Blog: What I Learned at Coin Camp

Patricia Hatcher reflects on her interdisciplinary studies during the American Numismatic Society’s summer graduate seminar. The ANS taught skills to succeed in academia and unsuspectingly showcased alternative careers for those studying the ancient world.

Five years ago, the SCS blog published a series of posts on “Addressing the Divide,” wherein each of the invited authors delved into the split between Classics and Art History, Archaeology, Biblical Studies, or Ancient Near Eastern Studies. What I find interesting is the overlap in sentiments concerning the culpability of Classics generally— and philology specifically— when trying to pinpoint the reasons why separate silos of study exist. The gatekeeping posed by Greek and Latin language requirements has been a consistent thorn in the side of potential overlap among fields, which all four authors mention (among a variety of other factors). Each of the contributors also put forth possible paths to help bridge the divide. I encourage everyone to go and read those posts for some excellent ideas on how to promote interdisciplinary discourse within departments and classrooms.

As a Classics graduate student, I started on the philology track but transitioned to the ancient history one. I felt too hampered by only reading texts; I experienced a broader narrative by reading texts against the historical record. But this too soon became unsatisfactory, because my scholarship still wasn’t fully fleshed out. How can we have a complete picture if we are only looking at part of the evidence? The conversation of five years ago is very pertinent for my own studies now.

My own department is actively creating new avenues by which its students can study the ancient world; however, it is still bound by the bureaucracy of, and the money given by, the larger graduate school. To move along the interdisciplinary path a little faster, students need to remember that we, as students, have more wiggle room. We do not necessarily have to wait for the bureaucratic stars to align. Though bound to our own department, we are often free agents in our ability to take courses in other programs. Even more fruitful, at least from my experience, has been the various summer programs that immerse participants in the material world of the past. Last summer (2023), I was fortunate enough to attend the eight-week long Eric P. Newman Graduate Seminar in Numismatics at the American Numismatic Society (ANS). The ANS is, at its core, a research museum dedicated to educating students of all ages and backgrounds about coins. Its summer program accomplishes what Classics departments everywhere strive for: an interdisciplinary approach to the material. The overview of the seminar for potential applicants “addresses the divide:”

For over half a century the American Numismatic Society, a museum of coins, money and economic history, has offered select graduate students and junior faculty the opportunity to work hands-on with one of the world‘s preeminent numismatic collections. With over three-quarters of a million objects, ANS’s collection is particularly strong in Greek, Roman, Islamic, and Far Eastern coinages, as well as medallic art. The rigorous eight-week course taught by the curatorial and research staff, guest lecturers and a visiting scholar introduces students to the methods, theories and history of the discipline. The seminar is meant primarily for those with limited or no numismatic background in order to familiarize students of (art) history, textual studies, and archaeology with a body of evidence that is often overlooked and poorly understood.

The ANS was not only helpful in further preparing me for the Academy, but it also provided a vision of what alternative academic career pathways might look like. Their summer seminar hit all the notes.

Let’s start with the graduate student participants. Our cohort was an interdisciplinary dream team: two Roman historians; a South Asian art historian and archaeologist; an Archaic and Classical Greece historian; a Sasanian Ērānšahr and broader late antique Iranian historian; a Ptolemaic Egypt, Hasmonean, and Herodian Judea historian; an archaeological scientist; and an historian specializing in ancient economies. We were open about our own gaps in knowledge when it came to each others’ areas of expertise, and everyone was patient and informative as they answered questions. The information exchange went both ways as deeper conversations developed around our scholarly overlap. For example, I had so many questions about Allen Kendall’s work on the coins of Ptolemaic queens. At first, they were more fact-based inquiries. As I got more confident in my own knowledge, I was able to instead base questions on my own understanding of the early dynasty. This seemed to happen to each of us as the weeks progressed, and it’s when the real conversations between disciplines happened.

