THE NUMISMATIC LITERARY GUILD MISSION

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 16, April 18, 2021, Article 19

The Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) is a separate organization from the Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS). It's an industry group for today's numismatic authors and publishers. NBS is a collector organization for anyone with an interest in numismatic literature and research of all eras. There is a natural overlap in our membership, with many individuals card-carrying members of both organizations.

NLG publishes a monthly newsletter for its members. Issues contain guest articles from NLG members focused on writing about coins, plus reading recommendations concerning current projects published by members. You can only receive this if you are a member. Dues are only $15 annually. Executive Director Charles Morgan notes that "the NLG is focused on building a year-round community to foster better working relationships between writers in our field."

With permission, here's an excerpt from the latest issue ( Vol. 63, Issue 1, April 2021) exploring the group's history. -Editor

With these words put to paper and carrying the club letterhead, NLG founder Lee Martin set in motion the creation of the coin collecting hobby's premier organization dedicated to promoting numismatic writing.

Martin's goals were ambitious and forward-thinking. He sought to enroll the top talent from the ranks of professional numismatic writers, editors, columnists, book authors, and museum curators, and cultivate a community where they could come together in the spirit of openness and camaraderie, share resources, and ultimately produce better work. It was a time of tremendous growth in the area of numismatic publishing. Magazines and newspapers were going gangbusters, numismatic research was becoming ever more sophisticated, and the enthusiasm that collectors had for joining clubs was at an all-time high. The NLG quickly found a constituency and Martin was off to the races.

Not everything the NLG's founding fathers (and mothers) set out to accomplish came to fruition. This isn't all that unusual, as these things go. The NLG never built that impressive numismatic library for the benefit of its members, and despite some early work towards the goal, I'm not sure that they ever put together a working database of coin imagery as was mentioned in the club's early newsletters.

But they did create an organization that would sustain itself for more than 50 years, and during that time they enabled many memorable moments

In the issue Executive Director Charles Morgan lays out new goals for the group's future, to include engaging with the international community and "with individuals outside of the traditional numismatic landscape to recognize content that promotes knowledge about numismatics or novel representation of numismatic objects." Lastly, he addresses the current media landscape. -Editor

The numismatic hobby is rapidly changing. Older generations are handing the baton of leadership to younger ones and with that shift, the hobby will experience a period of new sensibilities, ideas, and scholarship. It is up to us, as an organization focused on numismatic literature, to stay on top of developments in the media space. Yesterday's crude numismatic newsletter is today's Instagram account. Yesterday's house organ is today's blog section at a major company. As an organization, we must acknowledge these changes and support our members in their endeavors even if numismatic writing and content production takes forms that would have been unrecognizable years ago. Forever onward!

Good luck to NLG in the new era. We'll look forward to reporting on and participating in future developments. If you're a numismatic writer and aren't currently a member, consider joining now. -Editor