractional currency which was issued during a 14-year period. it started during the civil war mainly because of the shortage of coins. during the civil war, the notes that were redeemable were discontinued. people tended to board -- hoard silver and gold coins. there was enough lower denomination currency. -- wasn't enough i will have more to show you after the talk. they were issued in interesting denominations.

this is a three cent note. this is still worth three cents today. then there is a $.15 note on the other side. there were a lot of different kinds of fractional currency issued. the very first issue with something called a demand note. i have an example. the back of a demand note has a dark green back, hence the name greenbacks. that's where it originated. the reason the backs for green of sensibly is because somebody had invented a green ink that could not be reproduced by photography. the backs are still green today. not for the same reason. that tradition has carried on. the point is that there were 12

of these large sized notes issued. there were 57 different persons depicted on banknotes during this period. in contrast with our more modern notes where there are only a dozen people. you will see that some of the famous people in particular are depicted on several different denominations. you don't always the andrew jackson on a $20 bill. he will appear on other denominations. you will also see different portraits for some famous individuals. the portraits you see on today's notes are fairly constant in design. that was not the case during this time. we will plunge into some of these notes. there were a lot of presidents on banknotes. the president you see on our current currency also appeared

on notes during this time. here is john quincy adams on this $500 legal tender note. incidentally, $500 with the equivalent of about $8,500 in today's money. the general public really didn't see this note. the average salary for a worker during the civil war in 1869 was about $25 a month. most people never really got to see john quincy adams on a note. grover cleveland was on our thousand dollar bill but he was on $20 bills during this time. james garfield appears on a note. this is a gold certificate that has his portrait and there is a mirror image of his portrait on

a special kind of national bank note. it is called a brownback note issued in the 1880's. if you know garfield at all, he is known for a couple of things. one is he got assassinated. he had only been in office for seven months and died about 200 days later. for me the most important thing about garfield is that he was the only president that published a mathematic truth in a journal. this is a so-called trapezoidal proof of the pythagorean theorem. this was published in the journal of education back in 1876. garfield is on a bank note. graham is also on several different banknotes. here we have benjamin harrison you don't often hear about great

he was actually the grandson of william harry harrison and he served as president. he split the term of grover cleveland. the sherman antitrust act was passed under his administration. he is not particularly well known in this day. if you look at scholars ratings of presidents, he falls in like 34th or 35th place. not very significant today. when this note was issued, this was one of the most widely circulated banknotes. this was called a national bank note. this blue thing is a charter number. what happened with the currency act of 1863 that created these national bank notes, it allowed individual banks to put up collateral by government gold bonds and the government would print banknotes for that bank up

to 90 percent of the amount of value of the collateral they had deposited here it you will see things like the national city bank of kansas city, missouri. that is my hometown. this got to be so popular that eventually there was something like 14,000 different charters issued. the government printed these notes. they are some of the most widely circulated notes at the time. the lower denomination one has a president that most people don't remember. andrew jackson is on several notes, thomas jefferson lincoln, madison is also on a large sized $5,000 note. mckinley is on the $10 bill. in today's smaller notes, he was on the $500 bill. here is a new president popping up, james monroe on this $100 silver certificate of 1878 through 1891.

george washington appears the most on currency. he appears on 10 different types of large sized banknotes, five different denominations. then he appears on all of these fractional banknotes. washington was a very popular figure in this day and of course today on the one dollar bill. do we need to keep going here? loops -- oops. the portraits very quite a bit on the notes of this period. these are all portraits of alexander hamilton that appeared on different banknotes. this is probably the most familiar portrait. here are a couple of notes that are only a few years apart. he looks a lot more fleshy here

than he did in this portrait. here is an entirely different view of him in the first issued banknote the 1861 demand note. here is a couple yet different engravings of alexander hamilton on other banknotes. this was fairly common practice to modify the portraits of it. you don't really see that in today's standardized currency. let's go over a number of these historical figures. some familiar, many forgotten. you realize that this currency started in 1861, the beginning of the civil war. you can imagine there were eventually lots of figures from lincoln's cabinet. there are three fellas here from his team of rivals if you will. this first fellow is william seward.

