A Letter by President Partrick to Coin World
A letter from Donald G. Partrick, President of the The American Numismatic Society

I am writing to address concerns about the current direction of the American Numismatic Society. The discussion has been represented as a choice between maintaining a curatorial staff or moving to our new location in Manhattan’s financial district. Let me begin by stating that both I and the Council are firmly committed to ensuring the curatorial excellence of the Society.

So why did the ANS offer voluntary retirement packages to its curators? The answer is simple: at present we don’t have the money to pay them without continuing to erode our endowment. The ANS’ operating budget has run in a deficit for many years, and recently it has become dangerous enough to threaten the extinction of the Society. This we cannot allow!

Here are the facts: over the last five years the ANS’ expenses have ranged between $1,848,344 and $2,134,597, yet our income during this same period varied from $323,610 and $169,084. Each year the deficit in our operating budget has been covered by donations and by withdrawing money from the principal and the earnings of our endowment. This information was always available in our annual reports but was not emphasized while the Council continued to hope that a large donation would solve our financial problems.

Paying for the deficit required not only taking advantage of high endowment earnings from a booming stock market, but also taking money from the principal of our endowment. By supporting our valued curators when we did not have sufficient funds, we now find ourselves in a position of great peril. A crash of the stock market could kill off the ANS at any moment.

In order to become a full service organization we will have to raise at least $15,000,000 of endowment money. If this is done, we once again could pay our expenses (including a full curatorial staff) without resorting to the extraordinary measures of days past. Bear in mind that our goal is to regain financial security so we can not only restore, but actually expand our curatorial staff.

In our current location and with our current programs, raising large sums of money is simply impossible. Our only option is to temporarily cut the operating budget (so we may survive in the short-term), and then to move and to redirect our activities so we can attract the money necessary to save the Society.

A study by a major research firm in the mid-1990s asked approximately 30 of the wealthiest and most influential Fellows of the Society how they viewed the ANS, and how money could be raised. The message was loud and clear: change, move and become a museum.

It was then that the ANS started actively looking for a new home. Money started flowing in for the building purchase, and in the fall of 1998 we found the right building. It will take more time and more money to get our new headquarters ready to occupy. $6,000,000 is our architect’s estimate to get us into the new building. $5,000,000 has already been pledged by our own Council members for renovation, and we are optimistic that the additional funds will be raised.

Is this the right move? I’m sure that a location in America's financial district will be a winner. Others agree too. For example, the publication of our crisis in New York newspapers has alerted wealthy outsiders to our plight. They are excited by the idea of a Money Museum in the financial district and have expressed an interest in helping us achieve our goals.

If we all work toward this goal, I have no doubt we will succeed. I pledge to put all means and energy into the new vision of the ANS. Please join the Council and me in this great leap forward. I assure you that any help and constructive suggestions will be welcomed with open arms.