Counting National Bank Notes, 1907

It's 1907, and two women are counting sheets of National Bank Notes inside the US Treasury Building before they are sent to individual private banks for issuance.

It's probably not common knowledge, but the Treasury Building was the site of many banknote printing operations from 1862 onwards. It contained presses, wetting, drying, trimming, and counting operations, and even note destruction facilities. A number of these operations continued in the building even after the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was moved to its own home in 1880.

Here, in 1907, the women are working in what is now the Office of the US Treasurer, which I have visited many times during the tenure of Rosie Rios. The wall on the right is the cast iron face of a room-sized vault, which is now an office.

The women pictured are counting $5 National Bank Notes, Series 1902. There are 4 notes to a sheet, and the notes were printed by hand. During this time, all National Banking System operations were in the Treasury Building. The overprinting of seals and serial numbers even occurred in the building.

The OCC and the National Banking System went out of the banknote-issuing business in 1935. (National Bank Notes were the currency that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was set up to administer. It may be stablecoins in the future.)