The Rhode Island Historical Society will host professor Dr. Dror Goldberg on Monday, May 8th at 5:30pm for a presentation on his latest book, Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency.
Modern currency is legal tender for debts and taxes and it has had no relation to gold since 1971. Such a currency, so prone to inflation, was invented for the first time in history in 1690 Massachusetts to pay soldiers during King William’s War. The full story of this invention is told for the first time in the context of the odd history of money throughout colonial America before 1690. The issue of the novel currency was led by Massachusetts councilor Elisha Hutchinson. He was not only a grandson of the famous Anne Hutchinson, but as a leading Boston merchant he had ongoing business relationships with his relatives of the Sanford family in Rhode Island. The lecture will tell the story of both the invention and the inventor.
This talk is free and will be hosted at the RIHS Aldrich House headquarters in Providence.
For 30% off Goldberg’s book, visit www.press.uchicago.edu and enter code ESYMONEY2023 at checkout.
Goldberg (Ph.D Rochester) is a senior faculty member in the Department of Management and Economics at the Open University of Israel. He is the author of Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency, published by the University of Chicago Press in March 2023.