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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE




The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 31, July 29, 2001, Article 12

INDEXING 

   Dick Johnson. writes: "Dave Bowers has mentioned this 
   before, but repeats this again in his recent Rare Coin 
   Review (July-August 2001, no 142) in This & That 
   column (page 73, "Wanted:").  He calls for a uniform index 
   which would include the most popular numismatic 
   publications of the 19th and 20th century. 

   He is right. Despite the fact The Numismatist has been 
   indexed three times, the first by Frank G. Duffield and 
   published on the 50th anniversary of the publication 
   (1888-1938), again by Krause Publications which hired 
   a woman do do a second index, and finally the index at 
   the Harry Bass Foundation (which may have replicated 
   some of these other indexes). They all leave something 
   to be desired. 

   None of these are satisfactory for penetrating numismatic 
   research. They all are indexed BY TITLE and not BY 
   CONTENT. The seven-man committee that did that first 
   index of The Numismatist was a who's who of numismatics 
   at the time. This project cannot be a committee effort. 
   An index must be created by one person, but it requires a 
   lot of TIME. 

   The person who could do this is a rare bird -- he, or she 
   -- must have an intimate knowledge of numismatics in all 
   its segments, a professional knowledge of indexing, and a 
   computer with tremendous capacity.  It could be speeded 
   up if all text was digitized, but still it would require the full 
   time for one individual for years!  A retired individual would 
   be ideal. 

   I found the best such index which could be used for a model 
   on the shelf in my publisher's office. Title:  "Index to Nineteenth 
   Century American Art Periodicals." Author: Mary M. Schmidt 
   (head art librarian, emeritus, Princeton University Marquand 
   Library).  Details: 2 volumes, 1,584 pages. 

   Here is how he describes this monumental work in his current 
   catalog: 

   "Imagine this nightmare assignment:  You must locate every 
   art magazine published in 19th century America -- no matter 
   how rare or how long it takes to find them.  Then, you must 
   read every single article in each magazine. And most important, 
   you must take notes every time you come across an artist's 
   name, geographical place, or any type of subject matter! 

   "Well, it took more than 20 years, but this extraordinary feat 
   was accomplished by noted art librarian, Mary M. Schmidt, 
   and her team of graduate students.  For the first time, every 
   article in every issue of every art magazine that appeared in 
   19th century America was thoroughly indexed!" 

   I certainly would not want this job for numismatic periodicals. 
   Five and a half years ago I begin indexing American artists, 
   diesinkers, engravers, medalists and sculptors. I was naive of 
   the estimated size of this project. I have have 3,129 such 
   artists in my databank. And have over 2,000 pages of text. 
   And counting... 

   Can you imagine the size of the numismatic index that Dave 
   wants. Don't hold your breath, Dave. I don't think you can 
   find that person!" 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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