The NNP library, at the heart of our project is a growing database of all numismatic literature and documents we can digitize.
Rub shoulders with our huge database of numismatic figures from authors to Mint directors to coin designers.
A growing database of numismatic images contributed by collectors and institutional partners.
Newman Portal searches from the home page are exact text only. If you enter multiple words, it will search for that entire phrase.
If you wish to search for multiple terms all one page, but not in exact order, use the search form at https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/powersearchform. For example, if you wish to locate pages containing the words "Washington," "medal," "birth," and "centennial," enter the search:
ItemContent:Washington AND ItemContent:medal AND ItemContent:birth AND ItemContent:centennial
You can also use Google to search the Newman Portal site. From Google, enter, for example:
"washington medals" site:nnp.wustl.edu
Finally, you can search the Newman Portal document repository directly (https://archive.org/details/newmannumismatic), which, in some cases, will deliver additional results. On this page, check the box "Select text contents" before searching.
For additional assistance, please email us at NNPCurator@wustl.edu.
The tradition of displaying fireworks on Independence Day, July 4th, in the United States, is a long-standing one, dating back to the very first organized celebrations of the holiday in 1777. Founding Father John Adams foresaw such commemorations from the very beginning, writing to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776 “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
All this made us wonder if there is an American medal depicting fireworks. Newman Portal does not reveal such an example, through ironically our neighbors to the north placed a fireworks privy mark on the 1999-2000 Canadian Maple Leaf gold coins. The pieces were given a double date, with the privy mark denoting the new millennium.
The only other relevant mention we found was a 1712 Charles VI medal, from Nurnberg, whch depicts a fireworks display in honor of Charles VI on January 16, 1712. This example is ex. Newman III (Heritage Auctions, January 2014), lot 30555, where it realized $4,700.
Link to “fireworks” search results on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/searchwithterms?searchterm=fireworks
