The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 12, March 17, 2002, Article 11

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA

  Howard A. Daniel III writes: "I was recently in Jacksonville,
  Florida, at the invitation of the Anthropology Department of
  the University of North Florida.  I had met the department
  head in Jakarta, Indonesia, a couple of years ago at a mutual
  friend's house.  When he learned I had just given a talk to
  the Numismatic Society of Jakarta, he asked me if I could
  give a talk at his university and I accepted.

  When I learned there was going to be the ANA National
  Money Show 2002 in Jacksonville, Florida, I corresponded
  with the professor and we set up  March 6 as my date to
  speak, which was the day before the three-day show
  started.  Since the professor was interested in Indonesia, I
  brought  several pieces from that area of Southeast Asia,
  but I also had one other large concentration of material
  from the area of the Golden Triangle of  Myanmar (Burma),
  Lao (Laos) and Thailand (Siam).  The latter pieces were
  because a young man with Lao-Hmong parents sent me an
  email and asked me to bring some pieces that his parents
  and elders had told him and his wife had disappeared.
  Then I added a few more pieces from other Southeast Asian
  countries and the military and colonial powers of the region.

  The young man turned out to be an enlisted man in the U.S.
  Coast Guard and  was shortly going to its Officers Candidate
  School.  He was shocked to see so many Hmong pieces,
  and I brought duplicates, which I gave to him (and his wife)
  for himself and his parents.  Tears were coming out of his eyes.
   I asked him to send me another email to remind me to send
  him addresses of  numismatic and book dealers where he
  and his family (and other Hmong) can buy authentic numismatic
  pieces (there are many fakes!) and books about them.  Not
  only did I make a great young man very happy, but I think I
  made  a new numismatist too.

  The talk was in a lab and included Masters and PhD candidates
  from the Anthropology, Archaeology and History Departments
  during a one hour and twenty minutes lunch break.  Some
  brought their lunches and others ordered pizza from Papa
  John's.  I laid out all of my pieces on a large table and added
  two of my books about Vietnamese numismatics, history,
  banking and economics.  There was about thirty minutes before
  my talk when all of the attendees came up to my table at one
  time or another, and I allowed them to handle the pieces, ask
  questions, and for me to ask them about their interests.

  Many of the attendees were amazed to learn that numismatists
  and numismatics were a rich source of information and pieces
  very relevant to their studies and work.  Some were nodding
  their heads in agreement with some of what I was saying, but I
  noticed too many of them with shocked looks on their faces
  because they had missed us!    This was a shock for me to
  learn they did not know about our field, but I became very
  happy make many more people aware of us.

  The purpose of this item is to request that NBS members to
  offer themselves to other university and college departments.
  I am sure we can bring many new people into using us and
  our libraries, but also to encourage many of them to join us
  in numismatics.

  A second purpose is that I learned that  some of them are
  working on the excavation of Fort Caroline, a former French
  fort in the channel.  If you have any information about that
  fort, please contact me and I will give you the email of my
  professor, so he can pass it on to the right people.

  A third purpose is to tell you that I very much enjoyed the
  NBS meeting at the show.  It is always good to find I am
  not alone in my addiction to purchasing, reading and caring
  for books.

  Please contact me at Howard@SEAsianTreasury.com
  if you have any questions about the above."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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