items.'* Shortly, however, the separate count was dis- 

 continued and not for man\" decades was numismatics 

 again recognized as a separate division. 



In 1893 the entire numismatic collection was with- 

 drawn from display and stored after being crowded 

 out by the expanding natural history collections. At 

 this time an attempt was made to assemble a general 

 collection of currencies of the world, and numismatic 

 acquisitions were both nimierous and \aried. Some 

 major additions to the Museum's numismatic holdings 

 indicate the general growth trend of the collections. 

 One of the most outstanding groups of coins received 

 was a collection of rare Japanese gold and siKer 

 pieces (fig. 5) which came to the Museum in No\'em- 

 ber 1886 together with other relics once owned by 

 ("ieneral Ulysses S. Grant. Details of this collection 

 are given in Appendix \'II. 



Another major accession was a collection of Far 

 Eastern coins bequeathed to the Smithsonian b\' 

 George Bunker Glo\'er. Received in 1897, this collec- 

 tion of 2,025 Chinese, Annamese, Siamese, Japanese, 

 and Korean coins, amulets, and paper money was 

 considered at the time to l)e the most perfect of its 

 kind.'' (At the same time, Paul Beckwith, who was 

 versed in numismatics, was appointed as an aide.) 

 The Glo\er collection formed the basis for Sir James 

 Haldane Stewart Lockhart's three-\olunie study The 

 Ciineru'v of the Farther Enst from Earliest Times up to the 

 Present Day (Hong Kong, 1897-1898). During this 

 period the Smithsonian obtained a \-ariety of United 

 States and foreign coins, paper currencies, and medals. 

 Much significant numismatic material with associa- 

 tion value was also added to the collections. Included 

 are 16 gold and two silver medals awarded to Rear 

 Admiral Robert E. Perry in recognition of his achieve- 

 ments in Arctic exploration and the group of six 

 gold and 13 siher medals conferred on Commodore 

 Matthew Fontaine Maury by foreign go\ernments in 

 recognition of his services to science and navigation. 



The efforts made in the 1880s toward buildmg an 

 adequate numismatic liijrar\' were not consciously 

 continued. (For further information about tlie lil)rar\ 

 and Smithsonian publications with numismatic con- 

 notations see Appenchx \'\.) The problem of exhibit 

 space was partialK soKcd b\ the introchiction ot u|j- 

 right cases, liut still onl\ .i Iraction ot the iumiism,itic 



Fig. 6.— Fheodore T. Belote (1881-1953), 

 curator of the Division of History, Smithsonian 

 Institution, 1908-1950 (photo courtesy Mrs. 'F. 

 Belote). 



collection could be exhibited and most of it remained 

 in storage. Tlie lack of space for munismatic disphus 

 continued generally unchanged until 1914. Room was 

 mac'e, however, for showing some 300 Polish coins 

 dating from the late 14th to the mid 19th century 

 which were presented liy the Polish National .Mliance. 

 Fhis display was arranged in I'H'i b\' Theodore T. 

 I-iehne (fig. 6), who had been appointed assistant 

 cur.itor in tlic Division of Flistorv in 1909.'^ His ap- 



''' h'r/n/tf of Ihr Vniti'd Statt's .\atinnal Miniurn umt'i till' Dirt'chim 

 oj Ihe SmUhsoman In^titulmn [licroinaftcr cited as IKSW'M Rrpoit], 

 189:i, p. ILM. 



''SI Report, 1897, p. 1.^; f/.S'.\.\/ Rrfml. 1«')7, p 7i; I /„• 

 .Vumismalisl, vol. 11, 1898, pp. 77f. 



1^ Born in 1881, Oil the Eastern Sliorc of Virginia, Theodore 

 T. Belote studied at the University of Richmond and did gradu- 

 ate work at Harvard where he took his master's degree. He 

 studied also at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig and 

 taught history at the University of Cincinnati before coming to 

 the Smithsonian in l')08. ,\fter 42 years of service with the 

 National Museum, he retired in IW:. He died on December 1, 

 l'),")3, in Washington. D.C. Following is a short bibliography of 

 Belote's numismatic papers which apply specifically to the 

 n.itional collection: "The Numismatic Group of the National 

 Historical Collection," in The Numismalisl (I9'2.'i), vol. :iH, pp. 

 'V54-539; "Medals of .\ ward in the Historical Collection of the 

 United .States National Museum," op. cit. (1927). veil. HI, 

 pp. 722-728; "Foreign Medals of .\ward in the Historical 

 C:ollections ol the United States National Museum," op. cit 

 ( I'l2f|), vol. 42, pp. 123-126: "Hard Money in .Ancient 'Fimes," 

 //),• World li Yours (Feb. 19, 1940), vol. 1, no. 20, published by 

 Columbia University Press in connection with the Smithsonian 

 Institution Radio Program, 14 pp. 



PAPER 31 : HISTORY OF THE N.ATIONAI. NUMISM.ATIC COLLECTIONS 



