American Express Office

There's a group of Forman's photos that were taken in or just outside the American Express office. [View photos]

As this 1956 Time Magazine article about American Express traveler's cheques says, "U.S. tourists eagerly bought the checks".

I recently found some traveller's cheques in a drawer at home. They were almost 20 years old, from when I first left the UK to come to HK. At that time, a mix of a credit card, traveller's cheques, and cash was considered the sensible choice when heading overseas. But when I went to the bank last month to cash them, the bank staff didn't seem to know quite what to do with them. I got my cash in the end, but only after the staff formed a little huddle to decide how to deal with them.

The widespread acceptance of overseas ATM cards and credit cards when traveling means it's only a matter of time before traveller's cheques go out of use.