On December 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and subsequent
near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the
first paper currency in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

Black Tuesday hit Wall Street on October 29, 1929 as investors
trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a
single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands
of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the
machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading.

In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great
Depression.

Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 crash.

Overall Price index on Wall Street from just before the
crash in 1929 to 1932 when the price bottomed out.

On September 2, 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine
(ATM) made its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at
Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York. ATMs went on
to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to
visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions.

By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely
popular and handled many of the functions previously
performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and
money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as
indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.

Sir Thomas Bland (center) unveiled the first ATM by
drawing back a curtain, and actor Reg Varney (center) 
made the first cash withdrawal.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt (above) signed into law the Social Security  Act on August 14, 1935. Press photographers snapped
pictures as FDR, flanked by ranking members of Congress, signed
into law the historic act, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed  and retirees. FDR commended Congress for what he considered to be a “patriotic” act.   

        
         

   
CAMILLE BOHANNON

Inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies
were conceived and mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.,
reportedly at the suggestion of his then-wife, the actress
and singer Anna Held. The shows’ producers were turn-
of-the-twentieth-century producing titans Klaw and Erlanger.

The Follies were a series of lavish revues, something between
later Broadway shows and the more elaborate high class
vaudeville and variety show. The first follies, The Follies of
1907, was produced that year at the Jardin de Paris roof
theatre.

Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr.
(March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932)