YN's Come Together - Young Numismatists of America
kieferscoins
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The Young Numismatists of America www.ynaclub.org was re-founded last year after a two year lapse in leadership. Originally started in 1990, our goal is to get YN's around the country to have a quarterly newsletter dedicated entirely to them, and give a voice for the younger collectors. "The Numismatist" has a YN supplement, but many YNs feel this does not represent them.
Within the last year the club has gotten back off the ground floor and I have taken over the editorial position for the newsletter. The Fall, 2002 issue has come back from the printer and if any board members close to YN status would like to receive four free issues (a years worth) of "The Young Numismatist", our quarterly newsletter, send me a pm. Clubs and YN advisors are also welcome.
Cameron Kiefer
Within the last year the club has gotten back off the ground floor and I have taken over the editorial position for the newsletter. The Fall, 2002 issue has come back from the printer and if any board members close to YN status would like to receive four free issues (a years worth) of "The Young Numismatist", our quarterly newsletter, send me a pm. Clubs and YN advisors are also welcome.
Cameron Kiefer
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Cameron Kiefer
OFFICERS: Jariel Bortnick - President, Nathan Austin – Vice-President, Ben Keele - Treasurer, David Cooper – Web Designer, Cameron Kiefer – Historian/Editor
Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of the Young Numismatist, the official newsletter of the Young Numismatists of America.
A lot has happened in the last month and it is all for the better. Within the last year one newsletter has been produced and mailed to the members. What did we accomplish? How did we help young numismatists across the U.S.? You will have to answer that question, but I know that we can do better. Because of this, I volunteered at the 2002 ANA Summer Seminar to take over the reign of editor and get a good newsletter out on time and do it four times a year. The blame is not on our last editor as he did the best job he could do, but is more on all of us. We nearly let the club die out (for a third or fourth time in YNA history). The lack of a newsletter helped make this state come about. This year will be different though, and with everyone’s help, and participation in the club, YNA will get off the ground floor and become a club of choice among YN’s.
Articles, short stories and the like are always appreciated and can be sent to the address on the back page. Although the pay is low ($0), the joy of having an article published where hundreds of your peers can read it is high. Several additions have been added in this newsletter including member comments, and an essay contest. Hopefully they will add to the newsletter and become a regular feature. Ben Keele submitted a great article on numismatic publishing and the survival of organizations. Take a few minutes and read it. Not only does it deal with our club, but will all clubs. A newsletter coming out on time and containing articles interesting to its readers is essential. Until next time, happy collecting. Cameron Kiefer
Members Comments
In this section I would like to post messages sent in by mail and e-mail to the club. Let everybody know how you are doing and what is on your mind with YNA. It can be positive or negative. Any suggestions for the newsletter? What can we do to improve upon it?
From the President
Well, this is the official 1st Year Anniversary of the new and improved YNA, and what a year it has been! From its conception at last year's ANA Summer Seminar, YNA has grown by leaps and bounds. Our officers have been working diligently along with the membership, and we now have a quarterly newsletter, a great webpage with a member forum, and we look forward to adding more in the next few months.
On that same note, I urge all of you guys to become more actively involved in YNA and its continued growth. Nominate yourself for a board position, apply for a YNA Liaison position (one YN from every state), and recruit other YN's to our organization. Taking on a leadership role in this organization is something that will greatly benefit anyone and everyone who applies themselves. If you are interested in learning more about how to do this, feel free to contact me at shaft757@aol.com.
Lastly, I wish everyone continued success in this upcoming year, whether it is in high school, college, or the professional world. Stay true to yourself, and stay with YNA!
-Jariel Bortnick
YNA President
Feature Article
Numismatic Publishing and the Survival of Organizations
By: Ben Keele
When the Young Numismatists of America was founded in the early 1990s, one of its primary drives was the creation of a forum for publishing the work of young numismatists. While I do not think that numismatic publications are inaccessible to YNs (in fact, I feel the numismatic press is open to papers from all ages), the fact that the YNA first strove to make a publication illustrates that publishing is the lifeblood of numismatic organizations.
