Please allow me to introduce myself. Ed Slattery at Alabama State University. I am one of those individuals with little knowledge of money and banking in the US and otherwise. Could you give me some references, relatively casual reading to start, on how early banks actually operated. What were their functions and how did they perform them. Whom did they benefit/harm? Thanks, ED PS- I'm also new on this network/bulletin board stuff. Forgive my naivete with regard to its functioning. I'm not even sure who is going to get this message.