Reflection Post 2: Money and Exchange in West Africa

Money and Exchange in West Africa is a project that introduces people to the objects used as money or as a form of exchange from the late 19th century to the present.

The goal of the project is to tell the history of West African money from the 19th century, linking it to broader questions about the nature and uses of money, the ways in which economic change can influence how money is used, and the relationship between money and political sovereignty. Thus, the project seems to be in communication with economics and political science due to the link it makes between the use of money and the history of colonialism and decolonization in West Africa.

In order to tell that history, the project team used 880 West African currency objects from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection (NNC). They digitized them by cataloging and photography. To ensure they are useful for learning, the team used the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab platform to display digital collections of selected objects with information about them. There is also a physical display on the history of the U.S. dollar in Liberia within The Value of Money exhibition, which was made available online through the National Museum of American History and the Learning Lab.

I’m intrigued by the method of cataloging the team used in digitizing the objects, although I don’t know how they went about doing it. What does someone need to know about such a method and how does it work?