people are quite familiar with his purchase of alaska. he appears on a rather scarce $50 banknote called a treasury note which was redeemable in either gold or silver at the discretion of the treasurer. the fellow in the middle is again solomon chase who appeared on a number of banknotes. he is a very important figure during this period. he almost single-handedly established the national banking system. the country had various types of currency before 1861. these were not government-backed banknotes that could be turned in for government bonds. the banking system we are familiar with today started at chase's hand in 1861.

he was likely responsible for the design of these early notes. there was rather unseemly political advertising done in those days. some people actually put their faces on banknotes. chase is one person who was guilty of that. he was also instrumental in adding the motto "in god we trust" to coins which first appeared in 1864. it didn't appear on banknotes. this is a little bit of a trick question. for issued notes in wide circulation, it wasn't on the -- it wasn't until 1957. he served about 10 years in the supreme court. he was very important in the time. edwin stamm, i'm sure many of you have heard of, was the secretary of war under lincoln.

solomon chase's successor served as the secretary of treasury during these couple of years. he was succeeded by this fellow named euan mccullough who probably no one remember. here is the fellow who was on the first slide, this is spencer clarke. he was a superintended of the national currency bureau at the time. this is really the forerunner of the bureau engraving and printing which was started about 1868. the fellow on the right is an interesting character. france's spinner was a treasurer of the u.s. during the lincoln administration. -- francis spiller most of these military men served while lincoln was president. they have a lot of civil war historical figures.

this first fellow is a gentleman named winfield scott. he is known as old fuss and feathers and the grand old man of the army. he served on active duty as a general longer than any other man in american history. he had a 53-year career in the army, 47 years as a general. he served under every president from jefferson to lincoln. he was a commanding general of the u.s. army when the civil war broke out. the data civil war broke out, he was 74 years old. he offered command to robert e lee. that was the same day that lee -- virginia seceded from the union. he had offered the command to leave. -- to lwweee. david farragut is the first

admiral of the navy. you probably remember him more than anything else for the expression "dim the torpedoes, full bead ahead." -- "damn the torpedoes full speed ahead." that's not exactly what he said. but the shorter version is a little more catchy. winfield scott hancock is also a very important general. those of you that have seen the movie "gettysburg" -- he was the corps commander of the second core, which is the union core that faced picket's charge.

he is a fairly significant fellow. he eventually became major-general and commanded the left-wing of the army of the potomac. he ran for president in 1880 and narrowly lost to garfield. the next fellow is george thomas, known as the rock of chickamauga. his defense saved the union army. he later became the general of the army of the cumberland. he essentially destroyed the confederate army of tennessee at nashville. military experts rate him as probably the third best general in the union army behind grant and sherman. he is not too familiar today. phil sheraton was the commander of the u.s. calvary from the army of the potomac. he later served in the western

army ann kuster served under him. -- and custer served under him. he became top dog under grover cleveland. this is a fellow named joseph mansfield. he was a core commander in 1862 battle of antietam. he spent 40 years in the army. he had no reason combat experiment -- experience. he was marching his troops in line and took fire from the woods. he thought it was friendly fire so he rode over to the woods. it wasn't friendly fire. they shot him down and he died a day later. this was a major general who was killed at the battle of antietam. for all of you trivial pursuit types.

the last fellow is james mcpherson, also a very interesting general. he succeeded sherman in the army of tennessee. he was killed at the battle of atlanta. he is the only union army commander that was killed in compat -- combat during the civil war. a very high-ranking officer. those of you have been to washington dc might be familiar with mcpherson square and mcpherson station. they were named after this gentleman. i have authentic notes of most of these fellows. the rear banknotes i only have pictures of. -- the right or -- the rare banknotes here is winfield scott on an interest-bearing note.

