Essays in Appreciation of His Life and Legacy

ANS Executive Director Leslie A. Elam and Harry Bass at ANS in 1983.

Harry's interest and concern for the Society's well-being resulted in his election as a Fellow, or voting member of the ANS, in 1971. The following year he was elected to the Society's governing Council, a natural consequence of his intimate knowledge of the organization, vision for its future, and great leadership qualities. ANS President Samuel R. Milbank appointed Harry a member of the Executive Committee concurrent with his election as a Councillor.

It was a busy period in the Society's history. The ANS was the lead partner, together with the Smithsonian Institution, preparing to host the International Numismatic Congress in September 1973, the only time that this body has met in the United States. In addition to scheduling concurrent sessions for the week-long congress with venues divided between New York and Washington, the ANS mounted a major new exhibition on "Coinage of the Americas," accompanied by a profusely illustrated catalogue edited by TV Buttrey. The Society's deci-sion to emphasize its strengths in Western Hemisphere numismatics, despite the fact that most foreign partic-ipants in the Congress knew the ANS for its great clas-sical and Isldmic collections, was not lost on Bass. From his earliest days as a Councillor, he championed the position that the Society had a responsibility for the promotion of studies in American numismatics. A decade later, that vision led to the inauguration of his grand plan for an annual Coinage of the Americas Conference, first held in 1984.

His commitment to the Society manifested itself early and generously. He brought to the Council, and its Finance Committee, to which he was appointed in 1974, the concept of "funds functioning as endow-ment," whereby his major gifts of the next five years were placed in the Society's pool of invested funds while remaining available as working capital if need-ed. Happily, those quasi-endowment contributions have remained and grown as part of the invested assets of the Society.

Bass enthusiastically shared the Council's approval of plans for celebrating the Bicentennial of our nation's founding with a major exhibition of "Money of the United States," including Colonial and Federal issues from the Society's holdings as well as loans from private collections, principally that of Eric P. Newman of St. Louis. A volume of Studies on Money of Early America, edited by Newman and ANS Curator Richard G. Doty, was also issued by the ANS in 1976. In Auaust 1977, robbers smashed exhibition cases and stole a substantial number of the American treasures on display. Happily, in less than one year, the perpetrator was apprehended and all the objects were recovered in good condition; due, in no small mea-sure, to the cooperation of the late David Sonderman, a dealer to whom a number of the coins were offered by the principal thief. This unhappy chapter conclud-ed on a high note, however, as Harry Bass represented the Society during ceremonies at the 1978 ANA Convention in Houston, presenting Mr. Sonderman a specially designed plaque on behalf of the ANS and a substantial reward from the insurance underwriters. Later that week, Harry served as Master of Ceremonies at the gala Awards Banquet marking the end of the ANA Convention.

In 1974, Harry was elected First Vice President of the ANS, and during the next sev-eral years found himself increasingly called upon to preside at Council meetings and public functions, substituting for the ailing President Sam Milbank. At the end of his 1977 term, Milbank decided not to seek reelection and Harry Bass was elected President of the ANS at the Annual Meeting held in January 1978. If Dallas and Vail were Harry's two homes, the suite at the Salisbury Hotel in New York now became a regular haunt. Harry devoted himself to the business and well-being of the ANS. And added an important new dimension.

By the waning months of 1978, key ANS staff members were in detailed discussions with computer consultants, introduced to the ANS by Bass, toward developing databases for the ANS col-lections, library, and services. Within a year, the hard-ware and software were in place at the ANS to begin the historic transition of the ANS from an institution that served those who came to it, to one that increas-ingly makes its resources universally known. The ini-tial project, development of the COINS database, has proceeded steadily over the intervening years and by mid-1998 contained over 550,000 highly detailed records of objects in the collection, available on the Internet.

One of Harry's proud moments early in his tenure was the agreement of the Council to his recommendation that Margo Russell be invited to join the Society's board. Elected in April 1979, Russell, Executive Editor of Coin World, the weekly newspa-per published by Amos Press, brought to the Society's Council the experience of twenty-five years' daily involvement in the scientific, professional, and col-lecting aspects of American numismatics. Fortunately, the ANS continues; today to benefit from her wisdom and insight.

The year 1979 also marked the beginning of the ANSNewsletter, now one of the most effective communication links between and among Society members. Issued quarterly, this publication played an important role in developing interest in and support for one of the great events in the Society's history, presided over by Harry Bass as President - the 125th Anniversary Celebration of the ANS in 1983.

Planning for the event had begun almost coincident with Bass's tenure as President and he was directly involved with all of its aspects, as was the Society's First Vice-President, Harry W. Fowler, then Chairman of Fiduciary Trust Company in New York. Together they provided the leadership that enabled the celebration in September 1983 to be both one of great moment and of lasting value.

