Chronology of Small-Size Notes

This table lists the terms of office of the officials who sign U.S. paper currency and the corresponding types and series of currency that bear their signatures. In reading the table, it should be kept in mind that notes bearing a given official's signature may continue to be printed for a time after that person leaves office, so not all notes of each series were necessarily printed during the ranges of dates listed here. The page on delivery dates of the various series and denominations can often provide additional information as to when each series could have been in production.

This table covers the small-size notes issued from 1928 to the present. For information on series dated before 1928, see the chronology of large-size note issues. Also, for illustrations of the various signatures, see the page on signers of U.S. currency.

			$1	$2	$5	$10	$20	$50	$100	$1	$5	$10	$1	$2	$5	$100
U.S. Treasurer	Secretary of the Treasury	Terms of office	Series of:
			Federal Reserve Notes							Silver Certificates			U.S. Notes
Tate	Mellon	4/28-1/29			28	28	28			28				28
Woods	Mellon	1/29-2/32			28A,28B	28A,28B	28A,28B	28,28A	28,28A	28A				28A	28
	Mills	2/32-3/33			28C	28C	28C			28B				28B	28A
	Woodin	3/33-5/33			28D					28C			28
Julian	Woodin	6/33-12/33								28D		33
	Morgenthau	1/34-7/45			34,34A	34,34A	34,34A	34,34A	34,34A	28E,34,35,35A	34,34A	33A,34,34A		28C,28D	28B,28C
	Vinson	7/45-7/46			34B	34B	34B	34B	34B	35B	34B	34B		28E	28D
	Snyder	7/46-5/49			34C	34C	34C	34C	34C	35C	34C	34C		28F	28E
Clark	Snyder	6/49-1/53			34D,50	34D,50	34D,50	34D,50	34D,50	35D	34D	34D		28G	28F
Priest	Humphrey	1/53-7/57			50A	50A	50A	50A	50A	35E	53	53		53	53
Priest	Anderson	7/57-1/61			50B	50B	50B	50B	50B	35F,57	53A	53A		53A	53A
Smith	Dillon	1/61-4/62			50C	50C	50C	50C	50C	35G,57A	53B	53B		53B	53B
Granahan	Dillon	1/63-3/65	63		50D,63	50D,63	50D,63	50D	50D	35H,57B	53C			53C,63	53C,63
Granahan	Fowler	4/65-10/66	63A		50E,63A	50E,63A	50E,63A	50E,63A	50E,63A					63A		66
(Granahan)	Barr	12/68-1/69	63B
Elston	Kennedy	5/69-9/70	69		69	69	69	69	69							66A
Kabis	Kennedy	9/70-2/71	69A
Kabis	Connally	2/71-7/71	69B		69A	69A	69A	69A	69A
Bañuelos	Connally	12/71-5/72	69C		69B	69B	69B	69B
Bañuelos	Shultz	6/72-5/74	69D		69C	69C	69C	69C	69C
Neff	Simon	6/74-1/77	74	76	74	74	74	74	74
Morton	Blumenthal	9/77-8/79	77		77	77	77	77	77
Morton	Miller	8/79-1/81	77A		77A	77A
Buchanan	Regan	3/81-7/83	81		81	81	81	81	81
Ortega	Regan	9/83-1/85	81A		81A	81A	81A	81A	81A
	Baker	1/85-8/88	85		85	85	85	85	85
	Brady	9/88-6/89	88		88			88	88
Villalpando	Brady	11/89-1/93	88A		88A	88A,90	88A,90	90	90
Withrow	Bentsen	3/94-12/94	93		93	93	93	93	93
	Rubin	1/95-5/99	95	95	95	95	95,96	96	96
	Summers	7/99-1/01	99		99	99	99		99
Marin	O'Neill	8/01-12/02	01		01	01	01	01	01
Marin	Snow	2/03-6/03	03	03	03	03	04	04	03
Cabral	Snow	12/04-6/06	03A	03A	03A	04A	04A	04A	03A
Cabral	Paulson	7/06-1/09	06		06,06	06	06	06	06,06A
Rios	Geithner	8/09-1/13	09	09	09	09	09	09	09,09A
Rios	Lew	2/13-7/16	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Carranza	Mnuchin	6/17-1/20	17,17A	17A	17A	17,17A	17,17A	17A	17A

Notice that Granahan and Barr were never actually in office simultaneously, even though their signatures do appear together on the Series 1963B $1 FRN. This is the only series ever to use non-contemporary signatures this way; the exception was made only because no Treasurer was in office during Barr's very short term as Secretary.

Note also that Elston and Kabis are actually the same person: Dorothy Andrews Elston Kabis married while in office, and changed her signature accordingly.

