Exhibit: The Mike and Lynn Noel Africana Collection

• Event Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015–Sunday, January 3, 2016
• Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free

• Exhibit
• Exhibit-Related tag

Mike and Lynn Noel began their lifelong interest in African art and culture in 1966, serving as members of the Peace Corps Teachers for West Africa program in Ghana. One of the many types of objects the Noels collected is currency. Traditional African currency comes in many shapes and sizes. Shells, beads, metal, salt, and textiles have all been used as methods of transaction. These were not barter items; each type of object had a recognized value level. Despite earlier efforts to introduce European coinage and paper currency, local currency remained in active use across African nations into the 1940s. Many of the materials used as currency had origins in Europe and Asia but traveled along trade routes to the east and west coasts of Africa.