NNP

William S. Baker (1825-1897) was a believer in the American hero George Washington and wrote three works that cataloged Washington memorials in the forms of engravings, medallic tributes, and character sketches. In Character Portraits of Washington Baker wrote “The character of Washington is a national possession…All Americans should study and venerate it.” Among numismatists, Baker’s Medallic Portraits of Washington (1885) is the best known and served as the standard collector’s guide for nearly a century. In recent years, the Washington medal series has been thoroughly reworked in Neil Musante’s masterpiece Medallic Washington (Spink, 2016). 

Link to William S. Baker works on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/booksbyauthor/195