ORNL FCU 75 Years

Minutes from the board’s first meeting, August 1948.

At that point, the concept of credit unions was quickly gaining momentum. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed the Federal Credit Union Act into law in 1934 as part of the New Deal. Credit unions were created to promote thrift and affordable access to credit after the Great Depression. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, businesses and organizations across the country were quickly forming credit unions as an employee benefit. At their first organizational meeting in August 1948, a group of ten employees gathered along with representatives of each division of the laboratory. Also in attendance: an official from the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions. At that meeting, a slate of officers and a board of directors were elected. The board’s first meeting convened on the same day to discuss bylaws and set initial policies such as member fees (25 cents per individual) and maximum amounts for both initial deposits ($250) and

ORNL Employees Federal Credit Union Charter, 1948.

14 | 75 YEARS ORNL FEDERAL CREDIT UNION