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Coins Exhibit by UH Grad Students at UH Library
Posted: July 12, 2007
A new exhibit, Coins: Heads and Tales of History, opened July 2, 2007 at M.D. Anderson Library’s Special Collections, University of Houston, and offers a thought-provoking exhibition illustrating the historical value of coins.
Coins: Heads and Tales of History is a sampling of ancient Greek and Roman coins, and a look at what they can tell us. Coins provide information about rulers and their realms, reveal clues as to how people worked and lived, and indicate cultural shifts in societies that have long since disappeared. Their stories endure through the centuries and enlighten us today.
Heads of gods and heroes appeared on early Greek and Roman coins. After the conquests of Alexander the Great (Greece) and Julius Caesar (Rome), portraits of living rulers sometimes replaced the mythical figures of the past. Roman rulers drew attention to their own achievements and celebrated the virtues of their wives and children. Tales are also reflected in coinage as their secrets are revealed centuries later. Each geographical area and socio-economic group applied their own local flavor to coin design and use. The common folk literally put their money where their mouths were, as that was how they carried coins to market.
Coins reveal their stories in their artistry or the circumstances in which they were found. The choices made for Coins: Heads and Tales of History tell stories that reverberated throughout the ancient world.
The exhibit is sponsored by Special Collections, M. D. Anderson Library, the Center for Public History, and the Department of History at the University of Houston.
Exhibition Curators are Samuel R. Brower, Ramona L. Hopkins, Victoria J. Myers, Terrell D. Perry, Diana J. Sanders, and JoAnn St.Clair. Hopkins, Myers, Sanders, and St. Clair are graduate students in the UH History Department. Brower and Perry are graduate students in the College of Education. This exhibition grew out of a graduate course, Ancient Numismatics, taught by Frank Holt, Professor of History.
Special Collections is located on the second floor of the M. D. Anderson Library, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun. The library is currently open 7a.m. to 10:45p.m Monday through Thursday, 7a.m. to 5:45 Fridays, 8a.m. to 5:45 Saturdays, and 1p.m. to 10:45p.m. Sundays. Special Collections is open 9a.m. to 5p.m. Monday through Friday.
Parking is available in the Visitor’s Center parking garage at the corner of Calhoun and University Boulevard at Entrance 1.
For more information call 713-743-1050.
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