The Numismatic Literary Guild - Why, When, Where, What, and How?

With these words put to paper and carrying the club letterhead, NLG founder Lee Martin set in motion the creation of the coin collecting hobby's premier organization dedicated to promoting numismatic writing.

Martin's goals were ambitious and forward-thinking. He sought to enroll the top talent from the ranks of professional numismatic writers, editors, columnists, book authors, and museum curators, and cultivate a community where they could come together in the spirit of openness and camaraderie, share resources, and ultimately produce better work. It was a time of tremendous growth in the area of numismatic publishing. Magazines and newspapers were going gangbusters, numismatic research was becoming ever more sophisticated, and the enthusiasm that collectors had for joining clubs was at an all-time high. The NLG quickly found a constituency and Martin was off to the races.

Not everything the NLG's founding fathers (and mothers) set out to accomplish came to fruition. This isn't all that unusual, as these things go. The NLG never built that impressive numismatic library for the benefit of its members, and despite some early work towards the goal, I'm not sure that they ever put together a working database of coin imagery as was mentioned in the club's early newsletters.

But they did create an organization that would sustain itself for more than 50 years, and during that time they enabled many memorable moments

The numismatic hobby is rapidly changing. Older generations are handing the baton of leadership to younger ones and with that shift, the hobby will experience a period of new sensibilities, ideas, and scholarship. It is up to us, as an organization focused on numismatic literature, to stay on top of developments in the media space. Yesterday's crude numismatic newsletter is today's Instagram account. Yesterday's house organ is today's blog section at a major company. As an organization, we must acknowledge these changes and support our members in their endeavors even if numismatic writing and content production takes forms that would have been unrecognizable years ago. Forever onward!

For more information, see:
https://www.nlgonline.org/