Front:
ITED STATES OE!
CREDIT UNION
АСT OF 1934
UNI
SALEM,
USA 20c
MA
FEB
10
1984
01970
TED STATES OL
WE
GOD
PLURIBUS
TRUET
OF
Back:
Since 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
into law the Federal Credit Union Act, credit unions all
across America have been serving the short-term credit
needs of millions of Americans. However, it was years
before then — in 1909 — that the first credit union in
the United States was established in Manchester, New
Hampshire by Edward A. Filene with the help of Al-
phonse Desjardins. Desjardins had been a legislative
reporter in Canada and had seen the abuses of usury.
He decided to form a cooperative organization made up
of people related in some way. By 1921 the number of
credit unions in the United States had swelled to nearly
two hundred, and Filene set up and financed the Credit
Union National Extension Bureau. Since then, the mem-
bership in credit unions has skyrocketed and now there
are more than twenty thousand unions nationwide with
capital approaching ninety billion dollars. In honor of
the Federal Credit Union Act of 1934, the United States
Postal Service issued the stamp featured on this
Maximum Card.
No. 84-12
©1984 The Maximum Card Collection
A Division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
Original painting by John Swatsley.
