FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS IN NUMISMATICS

   

Many years ago, during my graduate studies, I was fortunate to receive a Fulbright-Hays Award for a summer Arabic language program in Jordan. Out of curiosity, I recently conducted a search on the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) and other sources for names of numismatists who also won Fulbright Awards. Here are a number that I came across, starting with the earliest Fulbright scholar I could find.

1. Charles A. Hersh (England 1950)
2. Sydney P. Noe (Greece 1952-1953)
3. Theodore V. Buttrey (Italy 1953; Denmark 1985)
4. Richard G. Doty (Spain 1964)
5. Peter P. Gaspar (Portugal 1973)
6. Steve Feller (England 1996)
7. Madisen Caster (England 2020)

The Fulbright Program was created in 1946. It was founded through the legislative efforts of J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas, who wanted Congress to establish an international exchange program to promote cultural understanding, friendship and peace between nations. This program is administered by the U.S. Department of State. In 1961, President Kennedy signed the Fulbright-Hays Act, to reauthorize and strengthen the Fulbright Program. This Act also created Fulbright-Hays Awards, which are administered by the U.S. Department of Education. (www.fulbrightprogram.org/about/timeline/).

Today, there are over 400,000 Fulbright alums in more than 160 countries. (www.fulbright.org/about/). After doing more research on the Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS) website, the NNP, Fulbright websites, and other sources, I came across a few highlights that intrigued me the most about each figure.

Charles Hersh – raised in Union County, New Jersey (not too far from my current neck of the woods!) – graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Amherst College in 1946, earning his degree in history. He enrolled at Harvard Law School that fall but, after deciding that that course of study was not for him, switched to history and graduated with an M.A. in 1948. A Fulbright Scholarship gave him the opportunity to return to the UK, where he had served during World War II. He arrived aboard the Queen Mary in January 1950 and spent the next three and a half years at the British Museum in London, where he studied the Museum's coin collection. Hersh went on to publish widely in numismatic journals. A specialist in the coinages of the Macedonian kings and of the Roman republic, he also assisted students with projects on Roman and Greek coins during ANS summer seminars. ("Charles Hersh, Dead at 75," ANS Newsletter, Winter 1999, p. 13.).

     

Sydney Noe earned an M.A. from Rutgers University in 1913. While working part-time in the school's library, Noe classified a gift collection of coins. His fascination with numismatics was ignited! (numismatics.org). He was a librarian at the American Numismatic Society (ANS) from 1915 to 1938. Sydney also served as the ANS Secretary from 1917 to 1947, editor for the ANS from 1921 to 1945, and Chief Curator of the ANS from 1947 to 1953. As a Fulbright research fellow in the early 1950s, he studied ancient coinage at the Athenian Agora excavations in Greece. (Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan, "Fulbrighting in Post-WWII Greece (1952-1953), November 2, 2017 (nataliavogeikoff.com); see also "Excavations in the Athenian Agora: 1953," www.ascsa.edu.gr). As you might imagine from the above, he was an expert on ancient Greek coins; however, he also had expertise in colonial coins. ("Sydney P. Noe Dies; Authority on Coins," The New York Times, June 5, 1969). The author of works on Greek coin hoards and several important books on colonial numismatics, Noe received the Huntington Medal Award from the ANS in 1937. (NNP). In 1965, the ANS Council awarded Noe with a gold medal to honor his 50 years of service to the Society. (numismatics.org).

Peter Gaspar became the first subscriber to The E-Sylum in September 1998! As the years went by, he contributed numerous articles and comments to E-Sylum issues. Having earned his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1961, Gaspar taught chemistry on a Fulbright teaching fellowship in Lisbon in 1973. He served as a professor and, subsequently, professor emeritus of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. As a numismatist, he was passionate about early English coinage, the minting process and metallurgy. He served on the board of the ANS and made significant contributions to numismatic literature. In 1980, he won an American Numismatic Association (ANA) Heath Literary Award. ("Book Content: Peter Gaspar," The E-Sylum, Volume 22, Number 33, August 20, 2019).

Richard Doty earned his Ph.D. in Latin-American Studies from the University of Southern California in 1968. His Fulbright fellowship took him to the University of Madrid in 1964. (Steve Roach, "Smithsonian curator Richard G. Doty dies," Coin World, June 9, 2013). Doty served as curator of Modern Coins and Currency at the ANS from 1974 to 1986, then became curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, a post which he held until his passing in 2013. Doty authored fourteen important numismatic books. (www.numismaticmall.com). In 2011, he won the Huntington Medal Award for Excellence in Numismatic Scholarship from the ANS. (www.coinworld.com).

