British Museum Open To Collectors And Ideas

World Coin News Article:http://www.worldcoinnews.net/Defaul...1783Articles

British Museum open to collectors and ideas


By Doug Andrews




By Doug Andrews



The spectacular breadth of The British Museum's numismatic holdings, spanning 28 centuries and covering every corner of the globe, seems surpassed only by the openness of its staff and their willingness to attract students and professionals whose interests may range from ancient to modern coins.



Dr. Catherine Eagleton, Curator of Modern Numismatics, says their holdings in the Coins and Medals Department run to more than 900,000 items out of a total of 7 million artifacts in the entire institution. The department currently has 12 curators, an equal number of other staff, and usually has two or more interns, rotating on a part-time basis.



Eagleton indicated in an exclusive interview with World Coin News that her goal is to see large portions of the collection, and eventually their entire holdings, available for viewing online. Digitally imaging the entire inventory is an ambitious task, made all the more challenging by the fact that it is constantly growing with donations, bequests and loans.



But online access is only one of the means Eagleton and her colleagues are relying on to reach out to numismatists and the community at large. She says the museum aims to present numismatics  not as simply coins, medals and bank notes, but to convey how money relates to people.



"Our goal is to help the public view money as a wider social and cultural phenomenon," she said...