The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is delighted to announce a joint project with the Newman Numismatic Portal, an online numismatic resource, which will enable greater access to American numismatic research material on both the ANS Digital Library and Newman Portal websites.
Administered through Washington University Libraries in St. Louis, the Newman Portal has contracted with Internet Archive, which has provided equipment, training and staff for the scanning operation at the ANS Library. Internet Archive is a non-profit organization dedicated to digital preservation of all media.
“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to begin distributing some of the Library’s research collections on a large scale in the same way that much of the Society’s coin collections are being made available through online research tools like PELLA, OCRE, and MANTIS,” said ANS Librarian David Hill, who will supervise the onsite operations.
“When you think about all of the materials in the Library’s Rare Book Room, which include unique archival collections such as dealer and collector correspondence, you really begin to realize what an impact a project like this can have.”
First to be scanned will be the Library’s entire run of early American auction catalogs, which include those of Frossard, Woodward, Chapman, Elder, and other notable names in the field.
The Newman Numismatic Portal, sponsored by a $2 million grant from the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society to the Washington University Libraries, began operations in December 2014. It has digitized over 1,000 documents to date, including a unique set of bid books from the firms of Samuel and Henry Chapman, which were generously loaned by ANS Trustee Dan Hamelberg.
For further information, please contact David Hill, Francis D. Campbell Librarian, at [email protected].