Upon of examining all the numismatic organizations of which I am aware, I note that virtually all of them have a relatively regularly issued, official publication. The only exceptions to this observation are small local coin clubs that meet regularly. The reason for this phenomenon is that publishing is the central means to attain two interrelated goals that are universal to all numismatic communities. The first goal is facilitating camaraderie and social fulfillment within a group, in our case, numismatists. The second goal is expanding and deepening the hobby by distributing knowledge and data among interested parties. The goals are interdependent because if collectors do not make friends they will probably not collaborate on research projects and working on research projects often lead collectors to become friends.
Publishing, or the dissemination of information, usually in the form of text and illustration like diagrams, charts, or photographs, is one of the most efficient methods of achieving these two goals. This essay, once published in The Young Numismatist, will probably reach over 100 people. Over 20,000 people around the world can read a paper appearing in The Numismatist. Mass communication lets one person speak to more people than she could ever in her lifetime. Also, printing is affordable to almost any group of determined collectors.
The sharing of ideas that takes place in every issue of a numismatic publication makes us both smarter and friendlier. For example, I publish a paper about my collection of Lincoln cents. Another collector reads the paper and learns something he had not known before. He writes me and strikes up a correspondence that eventually leads to us becoming numismatic colleagues and allies. While this does not happen to everyone, my introduction to numismatics was mostly through The Numismatist, and I learned who was who in those pages.
Given the enormous influence publishing has on members of a society, it is self-evident that a society without any regular means of communication will perish. If nothing binds the members together, they will drift apart into numismatic oblivion. The prospect of fresh numismatic thought and information is an additional incentive to initiate or maintain membership in an organization. If a club holds regular meetings, they may satisfy the members' needs. But publications also have the added bonuses of acting as a permanent record of the group's life and reaching members that may not attend every meeting.
Numismatic publishing has become even easier as the Internet has opened up new avenues of communication. Electronic publications, like the Numismatic Bibliomania Society's E-Sylum and the American Numismatic Association's Your Newsletter, have thrived in this age of online numismatists. Electronic periodicals are just as effective as their print counterparts and are extremely economical since they require no paper. Email transmission is instantaneous, allowing information to be spread out as soon as it is ready. The only major disadvantages of e-publications are the fact that not as many numismatists are computer-literate as those that can read magazines and that files on computers can be destroyed more easily than paper documents. While many copies of a journal would have to be incinerated to completely annihilate the information, a click of a mouse can trash a file and give the collective knowledge of mankind an instant case of amnesia.
What all this discussion leads to, of course, is the present newsletter the reader holds in his hands. The YNA has always existed for the most part in the form of a publication, first the Young Numismatist Digest and then the YNA News. Neither survived for more than a few years. The latest attempt to revive the YNA has manifested itself in The Young Numismatist. For present we have opted for a traditional, print format, but electronic publishing is always an option we can purse in the future. For now, though, the main task of the YNA is to set up a sustainable mode of communication between its members and the numismatic community at large. The main ingredient to a publication is thoughtful writing. One or two people simply cannot supply all the print necessary to keep such an operation alive. A large pool of contributors is critical to keep this period in the YNA's life from ending in failure.
Everyone likes seeing his or her name in print, and writing a paper for a numismatic publication is an ideal way to do it. We all have good ideas up in our heads; the trick is to convert them into text on paper. The Young Numismatist and all other numismatic publications keep our hobby alive by collecting knowledge and understanding from all and giving it to all. In this game, everybody wins.
YNA News
At the ANA Summer Seminar several YNA members got together and discussed the future of YNA. Sadly to say, several members just wanted to abolish the club and donate the bank account to the ANA YN fund. A general consensus was never reached, but talking later to Ben Keele I wanted to keep the club alive and volunteered to be the editor. YNA members that joined last year will receive the newsletters for another year to make up for the loss. YNA is re-joining the ANA and will have the same member number as previously. ANA is essential to helping us reach out to YN’s from around the country. As an ANA member they will be more willing to help our organization.
