In 1964, Congressman Wright Patmans Banking & Currency Committee published an excellent report entitled Primer on Money. This fantastic work is now posted as a PDF image (size: 2230 KB) on Devvys website: http://www.devvy.com/pdf/2006_October/Patman_Primer_on_Money.pdf
In 1833, William M. Gouge, who opposed the 2nd Bank of the United States along with President Andrew Jackson, wrote an excellent book, A Short History of Paper-Money and Banking in the United States. It is now posted as a sizeable PDF on Devvys website:
http://www.devvy.com/pdf/2006_October/GougeOnPaperMoney.pdf