Within the Society's building, the occasion was marked by the grand opening of a completely new permanent exhibition, "The World of Money," employing the latest concepts in museum display design and lighting, and presenting the history and evolution of coins and currency based on modem numismatic research. Organized by ANS curators Michael L. Bates and William E. Metcalf, the success of this major undertaking owed to the efforts of all members of the Society's professional staff as well as exhibit design and fabrication companies with whom the staff worked, and to the Society's Council, which raised the large sums of money necessary. A bronze tablet set at the entrance to the Society's West Gallery pays tribute to the many individuals and firms that financed this exciting project.

In keeping with the Society research mission, the celebration included an international symposium, held in the lecture hall of the American Academy of Arts and Letters located adjacent to the ANS in the Audubon Terrace Museum Complex. Preceding the conference, greetings were presented by representatives of leading sister institutions in the discipline, both of this country and abroad. It was here also that President Bass, in a Keynote Address, presented his vision for an American Numismatic Society known more widely, appreciated for its great resources and consulted more frequently by a larger audience, attracting visitors to its door and to its new exhibition hall, while also seeking opportunities to reach out to a broader public. He spoke of computers as a necessary tool in the Society's efforts; of the value in hosting gatherings at various academic meetings where past and future Graduate Seminar students will be in attendance and having a presence at large coin conventions to make the ANS better known to the collecting fraternity - and his grand view.

Harry had a simple idea, that each year the ANS host a conference on a specific theme in Western Hemisphere numismatics, with emphasis on the money and monetary history of our own country. He committed the ANS to bring together academics, independent researchers, collectors and the public, to hear papers and share information on topics deliberately narrowly defined in order to encourage attendance and participation by those interested in the subject and enable generalists to become familiar with the discussion over the course of the conference. He envisioned a Proceedings volume as the permanent record of each Program. Exhibitions on the theme would round out the experience, both from the Society's cabinet and by invitation to individuals to display their collections at the ANS for the education and enjoyment of others. From this vision, the Society's "Coinage of the Americas Conference," or COAC as it is popularly known, was born. field each year since 1984, COAC has proven a valuable centerpiece in the Society's educational outreach program. As anticipated by Bass, the Papers presented each year are brought together in book form and already comprise an important body of Published research now commonly referenced by students of American history and coinage.

ANS 125th Anniversary Medal

The medal struck to commemorate the Society's 125th Anniversary was one of Harry's favorites. The Society's Committee on Medals invited several prorninent artists to compete for the commission to sculpt the anniversary medal; their entries were presented to the Council for consideration at a special meeting. Bass argued forcefully and convincingly for the concept submitted by artist Marcel Jovine depicting machines related to the coining process on the reverse, together with the inscription, while on the obverse of the rather large rectangular medal the kneeling figure of "the minter" is superimposed on an array of coin images from various periods and regions. Happily, the Council agreed with Harry that the medal enables the viewer to "hold history in one's hand," and indeed, this much-acclaimed medal has come to symbolize the transition from past to future that 1983 truly was.

The anniversary was celebrated in yet another tribute of lasting importance. In an extremely generous gift in kind, Coin World, a division of Amos Press in Sidney, Ohio, cooperated with the ANS to publish a special Supplement in September 1983, devoted to the Society and its 125th Anniversary. Printed on special paper stock, this "paper in a paper" brought together a number of numismatic research articles solicited from prominent Society members interspersed with reporting on the Society's history, personnel, collections, library, programs and projects, all brought together as a lasting snapshot of the ANS at this point in its history by Editor Margo Russell and her staff.

Lastly, few of those fortunate to be in attendance will ever forget the lovely evening hosted by Doris and HarTy Bass at the famous "Windows on the World," atop New York's World Trade Center, bringing the Society's Council, staff and close friends together to extend thanks and enjoy mutually the satisfaction of a job well done. In character, the man to whom so much was owed, gave to every member of the "team" a gift unique to the occasion and circumstances. Harry had commissioned the famous; Murano glass foundry of Venice to craft for him specially designed figurines of a stylized Athenian owl, symbolic of the ANS's own core classical tradition. This limited edition work of art is, for the fortunate recipients, a prized treasure and very personal memento.

