As many know, I have been working on a website dedicated to the enormous department store that my family owned through most of the 20th century. The website has been a long, looooong process. I’m happy to say that, for the most part, it is in working order. There are some things I want to tinker with, but to the best of my knowledge nothing threatening. So now I get to sit back and watch who starts to find broken things first. If I’ve learned anything over the years as a programmer it’s that somebody can always manage to find a problem.

http://www.leonardbrothers.net

I’ve decided to participate in Barack Obama’s essay competition. Ten winners get to go to the inauguration on an all-expense paid trip. I’d be a fool NOT to participate. The deadline in tomorrow, so I will put my essay submission up probably on the 9th. Just to be safe…

Today’s writing is a little something I wrote up for the website release. It isn’t much, but it seemed appropriate.

Leonard Brothers Currency

Brothers Marvin and Obie had an imagination that drove their business just as much as their calculating business sense. When companies were nervous about the state of the economy–something present still today–the brothers decided to develop their own Leonard Brothers currency. This thinking kept their store one of the most predominant stores used during the dark period in American history. The store offered to cash paychecks for people when Roosevelt called for a banking holiday, and dozens of other businesses accepted the currency in their own shops. Many of the coins, and some of the paper script can be found at the museum with a large assortment of other interesting memorabilia. Even though the currency is nothing more than a souvenir in this day and age, the brothers’ investment in printing the money more than covered its costs.