Of the many hats that Baruch faculty members wear, one of the most exciting is that of curator. When museums mount historical exhibitions on specific topics, they often bring in an academic expert as guest curator. Recently, Assistant Professor Brian Murphy of Baruch’s history department played such a role for a major exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.
Capital of Capital: New York’s Banks and the Creation of a Global Economy, which ran from May 22 through Oct. 21, was initially inspired by the 200th anniversary of Citibank. (Founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, the company is one of the museum’s benefactors.) Murphy, who has taught U.S. economic history and the history of corporations at Baruch since 2008, was recruited to helm the exhibition in October 2011. “It opened in May, so it was a shockingly quick turnaround,” he says of the show’s evolution from idea to reality. At the time, he was on leave on a Whiting Fellowship to write his forthcoming book Empire State-Building about the emergence of corporations and other economic institutions in New York State after the American Revolution.
Under Murphy’s stewardship, Capital of Capital gelled into an impressive presentation. “We ended up doing an amazingly comprehensive survey of New York’s development as a financial center, from the founding of the Bank of New York in 1784 to today,” he says. “We had about 300 items and artifacts, and I think it works because it does a pretty good job of putting everything into context. It’s a very meaty exhibition.” Objects on display, ranging from early bank notes to signs from Occupy Wall Street, were borrowed from Citibank, the New-York Historical Society, the New York Pubic Library, the Museum of American Finance, the Museum of the City of New York’s own archives, and private collections.
Murphy’s background as a journalist came in handy when it was time to write the extensive catalog and wall copy. “We wanted to make it detailed but readable, for middle school but also comprehensive enough so that the Citi board of directors would get something out of it too,” he notes. All in all, “it was a fascinating project to work on, really fun,” he says.
Part of his involvement including leading tours of the exhibition, including special programs for high school and middle school teachers and, of course, bringing his own classes at Baruch.
The exhibit couldn’t have been more timely, what with the current focus on bank regulation and the economy and the 2012 presidential election. “I don’t think you can understand American politics and the American economy today without understanding something about how the country’s financial system works, and to understand that you have to have some kind of context for how it became that way,” says Murphy. “There’s a fundamental tension between democracy and capitalism: How do you adapt democracy to suit the needs of capital, and how do you restrain capital so that it doesn’t overwhelm democracy? We’re having a second presidential election about that, and it would be helpful if people had a better sense of the actual history, beyond the last six months.” Teaching that history is his job, and Capital of Capital exemplified his work.
—Marina Zogbi
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