Concerning the October 21 Annual Meeting

On behalf of Council members of the American Numismatic Society, I am writing to ask for your support in the upcoming Council election. At our annual meeting on October 21, 2000, Honorary Fellows and Fellows will be asked to vote on 13 Council positions. The names and short resumes of the candidates are attached.

Three of the candidates represent the Concerned Fellows, who had recently asked you for an opinion about whether to contest the October election. We are pleased that an understanding has been reached with the Concerned Fellows to nominate, at their recommendation, three Fellows to sit as members of a reconstituted 18-member Council. We are all keen to bring different perspectives into the Council since this will help the Society achieve its goals.

Our program for the ANS is to build a strong and healthy institution that can serve different facets of our numismatic community. What follows is a summary of the Council's stance on central issues:

Finances

The ANS's deficit has been mounting incrementally over the last two decades. On October 23, 1999, the Council took dramatic action to cut the deficit and restore the Society to fiscal health. We cut expenditures in all departments while increasing targets for income. The Council has established new categories of membership and dues that will provide a more flexible structure. This will be presented for approval at the coming annual meeting. Many of us have made significant contributions to the Society's new home on William Street and other ANS programs. A professional development team is now in place, which has developed a long-term plan for programs and funding. A capital campaign will be launched early next year to raise money for our new home and the ANS endowment.

We believe that numismatics as a discipline will not survive without fresh ideas and support from the general public. Millions of people worldwide are interested in coins, medals, and paper money, but they may not yet be aware of the important stories that these objects can tell. We have been working to fulfill part of the Society's ongoing mission to bring the work of numismatic scholars and our outstanding collections to a wider public by creating a compelling Museum of Money. We also hope to exhibit more selections from our vast collections of objects in many different locations in the United States and abroad. We are particularly pleased that a major exhibition of ANS coins will be opening in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the fall of 2001-just minutes away from our new home.

As you know, in October 1998, after a long search, the ANS acquired a building in downtown Manhattan that will provide ample space for the library, coin cabinets, and offices. We intend to rent out two floors of the building temporarily, which would provide much needed revenue. The initial renovation costs, which are presently estimated at $3,000,000, are fully underwritten by donations from Council members. A move from Audubon Terrace is planned during the latter part of 2001.

We firmly believe that the ANS and the study of numismatics are best served if the Society remains an independent institution solely devoted to numismatics. Although the Council actively assessed merging with another institution in the early 1990s, we concluded that any such merger would lead to an end of the Society and to the sale of portions of the collection. This was an untenable option. We are resolved to maintain the integrity of the Society and its collection, and to honor the wishes of the donors who built this institution.

To maintain our collection, serve our members, and fulfill our mission to bring numismatics to a wider public, we are committed to rebuilding the Society's endowment. We are also committed to hiring new curators and other professionals of the highest academic standing. We will continue to publish the American Journal of Numismatics and other publications, as well as to encourage numismatic research projects in all fields. The Graduate Summer Seminar, supported by a restricted endowment, will continue to provide numismatic education and hands-on experience for students from all over the country.

Please join us at the annual meeting of the Society on October 21, 2000 at 3 o'clock P.M. at our building at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City. We welcome your participation. A copy of the meeting agenda is enclosed. If you cannot attend however, please sign, date, and send the attached proxy to the Secretary of the Society in the enclosed envelope. It is important that your vote be counted!