The ANA Library holds manuscripts that began as passion projects, such as The Amazing Morgan ’78 by Victor J. Michonski. Michonski became an American Numismatic Association member in 1974, focusing his collecting on Morgan dollars and their die varieties—an area that saw growing interest among U.S. collectors at the time. Written in the early 1970s (based on quoted prices), this book examines 1878 Morgan dollar die varieties and attempts to organize major varieties chronologically, using examples from the author’s collection. Michonski’s research predates Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis’ Guide to Morgan and Peace Dollars, though the manuscript cites their work as a significant resource.

This book is unusual within ANA holdings because it includes a letter from donor Robert Michonski, Victor’s son, granting copyright permissions to the ANA. Today, obtaining such documentation is standard practice when possible, allowing the ANA Library to share manuscript and archival images with researchers and support further numismatic study. As a result, the Library can present this manuscript in full on Internet Archive:(https://archive.org/details/man.-0057…, accessible through links in the Library catalog.

ANA members can access the world’s largest numismatic lending library and its more than 128,000 books, auction catalogs, periodicals and DVDs online at: www.money.org/library