2024 BerkShares, Inc. Annual Meeting
featuring Doug Crane
BerkShares, Inc., the non-profit issuer of our local currency for the Berkshire region, will hold its annual meeting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 at Dewey Hall in Sheffield.
Doug Crane, former president of Crane paper in Dalton, is the featured speaker. His talk will focus on the local history of, and continued innovations in, paper currency production.
The talk is free and open to the public.
REGISTER HERE
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The Berkshires hold rich traditions of local manufacturing, stretching back at least two centuries. Our region in particular is notable for its lineage in currency production — a story of innovation beginning of the early 1800s, and that’s actively continuing today.
Until the early 1900s, it was commonplace for communities to issue local currency through their local banks to facilitate local production and exchange. In the Berkshires, the need for currency production was met by Crane Currency.
The well-recognized paper manufacturing facility located in Dalton is the headquarters for Crane Currency, established in 1801. Today, this industrial campus includes two paper mills, raw material processing facilities and a Research & Development facility.
Excelsior Printing in North Adams, established by members of the Crane family in 1892, printed our own BerkShares local currency notes in 2006.
Doug Crane is one of the descendants who carries on this legacy of ingenuity in currency design and production. As a former 30 year executive with Crane & Co. Inc., and then an advisor to the Federal Reserve, Doug is a globally recognized expert on paper currency and passport security technologies. He and his team have helped develop novel security applications now standard around the world.
Doug joins us at this year’s BerkShares, Inc. annual meeting to share about the legacy and continued ingenuity in the field of currency making. His discussion will touch on the history of currency paper manufacture, and provide his perspective on the question: “What drives effective banknote design?”
Join us Tuesday, 10/22 from 5 – 7 PM for BerkShares, Inc.’s Annual Meeting at Dewey Hall in Sheffield.
A short business meeting will proceed the talk and light refreshments will follow.
Not yet a member, or ready to renew?
Membership in BerkShares, Inc. is 25 BerkShares or $25 annually.
