1. The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Hello! I am Nicole Fry from the Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis.
For those of you unfamiliar, numismatics is the study of coins, paper money, tokens, medals, and all things physical currency.
nnp.wustl.edu

2. for numismatic research and reference material.
The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
In 2014, Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society announces 4-year grant to Washington University in St. Louis.
Newman wants to make numismatic literature and research material freely available. Our goal is to become the comprehensive resource
for numismatic research and
reference material.
Focused mainly on materials related
to U.S. coinage and currency.
In 2014, NNP is funded by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society.
Newman is a 106-year-old coin collector and expert in STL. Foremost expert on early American coinage.
His goal in life is to make numismatic literature and research material freely available. To do this, there is physical numismatic museum in STL. We are the digital side of that endeavor.
Our goal is to become the comprehensive resource (online or otherwise) for numismatic research and reference material – rapidly getting there.
Our initial concentration has been on U.S. coinage and currency, but we are expanding outside of that into other English-language materials.
To clarify: We do not handle the coins and currency, only books and paper research materials.
Eric P. Newman

3. The portal has grown quickly over the last three years.
Currently have over 12,000 volumes, over 10,000 auction lots, over 3,000 biographies, and over 25,000 encyclopedia records.
At the top is the new image database. Users can click to browse through thousands of images of coins, tokens, medals and their associated metadata.

4. website under the WUSTL collection. Installed in Newman Portal by
The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Scanning Process
Scanner and networked computer, with scanning and metadata done at WUSTL & ANS
IA handles “republishing” – image correction and cropping, verify pagination and metadata.
Documents appear on IA
website under the WUSTL
collection. Installed in
Newman Portal by
referencing the IA copy.
We use two scanners: ATIZ overhead scanner and a Table Top Scribe from Internet Archive (pictured in corner).
The bulk of our book and catalogue scanning is done on the Table Top Scribe.
We have a partnership with Internet Archive so that they do our image correction and cropping, verify pagination and metadata. This helps with speed – we can get through about 2,000 pages a day.
Documents appear on IA website under the WUSTL collection. Then installed in Newman Portal by referencing the IA copy.
Table Top Scribe

5. Table Top Scribe can comfortably scan up to 8.5 x 11 inch documents.
The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Oversized Scanning
Table Top Scribe can comfortably scan up to 8.5 x 11 inch documents.
Arm attachment for larger inserts, such as fold out spreads. Not practical for full documentation.
Larger items are scanned on
the Atiz scanner, which has
scanning dimensions of
16.9 x 24.4in.
Table Top Scribe can comfortably scan up to 8.5 x 11 inch documents.
Arm attachment for larger inserts, such as fold out spreads. Not practical for full documentation.
Larger items are scanned on the Atiz scanners, which has scanning dimensions of 16.9 x 24.4in.
We have to edit anything scanned on the Atiz in house.
Table Top Scribe

6. Current and Ongoing Projects
The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Current and Ongoing Projects
Eric P. Newman’s correspondence collection:
Online: 31,373 pages of an estimated 32,000 pages. 1,000+ correspondents.
Process from raw. Organizing and censoring for content when needed.
Standard scanning queue: between 32,000 to 35,000 pages per month. Wide variety of materials, including auction catalogs, subject materials, journals, and more.
Image Database corrections:
Images from private and public
collections.
Cleaning up backgrounds,
standardizing formats.
3 Major Ongoing Projects:
1) Eric P. Newman Correspondence, (80+ years).
Online: Over 31,000 pages of an estimated 32,000 total pages.
Process from raw: in boxes pulled from his basement, with barebones existing organization.
We sort, remove staples, refolder and box, then scan, process images, do redactions, post online. An extensive process.
Image processing is done in house, using Atiz scanner.
2) Standard scanning queue content more varied:
32,000 to 35,000 pages scanned monthly on TTScribe
Content ranges from auction catalogues, books on certain coins or topics, club journals, etc.
3) Image Database corrections:
Images from private and public collections.
Cleaning up backgrounds, standardizing formats.
Correspondence with F.C.C. Boyd, 1948

7. The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Popular Features / How people use the site:
Example of documentation of photographic plates. Photographic plates are frequently used in numismatics to identify minute features on coins.
Historically, coin collectors love looking at plates under magnifying glass. We provide the digital version of that.
Image is from a WWC Wilson auction catalogue, one of 12 in the world, all in private collections. NNP is the only way the public has access to this catalogue.
From “The W.W.C. Wilson Collection” Catalog, 1925

8. The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
Popular Features / How people use the site:
We also carry more contemporary auction catalogues.
We are the only place that has the full run of Stack’s/Bowers auction houses’ catalogues.
Popular with more general collectors, and people looking to establish provenance for their personal collections.
From “The L.R. French, Jr. Family Collection of U.S. Silver Dollars”, Stack’s, 1989.

9. Feel free to contact me with questions @: nicole.fry@wustl.edu
The Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis
nnp.wustl.edu
Feel free to contact me with
Final Slide:
Thanks!
Feel free to me with any questions.
Selection of images from the Alan V. Weinberg collection.