Letter from Prof. Bacharach, ANS Councillor

Dear ANS E-Mail Reader,

It is with great reluctance that I join the e-mail exchanges on the future of the ANS. Previous experiences have indicated that what I think I write and how the message is read are often different. Since I am a member of the ANS Council some will interpret my comments as apologetic or defensive. But since a few e-mails interpreted my silence as indifference or even hostility to the future of the ANS I have finally decided to share a few thoughts.

For those who do not know who I am, I will open by introducing myself. I have taught Middle East history at the University of Washington for 33 years and I am completing a 5-year term as Director, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. I am currently President, Middle East Studies Association and President, Middle East Medievalists while in November I completed my term as President, Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. My edited and authored 5 books and approximately 50 articles have focused overwhelmingly on Islamic numismatics although I was never a member of the Summer Seminar. Two of the eight dissertations done under my direction were on Islamic numismatics. My association with the ANS dates from 1962 and I have been on the Council since 1993.

From my perspective the current financial crisis has a long history and anyone who has read the annual financial report carefully since 1976 would have seen that the ANS ran a deficit. Those who have discussed the future of the ANS with any of its curators over the last decade would have been aware that there were complaints about the financial resources at the ANS. Almost immediately upon my joining the Council we engaged in a daylong retreat due to the fact that the fund raising campaign in the late 1980s had fallen short of its $4 million goal. A number of major conclusions were reached at the retreat: the Broadway location was becoming less and less attractive to visitors and there was no interest among the membership in a major fund raising drive to maintain the current setting and programming.

During the following years numerous steps were taken to improve the financial situation while looking for a new location. A variety of fund raising activities were undertaken including formal banquets, auctions, meetings outside New York, and the maintaining of membership levels or circles which had been created earlier. Every Council member was contributing and at higher levels than in the past. Unfortunately, none of these steps resulted in a creating a significantly larger endowment. Also, lacking professional development officers or individuals who would be on top of such issues we missed the opportunity to ensure that when some of our more important donors passed away, the ANS would be remembered in a significant way in their wills. We weren't. Something more dramatic had to be done to galvanize the membership and new donors and that was to move the Society's home.

I have no idea how much money was spent as we investigated numerous possible sites including a possible link to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the New York Historical Society in the Upper West Side. Finally the Council decided on 140 Williams Street. We saw this as an opportunity to use the new building as a site for major fund raising activities as well as for more traditional ANS work. A separate fund raising drive was created to pay for this new facility and, I believe, approximately $3.4 million has been raised in cash toward the purchase. A further $6 million has been pledged for the renovation of the building.

At the same time the Council recognized that the organizational structure of the ANS with responsibilities divided between the library, the curators and the rest of the staff was not working. The existing troika arrangement was replaced by a more common one with an Executive Director. Next the position of Assistant Executive Director was created to see if that would make the ANS work more effectively as the administration had to run traditional ANS activities and plan for a new facility. Then the Executive Director elected to retire while continuing for a year in a consulting role and the current Executive Director was chosen. All of these changes took time, energy and money.

I found myself engaged in other issues related to the future of the ANS. It was apparent that the exhibitions were not attracting public audiences but was it appropriate to require academically oriented curators to engage in the installation of rotating exhibits? The loss of our status as an accredited museum was another blow and Arthur Houghton as President made every possible effort to have it restored. Lacking permanent resources to maintain an educational officer when our grants ended, was it appropriate to have these same curators serving K-12 audiences in more capacities? Should stiffer application and reporting requirements be imposed on the curatorial staff who were eligible every year for paid research leaves of six weeks as well as travel to conferences, etc.? Should the summer seminar be offered annually although it was very popular with curators and successful with participants? Other issues including the awareness of a growing financial crisis kept pushing these topics to the background.

A few years ago the University of California system offered generous early retirement packages to its faculty to reduce their carry forward budgets. In UCLA's Department of History 4 tenured Middle East specialists took advantage of the offer and retired and were replaced a year later by one beginning assistant professor and, more recently, by a second. This fall the British Museum cut a number of curators and other staff members that budgetary concerns required a significant reduction in the numbers employed at the same time the BM raised approximately $160 million for renovating the great court or reading room area. Nearby the Wellcome Institute, the most important center for medical history research, is seeing its doors closed. The overseeing organization which was the wealthiest private charity in the world until The Gates Foundation surpassed them are not interested in maintaining this world class institute. The latest rumor is that the Institute is being transferred to University College London although great pressure is being put on the current scholarly body to resign or retire. Its long term future is very uncertain.

In light of the current crises at the ANS, I drew up for myself, my priorities for the Society:

1. Maintainance of the collection. While there has always been some deacquisitions I do not believe sales should be used to cover large, on-going annual deficits and, to the best of my knowledge, they never have nor is there any evidence that there is a plan to do so. I believe it is very difficult to replace rare, let alone unique pieces once they have been sold.
2. Maintainance of the library. It is almost impossible to catch up with periodicals, auction catalogues, and even books if they are not bought on an on-going basis. At the same time I believe the Society must find ways to make more and more of the coins and library resources available electronically and the ANS is doing this. I am pleased that the library has been protected during this whole painful process.
3. Maintain the best possible staff including curators in light of the institution's mission. If that mission shifts, than it is appropriate to work with the staff to fulfill that mission or find ways to appoint new personnel to meet those new goals.

When financial crises reach a certain level when small-scale reductions will no longer work, I would argue that the last category is where massive cuts must be made. I realize that others would argue that selling significant parts of the collection is a better move and that is a legitimate difference of opinion. I always hope that personnel cuts will not be disruptive and they always are. I hope that whatever packages are offered they be generous and, I believe, that in terms of the packages offered to the curators which have included a year's pay with some possible extensions plus other benefits, the ANS has fulfilled this goal. To the best of my knowledge each curator was urged to reconsider his or her decision before they signed. No one was forced to sign including the one curator whose salary was protected by a restricted fund. In another case, a fund raising drive to which I contributed was undertaken to protect a person and a position. At the time we were asked to contribute, it was not clear if he would stay.

I am concerned about the future of the American Numismatic Society, as I believe is everyone who has written about these issues. I do not question their sincerity or desire to maintain the ANS as the premier center for the scholarly study of coins although we may differ on the best way to do it. I do regret that some writers personalize their attacks but that reflects my values.

Sincerely yours,

JERE L. BACHARACH
Director, Jackson School of International Studies
Stanley Golub Professor of International Studies
P.O. Box 353650
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195

PHONE: 206-543-4373
FAX: 206-685-0668