The National Currency Collection was formed in 1959 to preserve for posterity examples of Canadian bank notes issued by chartered banks and other institutions prior to the creation of the Bank of Canada in 1934. By the early 1960s the focus of the Collection was enlarged to be as comprehensive as possible with regard to Canadian money, while still including representative samples of foreign money. Today, this remains the direction for acquiring additional material for the Collection.

The Collection is not based solely on bank notes; it includes traditional and ethnographical artifacts that fulfill at least one of the classic definitions of money, as:

• A medium of exchange (e.g., coins, tokens, paper money, scrip, cheques)
• A store of value (e.g., ingots, bonds) or
• A unit of account (e.g., tally sticks)

In addition, the Collection also assembles related materials that demonstrate:

• The creation of money (e.g., dies, rolls, plates, graving tools)
• The institution and use of money (e.g., store ledgers, account books)
• The measurement of money (e.g., weights, scales)
• The study of money (e.g., numismatic cards)
• The criminalization of money (e.g., counterfeits)
• The containment of money (e.g., cash registers, savings banks)