The American Numismatic Society has appointed Christopher R. McDowell as the new editor of the Colonial Newsletter. He and currenteditor Oliver Hoover will work together on the third issue for 2016, and he will manage CNL beginning with 2017's first issue.

McDowell was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and as a boy he collected Lincoln cents with his father. His first colonial coin was a 1785 Miller 4.1-F.4, Connecticut. McDowell now has close to 300 different Connecticut copper varieties. He has written many numismatic articles and is the 2009 recipient of the Gloria Peters Literary Award from Women in Numismatics. In 2015 he authored his first book, Abel Buell and the History of the Connecticut and Fugio Coinages.

A student of history and political science at Marshall University, he earned his law degree at West Virginia University where he was the senior editor of the National Coal Issue, West Virginia Law Review. After law school, he entered active duty as an Army Officer and was stationed in Korea, Germany, and Kansas with deployments to Bosnia. In 2000, he left active military service and began practicing law in Cincinnati, Ohio. Additional details about the new direction of CNL will appear in the newsletter and in ANS Magazine.