there were two or three types of notes issued during this period to help finance the war. they were 3% for five years, this sort of thing. they could also be used for legal tender. there is a coupon remaining there that can be torn off and you can get your annual interest on that note. that is a very valuable note. a rather handsome portrait of sherman is on the $500 treasury note which was never issued. it is only available in proof. farragut is on the $100 note. this is called a watermelon note for obvious reasons. the decoration of the two zeros. these notes turned out to be relatively easy to counterfeit. face it will fight the design and made it much less

interesting -- they simplify the design and made it much less interesting the following year. the granddaddy of all notes is the one that has generally on it -- general lee. he was born in spain. he adorns this thousand dollar bill which is called the grand watermelon note for obvious reasons. for those of you that might be thinking about the value of these notes, this note set a world record in an auction last january. it sold for almost $3.3 million. there is a lot of collector value in the things that i'm showing you today. this was the crammed telegram -- here is our general mansfield on

the $500 bill. again something the public really never saw. now we're going to switch to statesman, politicians inventors. there are a lot of secretaries of the treasury that appear on banknotes of this time. this is a listing of all of those folks. some names are very familiar obviously alexander hamilton. you see a lot of him in this building if you take the tour. michael hilla guess -- michael hillegas was the first treasurer of the united states. i will show you portraits of people whose names might not be familiar. that is hillegas. samuel dexter appears on one of these fractional notes. there is gallatin.

walker meredith. has anyone ever heard of these people? these are part of a forgotten. chase, mccullouch. this is meredith. here is john sherman that appears on the $50 bill. he was the brother of william tecumseh sherman. he is the fellow that crafted the sherman antitrust act. he is a name you have known although you probably couldn't put the name to the face. there he is. william wyndham -- windom. he was secretary of treasurer under harrison. he is long forgotten as well. the last one here is a gentleman

, daniel manning. he appears on a $20 silver certificate. here is the bank note that had gallatin on it. this is an external narrowly denomination 41862. he looks like he left out his dentures. -- this is an extremely high denomination for 1862. lincoln, chase scott feesenden ssenden, spinner, and clark. fessenden was the successor to chase as secretary of the treasury.

here is an interesting cartoon that came from the harper's weekly in 1865. it was one month before lincoln was assassinated. you hear a lot today about inflation and reckless printing of banknotes. we had the same problem then. fessenden is turning a crank to produce greenbacks. these are the greediest fellas i ever saw. i can't satisfy their pockets. we keep the mill going day and night. he has the contractors down here saying me more greenbacks. -- give me more greenbacks. spinner here is an interesting fellow. he was probably most famous for being the first administrator in

the u.s. government to actively employ women. they were employed as clerks and the department of treasury. here is a picture from a magazine of that time showing a number of women at quitting time at the treasury. i think there were up to 400 women employed in the treasury department then. mainly thanks to spinner. the other thing he is famous for is his signature. he spent a lot of time honing his signature. it turned out that it was the most recognizable of all signatures in his day. even more recognizable than hancock. that is what the thing looked like. you will see that on banknotes. he spent a lot of this last fella is the one that

stated -- precipated an act of congress. so once this law was enacted no living person could appear on bank notes. this was pushed by a pennsylvania compass minerals martin thayer. he had a principle that no man should be immortalized on the public on the of the country until favorable verdict was made upon his name. what had happened was this note that depicts washington was being replaced by this 5 cent note which depicts clark. there are several different stories about how clark's portrait welled up on the snow.

a misunderstanding because some people thought it was most be william clark of lewis and clark or some other clark that was the superintendent of currency. but this clarkark took it to be him. so he put his face on the currency. this is what mr. thayer had to say. "iif you asked me whose image is this? i'm obliged to answer not that of george washington, which used to adorn, but the likeness of a person who superintend the printing of these notes. i'd like an event to tell me why his face should be on the money of the united states." i trust the house will support me in the cry that i raise of off with their heads. so, you can thank this fella clark for the reason our currency never depict living persons to this day.