Older denominations and types

In order to keep the size of the tables reasonable, these obsolete issues are presented in a separate listing.

			$500	$1000	$5000	$10000	$10	$20	$50	$100	$500	$1000	$5000	$10000	$100000
U.S. Treasurer	Secretary of the Treasury	Terms of office	Series of:
			Federal Reserve Notes				Gold Certificates
Tate	Mellon	4/28-1/29
Woods	Mellon	1/29-2/32	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
	Mills	2/32-3/33								28A
	Woodin	3/33-5/33
Julian	Woodin	6/33-12/33
	Morgenthau	1/34-7/45	34,34A	34,34A	34,34A	34,34A				34		34		34	34
	Vinson	7/45-7/46	34B		34B	34B
	Snyder	7/46-5/49	34C	34C

The only small-size notes not included in either of the above tables are the National Currency and Federal Reserve Bank Notes. These notes were issued in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100; all are Series 1929. They are not signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, but bear the signatures of U.S. Treasurer W.O. Woods and Register of the Treasury E.E. Jones.

A few words about series numbering

As is clear from the tables, the year in the series designation does not represent the year the bill was printed. What exactly it does represent has changed over time. Originally, the series date was the year the overall bill design was authorised or adopted, and the series letter was advanced each time a minor change was made to that design (usually a change of one or both signatures). This was the rule until 1974, when William E. Simon became Secretary of the Treasury and decided that each new Secretary would result in a change of the series year, not merely the series letter. The new policy has since been followed by every succeeding Secretary except G. William Miller, whose signature appears on notes designated Series 1977A rather than the expected Series 1979.

However the series designation is determined, most changes in it are due to a change in the signatures on the notes. The following is a list of all other reasons for series changes since 1928:

The number in the Fed seal on Federal Reserve Notes was replaced by a letter. For the $5, $10, and $20, Series 1928A advanced to Series 1928B; for the $50 and $100, Series 1928 advanced to Series 1928A.
The faces of the $1 and $10 Silver Certificates were redesigned, with the Treasury seal moving from the left side to the right. Series 1928E (for the $1) and 1933A (for the $10) were replaced by Series 1934.
The obligation on the Federal Reserve Notes was changed to remove the reference to payment in gold. Various 1928 series were replaced by Series 1934.
The back of the $1 Silver Certificate was redesigned to show the Great Seal of the United States; additionally, the face was redesigned again, with the Treasury seal becoming smaller and the signatures larger. Series 1934 was replaced by Series 1935.
The obligation on the Gold Certificates was reworded, and the back printing was changed from green to orange. Series 1928 was replaced by Series 1934.
The plate numbers on all notes were made larger. For the Federal Reserve Notes and $5 and $10 Silver Certificates, Series 1934 advanced to Series 1934A; for the $1 Silver Certificate, Series 1935 advanced to Series 1935A; for the $2 United States Note, Series 1928C advanced to Series 1928D; for the $5 United States Note, Series 1928B advanced to Series 1928C.
The faces of all notes except the $1 Silver Certificate were redesigned with the smaller Treasury seal and larger signatures. For the Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1934D was replaced by Series 1950; for the $5 and $10 Silver Certificates, Series 1934D was replaced by Series 1953; for the United States Notes, various 1928 series were replaced by Series 1953.
All currency designs were subtly reworked for printing by the dry-intaglio process in sheets of 32 (rather than the former wet-intaglio sheets of 18), and different series designations were used for the two styles during the changeover. For the Federal Reserve Notes, Series 1963 and 1963A were printed alongside Series 1950D and 1950E; for the $1 Silver Certificate, Series 1957 to 1957B were printed alongside Series 1935F to 1935H; for the United States Notes, Series 1963 was printed alongside Series 1953C.
The Treasury seal was redesigned, with wording in English rather than in Latin. Various 1963 series were replaced by Series 1966 (for United States Notes) and Series 1969 (for Federal Reserve Notes).
Microprinting and security threads were added to the Federal Reserve Notes of $5 and higher. Series 1988A was replaced by Series 1990.
The Federal Reserve Notes of $5 and higher were completely redesigned. Series 1995 was replaced by Series 1996.
The Federal Reserve Notes of $5 and higher were redesigned again, in color. Series 2003 was replaced by Series 2004.
The non-colorised $100 note went back into production after the BEP experienced printing difficulties with the colorised version. Series 2006 was replaced by Series 2006A, even though the design and signatures were unchanged.
The colorised $100 then returned to production. Series 2009 was replaced by Series 2009A, again with no change to the design or signatures.
The composition of many of the printing inks was changed. Series 2017 was replaced by Series 2017A.

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