ANS Receives Garrett Archives

February 2, 2000, New York, NY - The American Numismatic Society (ANS) announced today the donation of The Garrett Numismatic Archives to the ANS Library by The Johns Hopkins University. The archive is an unrivaled source for the history of coin collecting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

T. Harrison Garrett, whose family managed the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, began collecting coins while a student at Princeton in the mid-1860’s. He and his two sons, Robert and John Work, formed the Garrett collection, which came to be unrivalled in terms of rarity, quality, and provenance. John Work Garrett, who had the collection moved to Evergreen House, died in 1942. Evergreen House, its contents, and the surrounding estate was given to The Johns Hopkins University.

The archive, relating to the Garretts’ coin collecting activity, includes some 1,000 letters as well as the original notebooks kept by T. Harrison Garrett and John Work Garrett. The latter’s handwritten card file is also included. On some 3,000 cards, all series (from ancient to modern) which comprised the collection are recorded. The cards contain detailed descriptions of the coins, along with the purchase prices and the provenance of each coin.

Among the highlights of the archives are the unique typed and annotated catalogue of the Garrett collection prepared by Henry and Samuel Hudson Chapman, who conducted numismatic auctions in Philadelphia, either jointly or individually, from the late 1800’s until the early 1930’s. The correspondence includes a letter from Edward Maris to T. Harrison Garrett, in which Maris offers Garrett his entire collection of New Jersey Coppers. There is also extensive correspondence with Lyman H. Low, including the letter of transmittal of Low's personal collection of Hard Times Tokens. In a letter from the Chapmans, John Garrett is offered the chance to purchase the entire Virgil Brand collection.

In addition to the Chapmans and Low, several other dealers are represented in the correspondence. These include Edouard Frossard, B. Max Mehl, Leonard Forrer, Wayte Raymond, Edward and George Cogan, George Massamore, and Jacques and Hans Schulman. Among the items related to the American Numismatic Society are letters informing John Work Garrett of his election to the Society and his subsequent election as a Fellow. He later joined the Society's Council and was made an Honorary Councilor for Life.

This donation was made possible thanks to the efforts of David and Susan Tripp. Mr. and Mrs. Tripp, who were also instrumental in directing the Virgil Brand Archives to the ANS, have donated $1,000 toward the preservation of the Garrett Archives. "We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Tripp for helping us to acquire this invaluable resource and for their continuing support. It is my hope that others will follow suit in helping us to preserve these precious documents and to make them accessible to the public," said Francis D. Campbell, the Librarian of the American Numismatic Society.

The American Numismatic Society (ANS), founded in 1858, is a non-profit international center for the preservation and study of coins, medals and paper money, representing more than 2,500 years of material culture. The ANS collection contains close to one million objects and spans all periods and geographic areas, including Greek and Roman, medieval and modern European, American, Islamic, Asian and African coins, as well as other materials. In addition, the ANS holds the world’s finest numismatic library, which is also strong in non-numismatic monographs and references on history, art, economics, language and culture. Both the collection and the library are open to the public.

For further information, please contact Vanessa Samet at (212) 234-3130 ext. 209.

Vanessa J. Samet
Development Consultant
The American Numismatic Society
155th Street & Broadway
New York, NY 10032
(212) 234-3130 ext. 209
(212) 234-3381 fax
Samet@AmNumSoc.Org
www.AmNumSoc.Org