unfortunately for mr. shermoan who was one of the most well-known personalities i've discussed today, he never made it on an issued bank note. there was a 15 cent note produced on april 6, 1866, which coincides with the date that the legislation was passed. there are proofs that exist but it was never printed because it would be in violation of the law. so this reason, you never see william tecumseh sherman on a banknote at least not a u.s. government note. lots of other famous people appeared on banknote. and we will run through these. one that might be surprised to many is martha washington. the only woman that ever appeared on u.s. currency. that is her portrait. i will have an example to show you. she also appeared on another silver certificate with her husband george washington.

so obviously, the only banknote with husband and wife on it. maybe it 50 years, you will see bill and hillary o tn the banknote. of course, benjamin franklin one of the founders it is on a number of different notes. here is the most common portrait you will see a $50 bill. lewis and clark, the famous explorers, up here on a very famous banknote, one that has a buffalo or bison in the center. there is an example you will see over there. daniel webster -- most of you have heard of -- orator and statement from massachusetts. he was secretary of state under three presidents. and there's his portrait, a dour looking fellow. henry clay appears on a high denomination note. clay, as you might know is representative from kentucky was instrumental in the compromises of passing the cover

myself 1820 and 1850 which had to do with which new territories or states became slave or free. he ran for president three times. now, he was known for the expression "i'd rather be right than president." he ran three times and he was right three times. unelected with still a famous person. john msarshall. most of you will recognize the name is a very famous supreme court justice. he endorses $20 note. and there were a couple of inventors on the back of this interesting looking silver certificate. robert fulton, the fellow on the left that pioneered the development of the steam boat. of course, several morris, morris code, etc. these famous people appeared on banknotes. fsome people that names may sound familiar but not exactly famous

in today's age a lot of scholars will know who robert morse is an important financier from 1781 to 1784. he served as superintendent of finance during the fledgling years of the united states. he was one of only two persons to sign all three founding documents of the united states -- the constitution, the declaration of independence, and the articles of confederation. he was one of pennsylvania's first two senators and the first to use the dollar sign in correspondence. the "s" with the line through it. apparently, this is attributed to morris in correspondence. so mr. morris is a familiar name, perhaps not all that famous. that's what he looks like on banknotes. stephen decatur was a famous admiral, fought in the barbary

wars. fought in the war of independence, and he was, he was commander of the uss constitution and several other ships. here is important navayal hero. the last fellow is when i want to spend time on -- charles sumner. his name has come up in today's news. hear a lot about all the acrimony and paralysis in congress. and how people are not getting along very well. the incident that mr. sumner is famous for my put this in a different perspective. hre gave a speech in may 1856, on the floor of the senate -- the crime against kansas se pecch. ech. in 1854, the kansas-nebraska act

have been passed and recognize the two new territories of kansas and nebraska, but it left it up to popular sovereignty, in other words, the white man's vote as to whether those states were to be slave or free states. of cours,ee, this spawned a lot of violence in kansas. it led to the uprisings of john brown and other important people you of heard about. so, mr. sumner give a speech, call the crime against kansas speech. this is what he said. in a speech he abused a pro-slavery senator named andrew butler from south carolina. who wasn't actually, he was absent from the senate but he is addressing butler. "butler has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows and who, though ugly to others, is lovely to him. though polluted -- i mean the

harlot slavery." a vicious speech. a south carolina congress man by the name of works to prevent 0- -- took offense at these metaphors. brooks entered the chamber of the senate where sumner was at his desk and he was accompanied by lawrence kite who brandished a pistol on the senate floor. what brooks did is brutally beat sumner with his cane while kite held off the rest of the senators by brandishing this pistol. when sumner was not to the floor, brooks continue to beat him with his cane. it took three years before mr. sumner could recover and retake his seat on the senate. it is one of the most brutal offensive acts on the floor of the senate, which happened in 1856.

