Bureau History

The establishment of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing can be traced as far back as August 29, 1862, to a single room in the basement of the main Treasury building where two men and four women separated and sealed by hand $1 and $2 United States Notes which had been printed by private bank note companies. Today there are approximately 2,500 employees who work out of two buildings in Washington, D.C. and a new facility located in Fort Worth, Texas. The official opening of the Western Currency Facility took place on April 26, 1991.

The youngest employee ever hired by the Bureau was Emma S. Brown, who came to work in 1865 when she was not quite 11 years old. Her family included an older brother and a physically-handicapped mother. The brother, who was the main support of the family, was a soldier with the 188th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was killed in action during the siege of Petersburg in July 1864. Ms. Brown's Congressman, hearing of her situation, gave her a political appointment in the Bureau. After 59 years of service, she retired on April 24, 1924 from the position of forewoman of the trimming section in the Bureau's examining division.

In 1877, the Plate Printer force included a large number of experienced firemen who were formed into a Fire Brigade for the protection of Bureau property. The group drilled every Saturday.

Electric lighting was first introduced in the Bureau in 1888.

The Bureau took over the printing of all revenue stamps in 1876 and began printing postage stamps in 1894.

The majority of Bureau positions were placed under Civil Service in 1888 -- by 1908 all jobs were included.

During World War II, the Bureau overprinted stocks of regular currency notes with distinguishing identifying features for use in the Hawaiian Islands.

A unique use was made of the Bureau's special siding and loading platform, located in the basement of the Bureau's Annex building, by the U.S. Secret Service during Franklin D. Roosevelt's tenure as President of the United States. Because it was extremely difficult for President Roosevelt to climb stairs, when he was scheduled to travel by train, the Presidential railroad car was shuttled onto the Bureau's siding and the President was driven by automobile into the Bureau and directly to the loading platform. Here he could board the private car without inconvenience in a well-protected area.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has printed currency for the governments of the Republic of Cuba (1934), Siam (1945), Korea (1947), and the Philippines (1928). The Bureau was reimbursed by each government for all work connected with the printing of the currency.

Denominations of the various types of security printings produced by the Bureau range from the lowly 1/5 cent Wine Stamp to the lofty $100,000,000 International Monetary Fund Special Notes.

Because of letters received by the Bureau from the general public concerning inaccuracies in the design of currency and postage stamps, a tremendous amount of time has to be spent in research. Several past examples are listed below:

• One correspondent insisted that we had designed the portrait of Lincoln in reverse because Lincoln parted his hair on the left side and not on the right as it appears on the $5.00 bill. However, after a large amount of correspondence and several trips to local museums, a visit to the Smithsonian Institute, and a study of the Lincoln death mask revealed the mole on the face of Lincoln and the part in his hair were on the same side just as they appeared in the portrait.
• Other correspondents have insisted that (1) the wrong type of saddle was used on the Pony Express Stamp of 1941; (2) the Gold Star Mother Stamp of 1948 showed a Russian Star; (3) the continents on the Little America Stamp of 1933 were misplaced; and (4) the word "Anniversary" on the 1952 Gutenberg Bible Stamp was misspelled. In each of these instances, the Bureau proved conclusively that the designs depicted were correct.