NEWMAN PORTAL DIGITIZES EARLY WPNS LEDGERS

The latest organization to work with the Newman Numismatic Portal is the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society (WPNS). Founded in 1878 and still going strong today, WPNS is one of the oldest numismatic organizations in the country. Three early minute and ledger books from the WPNS archives have now been digitized and made available in the Newman Numismatic Portal collection on Internet Archive, at these locations:

https://archive.org/details/wpnsledger1878_1880
https://archive.org/details/wpnsledger1880_1889
https://archive.org/details/wpnsledger1878_1889

Many thanks to WPNS and its President Phil Christ for making these treasures available for numismatic researchers everywhere. The group was very active in the 19th century both locally and nationally, exhibiting coins at the Pittsburgh Expositions of 1878 and 1879, having medals struck by Lovett, corresponding with the major dealers of the day, and building a coin cabinet and numismatic library.

The group met weekly at members' homes. On March 21, 1879 they assembled at the home of Mr. Kelley. After reading and approving the minutes of the previous meeting, "The Secretary reported that the 20c piece of 1878 in sale of March 14th had been purchased for the Society at $4.25."

Another ledger book records the Society's purchases for its coin cabinet and library. Above are listings of acquisitions in 1888 of auction catalogs and bound volumes of the American Journal of Numismatics.

These handwritten records were meticulously kept by Secretary George Rode and other officers. The handwriting can take some getting used to, but there is a lot of great information and many great stories in here. Your patience will be rewarded. So have a look!

For more information on WPNS, see the WPNS History article elsewhere in this issue.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web