and, oops. i missed mr. clinton. we will skip him. but this is charles sumner, who for his troubles, got himself on this banknote. you might be interested to know what happened to mr. brooks. mr. brooks resigned from congress before they could expel him. he was actually tried in washington, d.c. court. he was fined $300. not sent to jail. he returned to his home state where he was a national hero. shamelessly. he was reelected in a special election to his congressional seat. at the end of 1865, same year that he brutally beat this gentleman. preston brooks does not get into any banknotes, but he did get into a lot of cartoons of the day. that's mr. brooks beating sumner

on the floor of the senate. so if you hear charles owne -- sumner, this is what people are referring to when name comes up. let's back up a second. i skipped it would clinton -- dewitt clinton. he's known for one thing and one thing only and that is clinton's ditch, the erie canal. he actually proposed this canal and saw its construction as governor of new york. it's known as clinton's ditch. but that is probably what he is most famous for. many new yorkers know him. so, it is a familiar name. let's rush through some of the forgotten persons. here's thomas hartman -- hart benton, he is not the famous painter from missouri. he is a conversely from missouri for 30 years that nobody remembers -- he was a congressman from missouri. edward evert.

here he is. something of a child prodigy. he was a professor of greek at harvard at age 21. he became the governor of massachusetts. he seceded -- succeeded daniel webster as secretary of state, but basically a forgotten person. henricks is kind of interesting. this is his portrait. he was vice president under cleveland. but he only lived for 9 months once he took the office. he died in office. a year later, he appeared on a bank note. this is it. it is called the tombstone note. you cans see why. his portrait looks like it is on a tombstone. john knox long forgotten, a comptroller of the currency from 1872, to 1884. so much for thayer's admonition about posterity judging on the fame of people.

this person is a complete unknown to probably 99,999 people out of 100,000. william marcy was a senator-governor of new york. he appears on a very high denomination $1000 bill. this is the equivalent to 18,000 in today's. currency. he was a governor of new york secretary of war. he succeeded everett as secretary of state. i guess his claim to fame is mt. marcy in essex county, new york is named after him. it has a height of 629 meters and is the highest peak in new york so that is the legacy of mr. marcy. uh, the last one silas wright, again, a senator and governor of

new york in the middle of the 19th century. largely forgotten. what i'll conclude with this a person that again almost nobody knows that name but any people who collect banknotes or really have a passing interest know his portrait. he appears on this famous $5.00 bill. this is one of the top two or three most popular of u.s. bank note. that's this indian of the lakot a sioux tribe. he is the only native american depicted on a banknote. there's a lot of controversy when the snow came out because the headdress is not sioux, it's pawnee. this led to a lot of speculation about, well, is this a real indian, or is this somebody from the bureau of engraving them printed -- and printing that put on the wrong bonnet?

it actually is the right person. it is just the wrong headdress. because here is an actual photograph of this indian. again, i depicted it here, but you can also see it, an example of this note for my collection. so that essentially concludes what i wanted to say. i hope you've learned a little bit of history here and learned something about our financial system back when it started during the civil war days. and perhaps most important, maybe it will stimulate some of you to start collecting some of his kinds of make notes -- bank notes. i thank you for your attention. [applause] any questions? yeah. try to answer. >> [inaudible] he said the actual note itself -- at face value?

bruce smart: i will give you detail on this. the compound interest treasury no. these were three-year notes. they matured in three years. they had 6% compounded interest. they matured in three years. but if you were foolish enough you could use them as linger tender -- legal tender but they were only worth face value. there were several denominations. if you help them for three years you got 6% compound interest. absolutely. and then they turned them in. they're extremely rare notes very hard to find. every once in a while they show up in an auction. the interest-bearing note, which was also on that chart -- again, these were issued mainly to finance the civil war, all right? they are equivalent to bonds, really. the compound interest treasury no could be used as legal tender. there were a couple of different types interest-bearing notes. a two year 5% interest note, maturedin two in two years.

then there was a 7.3% note which matured in three years. at 7.3% annual interest, and this was typically only for higher denominations, $50 and up. these were not used as legal tender. then there is a third note that was issued called a refunding. certificate this was a $10 item which had on it 4% interest in perpetuity. all right? so, this is very much like the government bond. people did not use this as legal tender. it is the only one of the examples that was not used as legal tender. now this business of in perpetuity was stopped about 1907. so your $10 note became worth $24. and so -- those were the interest-bearing notes. yep?

