Pssst! Wanna see where the US Mint stores its records?

PhillyJoe

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)is responsible for maintaining the records of the U. S. Mint. In Philadelphia, we have a beautiful facility at 9th & Chestnut Streets where there are more records than you have time to research. On my last visit, I received special permission to take photographs. They were kind enough to allow me in the basement where I'm fairly certain few if any visitors have been. (When you request records they retrieve them for you from what appears to be the magic door.)

Through the use of RussVision™ (my Instamatic is at the shop) Mr Compucheap has agreed to post the pictures and I'll add a few comments later. NARA is open to the public every weekday and the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. For a numismatist, it's the holy grail.

Joe

Russ

The visual tour:

















Russ, NCNE

BECOKA

Thats it just one basement full?

Looks like some nice old relics in there. What is the oldest dated document you found?

frankieboywonder

Thank you very much!! Love this sort of thing; and not much of this presented here and about!!

RWB

Yes, that's the "magic door" (they got rid of the wardrobe some years ago - kept getting cold drafts out of it), and behind the door is Mike DiBiasi. Your requested files appear as if by magic. The Philly facility is great, but watch out for the genealogical oldsters - they are constantly underfoot and sometimes argue over who can get to a genealogical record. If you toss obsolete Census CDs to them, they will leave you alone.

The Philadelphia collection is about 1/10 the size of the collection in College Park, MD - but still filled with stuff. Most of the legers and files have never been examined in detail, or were last examined 50 years ago.

There are no plans to microfilm/digitize or preserve the material, so when it finally rots - in about 100 yr - the info will be gone.

Barndog

I think it moved

Russ

<< <i>The Philly facility is great, but watch out for the genealogical oldsters - they are constantly underfoot and sometimes argue over who can get to a genealogical record. If you toss obsolete Census CDs to them, they will leave you alone. >>





Russ, NCNE

PhillyJoe

Besides the Philadelphia Mint records, tons of census, ship manifests, civil war documents, etc. are stored there. It's a great place to research your ancestry, but many of the same tools are online.

RWB: It's MATTHEW.

Oldest record? I think the ledger in that picture contains the original Articles forming the U.S. Mint in 1792. They just kept adding to it. The page displayed I believe is dated 1796. Seeing original documents signed by Washington, Jefferson and Adams gives you the willys.

That aisle contains just about all of Records Group 104, also known as the Philadelphia Mint records.

The Archives staff still talk about the 2000 ANA convention in Philadelphia. The researchers swarmed the facilty that summer.

Joe

elwood

<< <i>There are no plans to microfilm/digitize or preserve the material, so when it finally rots - in about 100 yr - the info will be gone. >>



Seriously?

That would be a shame.

PhillyJoe

<< <i>

<< <i>There are no plans to microfilm/digitize or preserve the material, so when it finally rots - in about 100 yr - the info will be gone. >>



Seriously?

That would be a shame. >>



Agreed. While the storage area is temperature and humidity controlled, these documents are 200+ years old and did not enjoy a controlled environment from the beginning. As I recall, the facility's supervisor told me they preserve as the budget allows, but there's nothing in the budget for electronic storage.

Joe

shirohniichan

I have benefited from one of PhillyJoe's forays into the dark underworld of records. I'd love to be able to go down there and search through all Mint correspondence and other obscure records of the "unbekannt geschichte" of the 20 cent piece. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the proximity to do so. Should I ever get close to actually writing the book I've been working on off and on over the past 6 years, I'll see if I can make arrangements for a family trip to Philly.

53BKid

Remarkable. Thank you for posting this!

RWB

Joe,
Thanks for the correction...I keep calling Matthew "Michael"...maybe it's becuse they both contain an "a"...

To find out about the 20-cent piece (or almost ay other coin question, you ahev to check at least Philadelphia and College Park, plus possibly the other NARA facilities in San Bruno, CA, Denver, CO and Fort Worth, TX. Everythign has been "regionalized" to pieces and it can be very tough to piece together the whole story.

shirohniichan - send me a PM about your 20-cent book..might have some info and ideas.

Longacre

Nice. Just holding those documents must be a treat for a researcher/historian.

ModernDollarNut

<< <i>I think it moved >>



Barndog, do you know if it moved to College Park, MD? Rob

Barry

I've been going to a place a block away (9th and Walnut) for years and never noticed it!

Coxe

I have been using the National Archives for lots of hobby things, including genealogical research for decades. Everyone should stop into their closest one sometime when convenient just to look around. Of course, it can be overwhelming trying to get your orientation on the first visit. It is especially recommended for people with school age kids (especially if you homeschool). It's free and they can research primary sources that most people don't know even exist.

Classof67

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

JT

Coinosaurus

<< <i>I have benefited from one of PhillyJoe's forays into the dark underworld of records. I'd love to be able to go down there and search through all Mint correspondence and other obscure records of the "unbekannt geschichte" of the 20 cent piece. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the proximity to do so. Should I ever get close to actually writing the book I've been working on off and on over the past 6 years, I'll see if I can make arrangements for a family trip to Philly. >>



I prefer "l'histoire inconnue", after all, there were a lot more French than Germans with connections to the early Mint

cladking

That is seriously cool.

Thank you, and thanks to Russ as well.

NumisOxide

Wow, amazing stuff.




<< <i>Agreed. While the storage area is temperature and humidity controlled, these documents are 200+ years old and did not enjoy a controlled environment from the beginning. As I recall, the facility's supervisor told me they preserve as the budget allows, but there's nothing in the budget for electronic storage. >>



Man, that's a shame. Can't the ANA do something for them to preserve these priceless documents. Like raise money to have them microfilm/digitize.

RWB

It takes a lot of money and time to digitize or microfilm documents. This is very hard to automate because many papers are too fragile to handle with automated equipment. Even if ANA diverted the Exec Dir/Legal Counsel’s salary to this, it would take decades to make a dent in the volume. Additionally, the demand for US Mint-related documents is minute compared to military and civil war records, so numismatic stuff is way down the priority list.

When I was researching the designer of the Maine half dollar, the Smithsonian folks were thrilled that I was willing to scan some of the documents and drawings and give them a copy on CDs. They had no money to do this and they knew that some of the originals might not last the decade.

Coxe

<< <i>It takes a lot of money and time to digitize or microfilm documents. This is very hard to automate because many papers are too fragile to handle with automated equipment. >>



Make deadbeats do it for their handout checks. Minimum security prisoners can do it too (and pay them $1/hr not minimum wage). While were at it, do the same for picking lettuce and tame the illegal worker problem. This sort fo thing was done to keep people productive through the Depression. The National Archive got a soundex index of the available census documents that way.

Bear

Pssst, wanna buy a duck?