Call For Nominations
Last year officers were elected to serve a one year term while YNA was starting back up. The term of office is now coming to a close and we need all past officers and potential office seekers to submit in writing a small bio about yourself and reasons why YNA members should elect you to the position you seek. The YNA elected positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer and two Governors. (The editor is an appointed position). With the next newsletter the candidate bios will be published and a mail ballot form will be included with the newsletter. Terms of office are for two years. Serve YNA as an officer! YNA officer duties were included in the last newsletter under the terms of office section of the official bylaws. If you need a copy of the bylaws send me an e-mail or letter and I will mail one to you.
YNA History
By Cameron Kiefer – Historian
A continuing article on YNA history: When YNA was founded back in 1990, YN’s sought to produce a separate publication for YN’s after the ANA’s First Strike was reduced in size and incorporated in the monthly magazine The Numismatist.
YNA’s first publication came out in the Spring of 1991 and was titled “Young Numismatist Digest.” (Volume 1, Issue 1 edited by Benjamin Phillips). It contained 21 pages bound together in a booklet format with a harder cover page. I recently obtained the original layout page for issue number two. The pages were typed up on a personal computer or typewriter and then hand cut and taped to individual pieces of cardboard before photocopying. This must have been an extensive task and was probably necessary because the standard computers of the day did not have the page layouts and photo-shop we enjoy today.
Within a year the newsletter had expanded to 24 pages and was published four times a year. The layout was the same and included standard columns including Presidents message, a Feature article and Coin Pals a place to meet friends within a YN’s home state. By 1995 the newsletter was in Volume IV, Number III, Issue XIII with the standard layout, but printed entirely on a computer. Containing a stunning 44 pages of articles, pictures, crosswords, etc it had finally reached the goals that YNA had strived to achieve within the previous five years. The publication had become a voice for YN’s across the United States.
In 1996, less than a year later, the organization had nearly stopped for lack of leadership, which in turn caused a lapse in the newsletter for a year and a half. Finally in 1999 the YNA newsletter came out sporadically and was eventually thinned down to a 2 page newsletter printed in various colors. By the end of 1999 the club had reached a low point and ceased to exist until its rebirth in 2001. As everyone can see, the YNA newsletter has undergone major changes in the past. With everyone’s help it will only grow in the future.
Essay Contest
The YNA essay contest will hopefully become a regular feature here in our newsletter. Each edition of the newsletter will have a different topic to write about and will be judged by a panel of unbiased coin collectors at my local coin club who do not know any of the YN’s. All entries must be received by October 15, 2001 and the prizes are as follows – First Place: PCGS MS-64 Morgan Dollar, Second and Third Place: Mint State Franklin Half Dollar. So here it goes: In 150-250 words write about “How I Started Collecting.” Tell us about what/who started you in this great hobby, how your collection has progressed, what kept your collecting interest, etc. Send all submissions to the address at the end of the newsletter, and make sure you include your contact info.
Deadlines
I have put deadlines into effect for each newsletter. Please get your submissions in before these dates. Each newsletter mailed one week after each deadline.
Winter 2002 – October 30 Spring 2003 – January 30
Summer 2003 – April 30 Fall 2003 – July 30
Book Review
By Walt Deleu
Every newsletter a book will be reviewed that will be of general interest to the club (at least I hope it will). If you have a special book that YNA members may like to read send in a book review.
“I just bought a new book that I’m enjoying called “Official Price Guide to Mint Errors,” by Alan Herbert copyright 2002. Published by House of Collectibles, the Crown Publishing Group - New York, NY ISBN 0-609-80855-9.
A great book to learn about all kinds of Mint errors, split dies, cracked planchets, and double strikes. It has prices for buying, selling and collecting. The detailed descriptions and photographs are great for easy identification. Maybe you have some Mint errors in your collection? Price $15.00”
If anybody has any neat error coins and would like to share them that would be great! Photographs are helpful, and a good description is necessary. Go ahead, show off your collection.
Contact Info
Please mail all correspondence to me concerning the newsletter at: Cameron Kiefer 1823 E. Westcott Ct. Visalia, CA 93292-1560, or e-mail kieferscoins2000@yahoo.com. If your address has changed please update your info with me. Don’t forget to check out the YNA website at www.ynaclub.org. Send in those articles and letters! YNA members love to read them.
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