Currency, Culture, and the Ron D’Argenio Collection of Coins

This project showcases selected coins for display at the Walsh Gallery and Alberto Institute talk on September 19, 2022.

From Classics, History, and Data Visualization, methods in the Digital Humanities contribute to producing inclusive, diverse, and global views regarding coins as cultural objects.

I collected information on coinage dating back to Greek city-states, the Roman Republic and Empire, and the Byzantine Empire. The dataset is available online here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10z0CYdfEiQklHDwvwHLKDOm81zHHzk0I

Ron D’Argenio donated this collection — which portrays the arc of European history from the Greek city-states to the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Roman Republic and Empire, and the Byzantine Empire — to Seton Hall in 2001.

This project has the following objectives:

• Showing the interconnectedness of collections within a university-based Gallery and Special Collection environment.  
• Opening up horizons for students and scholars to see that research questions are, in fact, shaped by the repositories we consult. 
• Promoting collaboration in the humanities. 
• Engaging prospective donors to understand the type of work that can happen in a versatile university library, in close cooperation with a gallery.