HISTORIC CHAPMAN CORRESPONDENCE GOES ONLINE

In 1983, the children of legendary coin dealer Henry Chapman Jr. paid a visit to the ANS. His daughters, Helen, Henrietta, and Jane, and his son, Joseph, came up from Pennsylvania to see an exhibit of materials relating to their father, mostly items they had donated the previous year. A highlight was the original manuscript, galley proofs, page proofs, and bid book for the celebrated John Story Jenks collection, Henry’s "magnum opus."

When the Society first learned that the family was thinking of making the donation, director Leslie Elam and librarian Frank Campbell wasted no time and went right down to the greater Philadelphia area to meet them. A genial exchange of letters followed, and the whole experience must have left a positive impression on Henrietta, because in 2002, after her death, the Society received a substantial set of early Chapman Brothers correspondence from her estate.

At various times over the years, these letters, now filling about 12 large boxes, have been straightened, organized, alphabetized, and otherwise processed in various attempts to improve access. Unfortunately, as long as the letters were kept in envelopes, they remained difficult to use. Researchers had to guess which ones might be worth looking at, unfold them to find out, and then refold them before moving on.

But now, thanks to work being carried out at the ANS on behalf of the Newman Numismatic Portal, the correspondence is finally being made fully accessible. Lara Jacobs, a technician with the Internet Archive, has not only been rehousing the letters, making them easier to use in person, but has also been scanning and putting them online, where they become instantly available to researchers throughout the world. Lara finds many items of interest as she goes about her work, and I am indebted to her for letting me know about all of the fascinating things that she finds.

The letters mostly begin in 1878, the year Henry Chap- man Jr. and his older brother Samuel Hudson ("S. H.") Chapman started their coin business, and the bulk of them end about the time the two went their separate ways businesswise in 1906.

It’s always fun to rummage around and get lost in old correspondence. There are all kinds of interesting things to discover, including photographs. Sometimes it’s the little details that transport you to a different time—like when a doctor uses cocaine to treat S. H.’s wife’s afflicted toenail.

Sometimes it’s the unique characters you encounter, like the vaudevillian Al Emmett Fostell, who wrote to the Chapmans about some medals and other collectibles.

You learn a lot of new things, too, for example that the Chapmans’ employed the noted photographer Edward Bierstadt—brother of the Hudson River School painter Albert Bierstadt—to print some of the plates for their catalogs.

Henry Chapman Jr.’s three daughters and son at the ANS, with family members and Society staff, including librarian Frank Campbell (far right), 1983.

For more information about the American Numismatic Society, see:
http://numismatics.org/

To view letter digitized to date, see:
Chapman (Samuel Hudson & Henry) Archives (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/516023)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web