Brenna Wade pointed out a coin on the computer screen. It looked unremarkable to the untrained eye. The ‘Satirical Napoleon,’ part of the extensive Alwin C. Carus coin collection, is actually an elaborate lampoon, a tiny and tangible holdover from the culture that produced it.
“The helmet is Prussian,” Wade said, explaining that Napoleon III had lost to the Prussians during a battle in Sedan around the time the coin was minted. The coin depicts Napoleon III smoking a cigarette with a chain collar around his neck. On the collar is inscribed ‘SEDAN.’
Wade is a technical service librarian for Hillsdale College and was curator of the Alwin C. Carus coin collection during the 2008-09 school year. Her primary task as curator was to research and catalog the coins. Senior Julia Kilgore, recently hired by the college as the full-time coordinator for the Carus collection, hopes not only to expand the collection itself but to get more Hillsdale students to take advantage of its vast historical resources — satire included.
“We have small exhibitions in the Heritage Room,” Kilgore said. “We currently have the Great Britain collection on display, but we have over 500 coins. We have Arabic coinage, Russian, German.”
Her love for museum studies and education will be put to use in her new position as curator and educator.
“I have always been fascinated with culture and the act of narrating,” Kilgore said. “I love showing people physically what history is. It’s a connection between theory and fact.”
Kilgore has been working with the collection since 2012, helping to finish cataloging the coins. According to Dan Knoch, Library Director, she was a natural fit.
“She was interested in archives and special collections,” Knoch said. “What we want [for the collection] is to expand its use. We want to promote it, reach out to the faculty, and enhance the website catalog. These are all things that Julia will be working on.”
The collection first came to Hillsdale in 2005 as a gift from its namesake, Alwin Carus. Kenneth Calvert, headmaster of Hillsdale Academy, was involved in its acquisition and remains involved with its curation today. The collection is extensive and the philosophy behind its formation unique.
“Carus’s vision was not necessarily to collect the most valuable coins,” Calvert said, “but to collect coins representative of a broad, comprehensive historical range. He wanted to find a college where the coin collection wasn’t going to be used for any purpose but for education. He didn’t want it sold.”
The collection is complementary to Hillsdale’s philosophy as an institution, seeking to encompass the high points of the Western tradition.
“What he was interested in were coins that represented the most important parts of history,” Calvert said. “Most of the coins are from Western history specifically.”
Wade also said that the collection was “very special.”
“Most collectors collect narrow and deep,” Wade said. “This collection is very broad, if slightly shallow. It basically touches upon every aspect of history.”
While the coins have intrinsic historical and monetary value, the collection is worth more than that. Through currency, it captures the way a people represented themselves. It is a tangible connection with a culture long gone.
“Coins tell us a huge part about the society they came from,” Calvert said. “Religion, politics, economy – it’s all in the coins. You can even see the transition from free societies to monarchies on coinage. The symbols a nation uses to represent itself will show up on their currency.”
As coordinator, Kilgore’s task is to communicate the history held within the Carus collection.
Her first order of business? Open a new display.
According to Kilgore, the exhibit will open in the Heritage Room on May 1st and will focus primarily on Hellenistic Greek coinage.