This environment of comfortable intellectual exchange was fostered by our fearless leader, seminar director Peter van Alfen. A philologist, nautical archaeologist, and numismatist, he is the goal personified for bridging the divide between Classics and other disciplines. The seminar lessons reflect a similarly varied assortment of topics: stylistic analysis, die studies, metrology and weight standards, Roman provincial coinage, Islamic coinage, and ANS history and archives. No prior knowledge was ever assumed. Each one-and-a-half hour lesson was a deep dive that left us with a solid foundation of understanding along with resources to grow that foundation if we were so inclined. And there were coins to touch and hold and turn and compare! Our studies weren’t just theoretical; we saw immediate application for most areas introduced to us.

The ANS was adept at introducing scholarly areas that aren’t often covered in Classics courses and careers in academia that don’t revolve around teaching. Though the lessons given in the following areas focus on coins, they can easily be applied to other fields of study concerning the ancient world.

Publishing — one session was spent on the ins-and-outs of publishing. For graduate students, this can seem like a daunting and murky process. Andrew Reinhard walked us through certain legalities to consider, how to pitch an article, article length, funding for publication, and formatting guidelines. Yes, every journal or magazine will have different parameters, but by using the American Journal of Numismatics as an example, we left feeling more confident about what was important to consider. Amazingly, Andrew also covered what it means for scholarship to be Open Access, along with the different access levels. Pro tip: get yourself an Orcid (Open Researcher and Contributor) ID.

Photography — Alan Roche gave an art and science lesson all in one when he taught us how to photograph coins. The Director of Photography set up his light box in the lecture room and demonstrated the best practices of taking pictures with a digital camera; he immediately showed us how to use Photoshop to edit the image. For those times you might be in a museum without a professional light box, Alan also covered how to best take photos using natural light and an iPhone.

Data Science — this session was the most math- and science-driven of the lessons. Director of Data Science Ethan Gruber explained the databases available for numismatic study along with special features for research. His cautions about skewed data were eye-opening and a reminder that even in our digital age, we don’t have all the information. For example, in 1996 the United Kingdom founded the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). The PAS encourages anyone who finds an object of historical interest to report it; the key is that after the information is gathered by authorities, the object(s) are returned to the finder. Since its inception, the PAS has led to an incredible outpouring of data; 1.4 million objects have thus far been recorded, according to the British Museum. Roman numismatic evidence has grown exponentially in Great Britain, but the evidence has also skewed any inferences that might be drawn from the worldwide data pool. Other countries don’t incentivize reporting finds, and so the data is less robust in other areas.

History of the ANS — ANS librarian David Hill introduced us to the library facilities on our first day. Later in the program, he covered the history of the ANS and its archives. David’s lesson reminded us that yet another avenue of interacting with the past is to research and preserve the work of those who have come before. The American School of Classical Studies fosters research of its former affiliates and benefactors, as do other programs. To some Classicists, perhaps this kind of archival research seems too “modern,” but the study of the field and our predecessors is important.

Legal and Ethical Issues — perhaps one of the more surprising lessons came from Nathan Elkins, the Deputy Director. If you’ve read in the news about authorities busting those who illegally traffic ancient artifacts, then you’ve got an idea of what Nathan discussed. There are careers for those trained in artifacts of the ancient world who are also interested in art crime, and the opportunities go beyond the legalities of repatriation and cultural heritage. From airports to district attorney offices, the possible areas of work for classicists, archaeologists, art historians, etc blew my mind. So many alternative academic jobs!

The ANS took students on a deep dive of coins through the ages and how to approach their study. Each of the seminar leaders helped us to understand areas of academia that coursework doesn’t usually cover, all while showcasing an interdisciplinary approach that could be applied beyond numismatics. Even more, however, they taught by example how we are not in graduate school for the sole purpose of attaining degrees to then join others in the pursuit of teaching positions. Other careers (exciting ones!) also exist in publishing, photography, digital humanities/data science, or archival work. These alternative academic jobs are why it's so important for graduate students to experience a bridging of the divide among disciplines: with more tools comes greater opportunities. Of course, some of the resources available to a research museum will be unavailable to others; however, the ANS in many ways has designed a blueprint for others to use and adjust as needed.The summer seminar at the American Numismatic Society is an exemplar of how to create a professional studies environment, especially for Classics graduate programs, to help prepare students for a world that demands interdisciplinary connections. Until that time when budgets and opportunities are provided in full to these programs, Classics students have the ANS to help expand the discipline.