The American Numismatic Association has fully digitized its archive of The Numismatist magazines, completing a project that, in one sense, has been 127 years in the making.

The ANA teased the announcement in the days leading up to Dec. 1, when the trove of research went live. The national organization contracted with Walsworth Publishing Company, using Exact Edition to recreate the experience of viewing original issues of the magazine. 

For much of its life, The Numismatist has been published monthly, with some exceptions during the early years. That publication schedule, under the guidance of editors that in many cases are legends in the hobby, has generated more than 110,000 pages of content. But what takes up several dozen feet of shelf space is now accessible on a device that can be held in your hand. 

Current editor Barbara Gregory told Coin World, “ANA founder Dr. George F. Heath [who launched The Numismatist in 1888] would be proud and amazed to see 127 volumes of our flagship publication accessible to collectors at the touch of a button or two. The digitization project was truly a labor of love. The archives will be a great boon to editors, authors and researchers — and, of course, to the ANA staff as it prepares to celebrate the American Numismatic Association’s 125th anniversary in 2016.”

To access the digital archive, users register with their ANA member number, using an email address and password for logging in to view the editions.

The archive may be accessed by linking from the ANA website, money.org, to ExactEdition.com/print/numismatist, or by accessing the main ExactEdition.com website. 

Mobile version available

In addition, the Exact Edition app is available for smartphones and tablets, putting all 110,000 pages in the space of one page or less. 

Once inside the ExactEdition format, users will see the publication accessible decade-by-decade, with further access available to individual years within each decade.

Each year will launch a fresh screen showing the respective issues for that year, identified by the publication date.

Tools allow viewers to enlarge each page, clip content and even save individual pages as PDFs. A search bar allows text searches within the issue, and a search of all issues is available on the main page as well. A search for “Starck” revealed four results across a 43-year-period, in about one second.

Results are displayed with three elements: the cover image at left, the page image in the middle and an enlarged focus on the search term at right. 

Access of the digital archive is a free benefit of membership in the ANA. 

To learn more, visit the ANA website.