The booklet explores various roles which money has played throughout history and examines the relationship between money and the Federal Reserve System. The major objective is to increase understanding of the performance of various functions such as making money work as a medium of exchange and as a measure of value and of storing value for future use. Topics discussed include the barter system as the ancestor of money, early and modern forms of money, disadvantages of coin, commercial banking, influences of banks of the money supply, bank lending, the price of borrowed money, problems of money and banking systems, monetary policy, bank reserves, Federal Reserve processing services, and the cost of operating the Federal Reserve. Information is presented in a statement/explanation format and is accompanied by illustrations and photographs. (DB)