The Bank Note History Project

Find out who signed your bank notes

Find out who signed your bank notes, and learn more about them! Do some research and help us with Banker Bios or Bank Histories as part of SPMC's Bank Note History Project!

The purpose of this project is to stimulate research and help organize historical information related to U.S. bank notes that were issued during the National Bank Note Era (1863-1935). This project is focused on two of the primary historical aspects of these 'Hometown' bank notes: The Banks that issued them, and the Bankers who signed them.

The online Bank Note History Project consists of the Banks & Bankers Database server, two Search/Lookup websites that access data stored on the database server, and the Bank Note History Wiki website.

1. Banks & Bankers Database

This database includes historical data on all 14,348 National Banks that were chartered between 1863 and 1935. It also has information on 65,000+ bankers, including all of the bank Presidents & Cashiers listed in the OCC reports from 1867-1935, as well as many other potential bank note signers (VPs & Asst Cashiers). Currently the primary focus is on the National Banks & Bankers, since we have data available for all the National Banks. In the future, we plan on adding data for the Obsolete Banks & Bankers to the database.

2. National Bank Lookup website

This public search website provides a simple interface to lookup National Banks by Charter# or Town. Bank & Banker info is available for all 14,348 National Banks that were charted between 1863 & 1935.

For an overview of this website see National Bank Lookup website Overview

National Bank Lookup website

3. Banks & Bankers Search website

This search website requires SPMC member login, and provides advanced Bank & Banker search capabilities. Information is available for all 14,348 National Banks that were charted between 1863 & 1935, and 65,000+ Bankers.

For an overview of this website see Banks & Bankers Search website Overview

You must login to the SPMC website before clicking on the 'Banks & Bankers Search website' button.

Banks & Bankers Search website

4. Bank Note History Wiki

This public wiki is a crowd-sourced, searchable content website (very similar to Wikipedia). The primary content in this wiki is detailed Bank Histories and Banker Biographies for bank note signers. The Banks and Bankers in the B&B Database are linked to these Bank History and Banker Bio wiki pages.

For an overview of the wiki website, see Bank Note History Wiki Overview

Bank Note History Wiki

First National Bank, Battle Lake, MN (ca. 1907-1908)