Correspondence collated and bound by Fecht into five yearly volumes (1934-1939), along with Fecht’s bound catalog of his coin collection and related inventories. The correspondence deals mostly with his buying of coins and the gathering of information about them. Correspondents include dealers Wayte Raymond, B. Max Mehl, John Zug, Scott Stamp and Coin, Art Trading Company, New Netherlands Coin Company, New Zealand Coin Exchange, Guttag Brothers, and Spink & Son. Correspondence with the American Numismatic Association (ANA) has to do with his becoming a member and with the use of their library. A letter to Frank G. Duffield, editor of the ANA magazine The Numismatist, mentions his 1861-S double eagle, which had been discovered in a barn in Hull, Texas (January 28, 1937). Scattered throughout the volumes are rubbings and photographs of coins, price lists, invoices, canceled checks, his ANA membership cards from 1934 to 1939, a certificate designating him ANA life member #38 (1936), and clippings relating to coin conventions and other numismatic matters. Four of the volumes begin with brief typed notes by Fecht. In the 1934 volume he gives his opinion on some of the dealers he has conducted business with: M.H. Bolender, Ambrose J. Brown, Henry Chapman, B. Max Mehl, Lynn R. Noyes, William Rabin, William J. Schultz, Scott Stamp and Coin, and John Zug. The volumes for 1936, 1937, and 1938/1939 each begin with a review of his numismatic activities for the year, including conventions, coin and library purchases, and the photographing of his collection. The catalog of Fecht’s collection includes coin photographs cut and pasted in.
Correspondence, much of which was created or forwarded by Bauman Belden (ANS secretary, 1896-1903, 1905-1916) to Charles Pryer (treasurer, 1889-1915), on matters of ANS business such as bills owed, membership dues, and pledged funds allocated for specific purposes. There are very few copies of correspondence from Pryer. Also contains receipts, including bills and invoices stamped as paid, and canceled checks for materials and services such as printing, journal subscriptions, coal, gas, electricity, cleaning, insurance, carpentry, rent, medal production, office supplies, postage, and, occasionally, materials purchased for ANS collections. There are notable developments that occurred during the period covered by the records that are documented here. Matters relating to the membership of Archer M. Huntington, who joined in 1899, include his declining an invitation to speak at the Society (1898), increasing his membership level to Life Member (1900), his election to the presidency and Belden’s positive feelings about the move (1905), and Huntington’s request for information about the collecting interests of individual members (1905). In 1906 the Society moved into temporary headquarters at the Hispanic Society of America’s building on Manhattan’s Audubon Terrace, and in 1908 it occupied its own newly constructed building next door on land donated by Huntington. Materials relating to the move include letters, bills, and receipts having to do with transporting materials to the site and constructing and furnishing the new building. The ANS during this period also began to employ its first paid staff. Included are monthly receipts for the salary of the Society’s first employee, building maintenance worker Nelson P. Pehrson (for work beginning in 1908). There are numerous letters, bills, and receipts relating to the funding of the Society’s School for Coin and Medal Designing and Die Cutting (in operation from 1901 to 1905), including receipts for payment signed by one of the school’s instructors, Victor David Brenner. Before moving to Audubon Terrace, the Society used rented rooms in various locations for its collections and meetings. Included here are rent receipts the New York Academy of Medicine (rented 1893-1902) and Union Dime Savings Institution (rented 1902-1905), as well as a signed lease for the latter. Also included are receipts for the Society’s new seal designed by Brenner (1907) and for a loving cup presented to Edward Groh (1900), both produced by Tiffany & Co., and for the binding of two volumes of manuscript materials relating to the Society’s Grant’s Tomb medal (1899). The item given the earliest date (1866) is an unsigned manuscript copy of the resolution merging the Society with the New York Numismatic Society.
Correspondence relating to the financial activities of the Building Committee created in 1906 in response to ANS president Archer M. Huntington’s offer to donate land for an ANS headquarters building on Audubon Terrace in upper Manhattan. Topics include disbursement of funds, the recording of donations, committee appointments, and the scheduling of meetings. The records appear to have been kept by Charles Pryer, ANS treasurer from 1889 to 1915. There are numerous letters from Bauman L. Belden (ANS secretary, 1896-1903 and 1905-1916) concerning business transactions. Other correspondents include Archer M. Huntington (president, 1905-1909) and the building’s architect, Charles P. Huntington. There is only one letter from 1905: Pryer to Belden expressing reservations about the establishment of a building fund. By 1908 the building was under construction and the records include receipts (itemized bills marked as paid) for furnishings such as desks, a rug, a scale, and a vault, as well as for construction and electrical work. Also present is a report of the building committee (May 20, 1907).
Library records created or kept by Sawyer McArthur Mosser, American Numismatic Society Librarian from 1938 to 1947. Most relate to the development and maintenance of the collection. Includes lists of gaps in the collections, publications wanted, publications available from booksellers, and duplicates weeded and ready for sale; correspondence relating to the purchase and exchange of publications with various publishers; form letters and responses from various Latin American countries requesting publications; and invoices for binding payments. Also of note are two files labeled “Library data.” One predates Mosser’s time as Librarian and includes a typed guide detailing the layout of the library (1922) and general directions for binding and books sent to be bound (1915). The other contains accession and use statistics and numerous library reports (1938-1948). Other such data can be found in the file “Questionnaires,” containing surveys that were sent to various requesting libraries that used the data to produce directories and curriculums. Also included are several items in notebooks or binders: a Guide to the Library of the American Numismatic Society for users (including a floor plan); monthly accession lists (1946-1947); and a small binder with want lists, Reilly Fund accounting, and ANS publications. There are some items dating from the period just after Mosser’s term as librarian, including a financial and general report from his successor, H.A. Steeves (1947), and a file of correspondence that deals, among other things, with the proposed acquisition of the James B. Longacre papers.
