The American Numismatic Society has partnered with Google Arts & Culture to present online exhibits of its collections through the Google Cultural Institute. This free platform allows the ANS to showcase its collections and exhibitions through leveraging web design tools created by Google for non-profit cultural institutions. In presenting its exhibitions online through Google, the ANS joins hundreds of other world-class international museums and organizations including the Acropolis Museum, Australian War Memorial, the Presidential Libraries and Museums, the British Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.
The Art of Devastation: Medals and Posters from the Great War marks ANS’s first online exhibition, presented in seven sections. Featuring every medal and poster from the actual exhibit hosted at Vassar College’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center from January 27 until April 9, 2017, online guests can browse high-definition images, view video, engage with maps, and link directly to the ANS’s object database for more information about the items on display. Guests can also browse the exhibited medals and posters by place of manufacture, by material, by date, and also individually.
“The main goal of partnering with the Google Cultural Institute is to make the ANS’s collections more widely available in a curated way,” Andrew Reinhard, project manager and ANS Director of Publications said. “There is no way that the ANS could show all of its collections in its gallery space, and not everyone is able to visit us in New York, so this allows us to create public, online exhibits featuring currency and medals from underserved collections as well as many of the highlights unique to the ANS.”
Future online exhibits for 2017 will include the history of money as well as a history of counterfeit currency. New exhibits will appear online every two to three months and will feature Islamic coinage, Chinese currency, and a monetary history of Central America. To celebrate the online exhibition of The Art of Devastation, the ANS is offering the printed exhibition catalogue at the low price of $50 (plus shipping). Click here to order.
