What's New

New: An essay on the Federal Home Loan Banks, which were established to advance funds to home mortgage lenders that historically did not have access to the Federal Reserve System (2024-10-15)

Our newest essay explores the history of electronic point-of-sale payments (2024-09-25)

A new essay describes the Fed's response to the financial effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (2024-09-10)

A page for Beth M. Hammack, the Cleveland Fed's new president, has been added (2024-08-21)

Our newest essay explores Federal Reserve transparency (2024-08-05)

A temporary page for Mark S. Meder, the Cleveland Fed's interim president, has been added (2024-07-01)

Federal Reserve Historian Jonathan Rose discusses "The Speed of Discount Window Lending: A Look Back at 1985" in this new blog post from the St. Louis Fed (2024-06-05)

A page for Alberto G. Musalem, the St. Louis Fed's new president, has been added (2024-04-02)

Our newest essay explores bank capital standards throughout the Fed's history. (2024-03-08)

A new essay explores the history of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (2024-02-06)

Our newest essay explores the history of the Federal Reserve's cash services, from 1914 to the present (2023-12-11)

Federal Reserve Historian Jonathan Rose discusses "Did Social Media Speed Up 2023 Bank Runs?" in this new video from the St. Louis Fed (on YouTube) (2023-11-13)

ACH: A new essay on the automated clearing house system explains its evolution since the 1970s (2023-09-28)

A new essay on check payments explores how check technology and use has changed since 1915 (2023-09-28)

A page for the new Board of Governors member Adriana Kugler has been added. Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson's pages have also been updated. (2023-09-14)

Our newest essay explores the history of the Federal Reserve's wire payment system, known today as Fedwire® (2023-08-28)

A page for Jeffrey Schmid, the Kansas City Fed's new president, has been added (2023-08-21)

A temporary page for Kathleen O'Neill, the St. Louis Fed's interim president, has been added (2023-08-21)

A new essay describes the Federal Reserve’s interactions with Japanese Americans during WWII (2023-08-15)

Our newest essay explores the history of the Fed's engagement with Native American communities since the 1990s (2023-07-10)

A new essay explores the history of "redlining" and the Fed's responsibility to uphold the 1968 Fair Housing Act (2023-06-02)

Read the short article "Understanding the Speed and Size of Bank Runs in Historical Comparison" by Federal Reserve Historian Jonathan Rose (at stlouisfed.org) (2023-05-26)

"Too big to fail" : Our essay on the 1984 Continental Illinois crisis has been updated with a new edition (2023-05-22)

A new essay on the Federal Reserve System's Community Development function has been added to our 'About the Fed' section (2023-05-08)

Our essay on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 has been updated with a new edition, tracing its history from the mid-20th century to today (2023-05-08)

A page for Austan Goolsbee, the Chicago Fed's new president, has been added (2023-01-09)

Economist Jonathan Rose has been named the new Federal Reserve Historian. In this role he will help preserve and promote the history of the U.S. central bank and its policy actions. (2022-11-07)

A page for the Dallas Fed's new president, Lorie K. Logan, has been added. (2022-08-22)

More than a dozen biographies of Fed leaders who served in the early 1980s have been updated with research citations and additional links (2022-08-02)

A new essay on the Civil War-era banking laws that shaped the U.S. banking system is now available (2022-08-01)

A page for the Boston Fed's new president, Susan M. Collins, has been added. (2022-07-01)

Pages for the two new members of the Board of Governors, Lisa D. Cook and Philip N. Jefferson, have been added (2022-06-01)

A new essay on the Fed's emergency lending powers under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act has been added (2022-05-12)

A page explaining our update and revision policy has been added to the site (2022-05-12)

Biographies of some Fed officials have been updated to reflect recent retirements and resignations. (2022-01-18)

Biographies of some early Fed officials have been updated with research sources and clearer titles. (2021-09-13)

Federal Reserve History has been updated with new content and a new design. We invite you to explore the new site and contact us with any questions. (2021-09-13)