>> [inaudible] at the sole discretion of the secretary of the treasury to decide who should go on it? bruce smart: yes prior to, of couresse prior to the 1866 act, the design of notes and who to put on the notes was left at the discretion of the treasury of the united states, where the secretary of the treasury, that was more of an administrative function, except for chase. he was more active. but the secretary of the treasury had to prove -- approve the design. it did not go to congress. it did not do that sort of thing. i'm not sure when congressional oversight really kicked in on who went on banknotes. but for most of the history of u.s. currency, yes, it has been up to the treasury who to put on them. of course, with modern notes

that was decided once and for all in 1921. because the persons have not changed. now, there were measures after reagan died, ronald reagan. i think there were four or five different bills introduced in congress to put reagan on a banknote. but some of them wanted to replace hamilton. with reagan. why, that's heresy. people know nothing about financial history or money and it talks about doing that sort of thing. but they try to pass some congressional bills to get certain people on banknotes. but fundamentally, until -- i don't know exactly when congressional oversight really kicked in -- but for many, many years it was to the treasurer and the secretary of the treasury to design these notes. but, of course, you know, the obvious question is why did we switch over to the standardized design? kind of boring compared to what

you have seen here. well the obvious reason is a cost a lot of money to print these larger size notes and p rint such a friday of them. those of you that are of my age might remember when we had things like the united states notes in circulation, they had a red seal. there was a blue seal on a note, which was a silver certificate. today, you see nothing but green seals, which are federal reserve notes. the federal reserve system the federal reserve act of 1913. they started issuing notes on the 12 different federal reserve banks starting in in 1914. but we used to have a little bit of variety in the small size notes, but it was not in a vignette and certainly not in a portrait, but it was just in the type of notes. one was with t-mobile for silver. -- was redeemable for silver.

there were small size gold notes issued i1n 1928. but then we went off the gold standard, so all of those were withdrawn. any other questions? yep. >> i'm wondering, do you think there is a chance that any of these still coule be reprinted for a limited time? bruce smart: they have done this with classic postage stamps. if you are stamp collector there have been some commemorative issues. they change the color but they are the same plates. and, you know, i think that might be something the treasury department on to think about doing. -- ought to think about doing. but they are very conservative about money and making changes. look how long it took them to change the basic design of the 1929 note. it was not until the mid-1990's they decided to make the portrait bigger. now they have security devices and splashes of color. they are 75 years behind a lot

of world bank no printers. -- bank note bridgesprinters. >> more bank notes outside the united states.and insight all of these portraits that you talk about - the most secure way the average person around the world can identify -- no way they are going to start putting when to cut the sherman on a commemorative -- william tecumseh sherman on a commemorative -- bruce smart: what you can buy our souvenir cards. they are printed by the bureau of engraving and printing. sometimes under special request for special events and whatnot. so you will actually see a number -- only the face and typically they do not have signatures on that sort of thing -- but the basic note you can get in what is called a souvenir card. so it is not circulating money or can't be used.

but there have been reprinting of a number of these classic notes. really just for collectors. but they are by no means monetized or legal tender. anything else? ok. thanks. and if you want to hang around for a little bit, i'll set out a bunch of notes on this table and you can come by and take a look at them. all ri ghts? thanks again. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: you are watching american history tv -- 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span 3. follow us on twitter at c-span

history. for information on her schedule of upcoming programs and to keep up with the latest history news. announcer: this year, c-span is touring cities exploring american history. next, a look at our recent visit to galveston, texas. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. announcer: the first land grant for galveston came about in the 1830's a guy named michele minard, and some of his other investors. they actually had someone lay out the plots for the city of galveston and began selling a lot from the late 1830's. so galveston is officially founded as the city in 1839. what was attractive about galveston is it was a national harbor. it was the only one between veracruz mexico and mobile, alabama.