By CoinWeek News Staff ….
Today, Washington University in St. Louis–in conjunction with the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES)–announced the creation of the Newman Numismatic Portal, a comprehensive online resource for numismatic research.
A trial version is set to launch sometime in 2015.
The name Eric P. Newman should be familiar to regular CoinWeek readers. Whether it’s Greg Reynolds’ expansive coverage of the Heritage Newman Collection sales or Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker’s telling post-auction analysis, the noted scholar, educator, numismatist and philanthropist’s name has been on everyone’s lips for the past year or so.
Newman founded the EPNNES in 1958 and, according to the man himself, the idea behind the Numismatic Portal has been a life-long goal.
“I have long wanted to make the literature and images of numismatics, particularly American numismatics, available to everyone on a free and forever basis,” he said. “Today’s digital technologies, combined with the funds recently assembled from auctions of some of our foundation’s holdings, now make this possible.”
Along with Evelyn, his wife of 75 years, in 2004 Newman gave Washington University in St. Louis a two million dollar grant to establish the 3,000-ft2 Newman Money Museum, part of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The Money Museum features a numismatic library, scholarly workspace, and, of course, items from Newman’s legendary collection.
Now, with an additional grant from the EPNNES, Newman’s dream gets even closer to fulfillment.
Discussing the initial version of the website, University librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak said that it will start by “digitizing Eric Newman’s extraordinary collection of books, periodicals and correspondence on numismatics, as well as images of coins and currency,” and that the University is also talking to other “libraries, publishers, auction companies, and others in the field of numismatics to make the new online resource as comprehensive as possible.”
This list includes Wayne Homren, editor of The E-Sylum and past president of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS), who has contributed his own CoinLibrary project to the Portal.
If you would like to share your own resources and materials with the Newman Numismatic Portal, please contact the curator at [email protected] or [email protected].
Or write to them at:
Newman Numismatic Portal
c/o Eric P. Newman Educational Center
320 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis 63110
St. Louis, MO 63110
An exact launch date has yet to be set, but you can join the mailing list at http://newmannumismaticportal.com/ for updates. You can also check them out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/newmannumismaticportal/.
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