In April of the following year, Bass announced his mid-term resignation as ANS President, effective as of the July 20, 1984 Council Meeting. We were to learn later that events totally separate from the ANS precipitated the decision which followed directly on his resignation as Chairman of Vail Associates. He was accurate in noting that the ANS presidency placed heavy demands on his time. To Harry's great credit, during his almost seven years as President, he rarely missed a meeting of the Society's Council, its Executive or Finance Committees, was always well prepared to discuss the agenda and new business that came before the bodies, and willingly made himself available to preside over ANS-sponsored public meetings and social activities, lending grace and dignity, touched with wholesome good humor, to these numerous events. He also remained true to the assurance given the Council that while he sought to have less direct responsibility for the affairs of the Society, he would nevertheless remain an active and interested member of its governing body.


When Harry announced his resignation at the April meeing, he noted that one of the factors in his decision was the knowledge that Harry Fowler was available to succeed him. Each an inspiring leader in his own right, the two enjoyed working together on Society business and had become personal friends as well. As President pro-tem, Fowler took pleasure in presiding over a tribute to Bass at the Society's October 1984 public meeting. Prior to presenting Harry Bass with the Society's Gold Medal, engraved to record his term of office, Fowler summarized Bass's service to the Society and numismatics in his various capacities, and concluded presciently, "Harry Bass's years as President are important for another significant attribute - he has been the spokesman for the Society to a wider audience, articulating the objectives of the ANS while helping to shape this organization to serve an enlarging circle of patrons. This period has, in the history of the Society, truly been the Bass years."

While remaining interested and involved in Society governance, Harry Bass focused attention in the years that followed on computer-related advances at the ANS and on its library. Nevertheless, when in 1990, the premier collection of Paraguayan coinage was offered to the ANS, he was unhesitating in his decision to fund the acquisition. The addition of the collection of 201 coins formed by Howard Herz dwarfed the Society's previous Paraguay cabinet of 27 objects. Reporting the Society's good fortune, ANS Curator John Kleeberg noted that the purchase was "no mere assemblage of valuable objects, but a serious scholarly achievement which illuminates the history of what has hitherto been one of the darkest corners of the South American continent."

Bass joined the ANS Library Committee in 1968, reflecting his interest in and commitment to the Society's library almost from his inception as a member. From 1980 until his death he served as its Chairman and, in numerous ways, as its chief benefactor. From small ad hoc gifts in support of improvements and of the binding program, he went on to endow the Bass Library Fund for acquisitions and other purposes; to encourage acquisition of - and finance - the Spacesaver shelving units installed in both the east and west library reading rooms during the early 1980s, permitting a greater portion of the collection to be immediately available to readers while also allowing the staff to control access to individual shelving units housing rare and fragile items. This latter was of great concern to Bass since he was at the time acquiring his outstanding personal library, making him aware of the escalating value of rare books and other print materials in numismatics. As significant collections became available at auction, Bass cooperated with the Society's Librarian in assessing opportunities to improve the collection. With unparalleled generosity, Bass provided the lead gifts, augmented by those of other interested Society members, that permitted the ANS to acquire many very important items in the sale of the Armand Champa library over three auctions through 1995. Details of these outstanding additions to the ANS Library have been reported by the Librarian in the 1995 and 1996 ANS Annual Reports.

In 1997, Bass's ambition, shared by one and all, to convert the Society's library catalogue to machine readable format, began to be realized. A highly specialized collection, the library has not lent itself to standard computerized cataloguing software, necessitating the development of appropriate applications software for the purpose, a task completed successfully this past year. In place at the ANS are two key elements presaging a successful conversion and an extremely valuable result. First is that the library staff has traditionally and conscientiously catalogued all titles in detail, including articles in journals and compilations, not relying at any point on finder guides. Second is the five-year project overseen by the Society's Librarian that created a specialized authority file of numismatic subject terms, and the subsequent emending of the Society's catalogue cards to reflect this subject discipline and arrangement. In late 1997, a contract was signed with Gaylord Information Systems to begin the conversion; by early 1998, the first few thousand records were up on the Library server, available for HarTy to peruse with the Society's Librarian and software consultant. All agreed that the Libr 's new era had begun auspiciously- Harry was already looking to the day when the ANS catalogue would be available on the Internet.

Mounting searchable databases of the ANS collections and library on the Internet were only the latest manifestation of Harry's compelling interest in advancing the role of computers in Society operations. BY 1984, he became convinced that the Society ought to adopt a single standard for its overall computer development - Microsoft- based, IBM-compatible PCs, linked through peer-to-peer local area networks, and with rules and procedures for accessing the various databases. The COINS database, begun in 1979 on a Prime minicomputer running on a Pick system, was converted in the early 1990s to a PC-based Revelation system, following detailed study of various options by Harry, the Society's consultant Skip Hill, and ANS staff members. The fledgling library database is running on the same platform; its earlier developmental software, including the authority file, having also been converted from the Prime computer.

