NNP Blog

4 DECEMBER 2021

Eric P. Newman Research Files on Missouri Paper Money

Numismatic researchers tend to collect much more information than they will ever publish, and Eric Newman was no exception. Newman collected information on Missouri paper money beginning in the 1930s, and his files on the subject represent his first foray into original research. The papers show Newman working toward what would have been the standard work on the subject, but this was not to be, so busy was Newman making new discoveries in other areas of numismatics. The Missouri files are particularly exciting in that they show Eric, only his in 20s, doing, exceptional work. He studies the legislative history, digs though old newspapers, and visits other collections, in this case preparing a catalog of the Chase National Bank collection in 1934. Newman’s extensive annotations to D. C. Wismer’s 1928 article in the Numismatist are here, as well as the draft of an article Newman never published, “Missouri Laws Regulating Circulating Money.”  One finds also the text of a radio address delivered by Newman on August 13, 1939 (Newman appeared on St. Louis local radio at least twice in the 1930s discussing matters numismatic).Link to Newman research files on Missouri paper money: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/532241