     

Theodore Buttrey earned his Ph.D. degree from Princeton University in 1953 followed by a Fulbright in Rome. Years later, he became a visiting Fulbright professor at the University of Copenhagen in 1985. In the interim, he served as curator of the Yale University Numismatic Collection from 1957 to 1964, and from 1964 to 1985 as a professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. Following his Fulbright experience in Denmark, he worked as Keeper of Coins and Medals at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, from 1988 to 1991. Over his lifetime, Buttrey received medals from the American, Royal, Austrian and Norwegian numismatic societies. ("Ted Buttrey Obituary (1929-2018) – Austin, TX – Ann Arbor News) (obits.mlive.com).

     

Steve Feller, a professor of physics at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earned his Ph.D. at Brown University in 1979. In a recent email exchange with me, he explained that in 1996, he had a seven-month Fulbright at Reading University and the Rutherford-Appleton laboratory in the UK. There, Feller studied the physics of glass with Dr. Adrian Wright using neutron scattering. He also gave several talks to numismatic and civil groups, including the Reading Coin Club and the Young at Hearts in Reading. At the time, Steve served as editor of the International Bank Note Society Journal, and his stint abroad enabled him to speak at IBNS gatherings in London and Nottingham. In our email exchange, Steve described visiting great dealers and shops in the UK, including Colin and Simon Narbeth in London, Claire and Richard Lobel at Coincraft in London, Pam West in Wimbleton, the coin shop in Reading, and more. In addition, he went to the Bank of England Museum on Threadneedle Street in London. (Email from Steve Feller, August 15, 2025). Outside of his academic field, Feller has published several books and over 100 articles pertaining to the history of money. (www.coe.edu).

Madisen Caster graduated with a B.A. in history from the University of North Texas (UNT) in 2018. Two years later, she received a Fulbright award to complete her Masters in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, England. Her M.A. thesis focused on collection management and museum accessibility. Today, Caster works as an Ancient Numismatics Specialist with Heritage Auctions. In a recent email exchange, she shared with me that her studies in the UK provided her with foundational understandings that assist with her work in numismatics. She also wrote that each day at Heritage, she learns more about ancient history, handles artifacts, and interacts with colleagues and clients from all over the globe! She went on to note the networking opportunities that her Fulbright award has provided, including through the US-UK Fulbright Commission's alumni activities. In that respect, too, her numismatic interests and Fulbright experience have dovetailed, as she has taken part in UNT panels for Fulbright applicants and connected with professors and local alumni about chances to discuss ancient coins outside the Fulbright context. (Emails from Madisen Caster, August 19, 25 & 26, 2025).

As for me, I was shocked when informed that I had won the J. Jeffrey Semaan Arabic Prize at McGill University (Montreal) in 1992! Three years later (and still hard at work on my Arabic), I received a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Award for the University of Virginia-Yarmouk University Summer Arabic Program in Irbid, Jordan. Initially, I was listed as an alternate for a Fulbright. I received a phone call at 4:50 p.m., on the last day of eligibility with a 5:00 pm. deadline, telling me that another person had dropped out and that I could attend the program. I was so excited! After a fascinating summer overseas, I went on to earn my Ph.D. at McGill in 2000 and, between 1999 and 2019, I was a professor teaching courses on Islamic Studies and world religions. A highlight of my teaching career came in 2007 to 2008, when I served as visiting assistant professor of Islamic Studies at College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In hindsight, I realize that the Fulbright experience in Jordan (and, for that matter, my five-year study of Arabic on the whole), taught me perseverance and patience, which have proven invaluable in my numismatic pursuits. In particular, these traits conditioned me for the ups and downs of searching for coins that strike me as "just right" – for example, choice early American coppers and Conder tokens for my collection. They also came in handy when I was a coin club officer! Conducting research on the figures described above gave me a greater appreciation for their wide range of numismatic and Fulbright experiences. I hope that you have enjoyed learning about them as much as I did.

Note: This article is not meant to provide a complete list of individuals who are both Fulbright recipients and numismatists. Other Fulbrighters, not discussed here, also have numismatic connections.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Sue Zwicker, SLA Science Librarian at the Smithsonian, Katrina Brown, Head Librarian for the National Museum of American History Library at the Smithsonian, and Deborah Shapiro, Archivist (Reference) at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, for helping me search for the year Richard Doty had his Fulbright fellowship in Spain. This mystery was solved by David Hill, the Francis D. Campbell Librarian at the ANS! Hill also provided background information about Charles Hersh. Len Augsburger confirmed details about Peter Gaspar's Fulbright in Portugal. Thanks to Wayne Homren, who suggested that I write an article on this topic. Finally, I am grateful to Beth Christie Burke for her assistance with this article.

 

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