A Tour Through Financial History

The ICF Advisory Board members traveled to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library to view pieces of the ICF Financial History Collection and later visited the Babylonian Collection at Sterling Memorial Library.

Some of the highlights of the day included:

• A keynote speech by Geert Rouwenhorst, Robert B. and Candice J. Haas Professor of Corporate Finance & Deputy Director of the International Center for Finance on the topic of long term returns and financial contracts
• A signed letter by Alexander Hamilton consolidating the debt of the United States
• A perpetual bond issued by the Dutch East India Company
• A collection of company charters, prospectuses, pamphlets and regulations relating to the Dutch speculative mania of 1720
• An accounting book related to the collapse of the South Sea Company
• An early Ming Dynasty Bank Note
• A Roman loan of 440 drachmas from 69CE
• Ancient cuneiform

See photos below from the trip!