Research News:
THE HARRY BASS RESEARCH FOUNDATION
AND THE ANS
The American Numismatic Society (ANS) was organized in 1858 and incorporated in 1865 in New York State as a research museum. The original objectives of the organizers were "the collection and preservation of coins and medals, the investigation of matters connected therewith, and the popularization of the science of Numismatics."
In the decades since that time, the ANS has evolved to be "the preeminent national institution advancing the study and appreciation of coins, medals and related objects of all cultures as historical and artistic documents, by maintaining the foremost numismatic collection and library, by supporting scholarly research and publications, and by sponsoring educational and interpretive programs for diverse audiences" (1993 ANS Mission Statement).
Located in New York City, the ANS has grown to over 2,000 members and 24 staff members. The work of the ANS is divided among seven departments: Curatorial (five specialty cabinets, each overseen by a curator--Greek, Roman and Byzantine, Islamic and Far Eastern, Medieval and Medals/Decorations, and Modern), Library, Editorial, Education (wholly grant-funded), Photography; Development, and Administration.
The numismatic collection of the ANS, currently at approximately 850,000 coins and related objects, is of international caliber, rivaled only by the largest state collections of Europe. In addition, the ANS Library houses more than 100,000 items, including bound volumes, pamphlets, manuscripts, auction catalogues, and microforms concerning all aspects of numismatics. The ANS facilities are open to the public five days a week, and its exhibit galleries, with over 2,000 objects on display, are open six days a week. The ANS also supports a number of educational conferences, seminars and events, and publishes in a variety of book series to promote numismatic research and education.
The Harry Bass Research Foundation
Created in December of 1991 by Harry W. Bass, Jr., the Harry Bass Research Foundation (HBRF) was organized as a non-profit foundation "to promote numismatic research, study and scholarship." Mr. Bass was convinced that numismatic research at the end of the twentieth century could be greatly enhanced by the use of today's technologies to study the field of numismatics. After some three decades in a personal study of the science of numismatics, Mr. Bass is recognized as an authority in U.S. Federal Gold coinage and its die varieties. His leadership role in sharing his wisdom concerning numismatics encompassed his serving as President of the Society from 1978-84 and, following that, in providing his support to the immediate and long-range direction of the ANS through continued service on its Council in various roles of leadership, augmented by generous financial support.
From the 1980s Mr. Bass has worked diligently to facilitate computerization of ANS object inventory records, as well as its membership and business office records. He has also continued to provide leadership in the direction of expanding library resources. Through funding he has provided the necessary computer equipment for the curators to have direct access to the coins inventory both for maintenance and research. And further funding has provided a way for the entire staff to be e-mail and internet enabled so that they are more directly accessible to those with numismatic interests around the world.
Long convinced of the efficacy of using the computer as a tool in numismatic research, Mr. Bass has endeavored to bring the leadership of the ANS "into the computer age." As the internet and world wide web has developed into a formidable source for sharing information around the world, and its partner in communication, e-mail, has revolutionized the way public communication "gets done" today, Mr. Bass has encouraged the ANS to "make its presence known" to numismatists around the globe through its own website. The Harry Bass Research Foundation has worked with the leadership of the ANS since 1995 in developing and maintaining a web site, http://www.amnumsoc.org, providing technical assistance to keep the site active and current in its information, the happenings of the Society, and providing a way for the public to examine the invaluable data concerning the holdings of the Society, which has up to now been available only to its membership and the public through physical visits and regular mail.
In its own right, the Harry Bass Research Foundation has made significant strides to accomplish its continuing goal of "promoting numismatic research, study and scholarship." One of the first major tasks addressed was the creation of the Numismatic Indexes Project (NIP), an ambitious project which had never before been attempted, namely to capture for electronic searching the indexes of the major numismatic periodicals in the last 100 years, and to make these available on the web at http://search.hbrf.org/resmenu.htm. By combining the indexes of 14 of the most significant numismatic periodicals (including 7 ANS indexes) of this century, NIP offered for the first time ever an opportunity for numismatists anywhere in the world to obtain citations to other work that had been done on every conceivable numismatic subject. In all over 76,000 references are already available in NIP, and for all those periodicals that are still being published, NIP is continuously updated as this information becomes available.
Following the bulk of the work on the NIP project, the Harry Bass Research Foundation in the last year has undertaken an even larger task, that of providing a searchable database on the web of the full-text version of the ANS semi-annual publication, Numismatic Literature. The full range of NL reaches back half a century to 1946, having been begun just after World War II. NL is an attempt to list citations to the publication of all numismatic literature of value and interest, from all parts of the world, in whatever language, and in most cases to provide an abstract in English of its subject matter. Up to this point, easy access to a full set of these semi-annual volumes, which now number 138, would be extremely unlikely. In addition, if such a set were available, the index of each volume would have to be individually checked to find references to a particular numismatic subject of interest. Once completed, placing the full text of each of the over 82,000 citations and abstracts in a searchable database on the web, will completely revolutionize the ability of numismatists around the world to do research and study on the length and breadth of numismatics. What would have taken weeks will now take seconds, and students of numismatics everywhere will know what has already been done in one's area of special interest.
Currently available on the web are the earliest years of Numismatic Literature (1946-48), as well as the three most recent years (1994-97)(http://search.hbrf.org/resmenu.htm). Working backward, three additional years will be added this fall, and still another three years by the end of 1997. The project should be completed by the year 2001, so that both the ANS and HBRF can together help to usher in "'a new century of numismatic study and research."
Other Joint Projects
In addition to the computerization of ANS publications information and the maintenance of the ANS web site for the present, the Harry Bass Research Foundation is also working with the ANS in making their inventory of coin records available for public use via the web. At this time over 500,000 of the ANS coin inventory records are available in searchable form on the ANS web site. Initial tests are also being run in order to mount images of selected objects so that they can be viewed along with the relevant data concerning each coin. Interested individuals will be able to order images of any ANS objects directly from the web site, either in color or black and white.
Also the ANS Library is near the point of digitizing the card catalogue data on their 100,000 library holdings which, when completed next spring, will also be put in a searchable database available for searching via the web.
The cooperative efforts between the ANS and HBRF continue to bear fruit for all of numismatic study, research and education, and indeed provide a significant "new day" for numismatists everywhere as we reach the end of one century and open a new one.
Ed Deane
CNL 106, DECEMBER 1997
The Colonial Newsletter 106 has been received at the ANS and is in the mail to subscribers. It has six articles covering a variety of topics from biography (Edward Maris and Paul Revere) to the "Baby Head" halfpenny, measuring die rotations, and the Bank of New York Fugio Hoard. Any Society member wishing to receive the CNL on a regular basis should ask to be added to the CNL list when renewing their membership.