PCs to run business and membership functions began arriving in late 1984 and with them began also an intense effort by Harry to develop highly refined software applications based on Microrim's R:Base relational database system. He was to become an expert programmer and, at his death, administered the on-line listserve for R:Base consultants and software specialists. By mid-1985, the Society's membership records had been converted to Harry's application software, the refinement of which continues unabated. The underlying, elegantly simple structure has remained virtually unchanged, a credit to his careful preparation and attention to detail in analyzing the use and purpose of the database before committing to a course of action.

Almost immediately, fund-raising related application software was added through Harry's efforts. In 1985 the ANS launched its ambitious Development Campaign, chaired by its President, Harry Fowler. The public campaign opened in 1986 and concluded successfully in 1989 with a total of $4 million raised to strengthen the Society's general endowment, establish a capital fund to support the Margaret Thompson Curator of Greek Coins, create the Eric P. Newman Education Fund in support of the Society's Graduate Seminar program, and fund interior building renova-tions of coin rooms, curatorial offices, and the East Hall which now serves as a multipurpose lecture hall and exhibition gallery. In addition to a leadership con-tribution in support of the goals of the campaign, Bass worked long hours to provide application programs and report capabilities that enabled ANS staff to enter and track pledges, report the progress of the overall campaign and its component special fund goals, as well as analyze target objectives, such as donors per giving levels and membership categories. The Society was successful in receiving an NEH Challenge Grant for the campaign, to be matched 3:1 by donors who specified that their gifts were to be used for matching purposes. Bass provided the programs to track and report that important aspect of the campaign as well. At the conclusion of the campaign, all these efforts were adaptable to other general and specific uses in maintaining giving records at the ANS.

The greatest "learning-curve" challenge that ANS business office needs presented to Harry was the development of a financial records system. The ANS uses fund accounting, commingling its moneys for investment and banking purposes, but maintaining each of its fifty-plus designated purpose funds separate on the books as self-balancing accounts. To understand this concept well enough to take the lead in developing the necessary applications compelled Harry to brush up on or, indeed, to learn anew, theory and practice of the chart of accounts system, the more sophisticated aspects of double-entry accounting as it applies to transfers among accounts, and integration of bookkeeping entries and accounting record and report systems. It was a heady experience for all concerned, particularly when Harry decided the only way to succeed was to camp out at the ANS until it worked. Particularly during stretches in 1988, he was checked into the Salisbury Hotel for weeks at a time and often never left the Society, preferring to work through the night toward solving a problem or achieving an objective.

That the entire exercise was inefficient is without doubt. The value of what we learned about our own record keeping; what we learned that we could and should be doing; what we gained in terms of a useable, adaptable, efficient system, integrated with our membership and development programs, cannot be underestimated. What we learned about the will, sheer determination, intelligence and work ethics of a singular individual can never be forgotten. While the ANS staff has made great strides in maintaining and updating the several computer systems now in operation, it remained a source of some comfort knowing that Harry was ever there, both as a personal resource and as a sympathetic and generous supporter of the Society's needs and desires.

While he had the patience to deal in details, Harry never lost the broad view of the ANS. As the Society's Council and administration debated the mission of the organization, looking to the new millennium, Harry was at the center of the discussion and heartily endorsed the ultimate decision to seek a new home at a location within New York more conducive to the Society's goals to serve a wider audience and attract the general public to come to know and appreciate the Society's great treasures. Tied to the Society's forward-looking mission was the need to reorganize the administrative functions of the Society, in place for many years. In 1995, ANS President Arthur Houghton created a Governance Comniittee to which Bass was appointed. The committee, in turn, fostered an in-depth self-assessment of all ANS departments, activities, and objectives, based on a forceful presentation made to the committee by Harry, coupled with his offer to fund the effort. The formal assessment was carried out during the first six months of 1997, utilizing the Museum Assessment Plan of the American Association of Museums and the services of consultants made available to the ANS by the National Executive Services Corps. All members of the Society's Council and professional staff took part in the assessment study which culminated in a full-day retreat workshop attended by the Council, senior staff, and consultants. Bass was an active participant in all phases of the study and in the workshop, via computer and conference phone links. This serious effort to clarify the Society's governance structure and to provide guidance for the development and direction of future endeavors succeeded on many levels. Of immediate consequence, the position of Executive Director was created, and ANS Director Leslie A. Elam was appointed to the new position. Provision was made for a new position of Assistant Director; following an extensive search, Ute Wartenberg was invited to join the staff in this capacity as of July 1, 1998. Of importance also, the decision to move the Society was confirmed and continues to be an important objective for the Society. Many of the longer term ,goals and objectives arrived at through the self-assessment study rely for their adoption on the Society's successful relocation. Toward this objective, Harry Bass pledged his generous support.