I am writing to slap you upside the head for using a secondary source when you had a primary source at your fingertips!

In last week's edition of The E-Sylum, you quoted a portion of page 147 of Anthony Stautzenberger's excellent book The Establishment of the Charlotte Branch Mint: A Documented History. As you (should) know, that portion of Mr. Stautzenberger's book was, in fact, extracted from the very nice history of the Charlotte Mint that appeared in the Mint Director's Annual Report for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1913. If one would like to read the entire history, instead of an extract, it's available, through the good graces of Google Books, here: Annual report of the Director of the Mint .

Although Google Books certainly doesn't need me to toot their horn, it really is an excellent source of original 19th and early 20th century material (including the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, Comptroller of the Currency, Director of the Mint, etc.) in easy to search and store digitized form.

So, don't make me hurt you again - use an original source!