known pioneer of the American liljrary movement 

 and Assistant Secretary and Librarian of the Smith- 

 sonian, projjosecl. to asseml>lc a detailed account of all 

 public libraries in the United. States. Aware thai 

 libraries are frequently the repositories of collections 

 of coins and meclals, Jewett, in his circular to these 

 libraries, asked if thes had an\ collection of medals 

 or coins, ancl "If so, please to state the number of 

 articles of each c'escription." '•* The results of his 

 efforts, incorporating information received through 



1850, were published in a 207-page report printe(l in 



1851. It shows that 40 libraries in 14 difTerent states 

 had collections totaling about 10,000 coins and 1,000 

 medals. Because of their importance for the histor\- 

 of numismatics in the I'nitec' States, all data on 

 coins and medals contained in the Jewett report .ire 

 presented in Appendix V. 



After Jewell's departure from the Smithsonian in 

 1855, the Secretary, Joseph Henry, tried to continue 

 his project. In a letter dated December 24, 1858, he 

 asked the L'nited States Mint for an account of their 



numismatic library and collections to be used in a 

 Smithsonian book on United Slates public libraries. '° 

 The reply on December 29, 1858, forwarding a listing 

 of their books, mentions previous correspondence in 

 .November 1857 on Ihe same subject. Unfortunately, 

 Joseph Henry never published the wealth of detailed 

 information assembled for this project. 



In addition to the accession lists, several papers 

 published during the period 1860-1880 in the 

 Smithsonian's Annual Reports are of special numis- 

 matic interest (see Appendi.x VI). The accessions 

 mention a scattering of foreign coins, paper currencies, 

 and some medals. A set of Japanese gold and silver 

 coins was presented by Japan's Minister Extraor- 

 dinary and Plenipotentiary (1870-1872), the Honor- 

 able .\rinori Mori." to mention a characteristic 

 example of the donations received. Also, as a result 

 of general requests for library materials, some publica- 

 tions were added, such as British Museum catalogues 

 on ancient CJreek coins '' and some numismatic 

 |5eriodicals. 



GROWTH OF THE COLLECTIONS, 1880-1923 



The period after 1880 marked a turning point for 

 numismatic endeavors at the .Smithsonian. This era 

 was introduced by two equally important events: 

 the centennial exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia, 

 which left such an enormous quantity of material in 

 the custody of the Smithsonian Institution that a new- 

 structure (the United States National Museum, now 

 the .'\rts and Industries Building) had to be erected; 

 and the appointment of George Brown Goode as 

 •Assistant Secretary in charge of this Museum. .\Ian\ 

 of the guiding principles expressed by Goode in the 

 1880s were not realized in numismatics until 1961 

 when the first series of modernized monetary-history 

 exhibits was set up.'^ 



Goode was a collector of coins and medals. As a 

 result, he understood the peculiar character of the 

 study of numismatics and recognized the problems 

 it posed as a museum discipline. In some instances, the 

 exhibit methods suggested by Goode were dictated 

 lj\- his overriding idea of their educational and in- 

 structive scope, to such an extent that they may well 

 ha\e appeared impractical. In 1881 he suggested 

 that "a collection of the standard works on numis- 

 matics shown in a case adjoining a collection of 

 coins, would have a decided educational value, 

 giving the public information which they would 

 otherwise have to seek from curators." ''' Another of 

 Goode's ideas on the presentation of immismatic ex- 



" Charles C. Jkwktt, ".\ppcndix to the Report of the Bo,ird 

 of Regents of the Smithsoni.Tn Institution, Containing a Report 

 on the Public Libraries of the United States of .America, Jan- 

 uary 1, I8.')0," in Fourth Annual Report of Regents of Ihe Smith- 

 sonian . . Wiishington, 18,50, p. "i, note. 



'0 National .\rchivcs, Records of the United States Mint at 

 Philadelphia, Correspondence. 



" Annual Report of the Board of Regents oj the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition oj the 

 Institution for the Tear 1872 [hereinafter cited as SI Report], p. 59. 



For other accessions during the period 1860-1880, see the An- 

 nual Reports for: I860, pp. 79. 8:5; J86-f, p. 88; 1869, p. 54; 

 1870, p. 49; 1872, pp. 57, 39; 1874, p. 56; 1875, pp. 76f.; 

 1876, p. 89; 1877, p. 102; 1878. p. 100; 1879, pp. 94. 98; 1880. 

 pp. 19f, 65f, 111. 



'■Ibid., 1877, p. 28. 



" G. Brown Goode, Museum History and Museums of History, 

 New York, 1889, pp. 262-263. 



H.S7 Report, 1881, p. 87. • 



BULLETIN 2 29: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE .MUSEU.M OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



