Huntington Award 2016

New York, NY
February 26, 2016

The American Numismatic Society Awards its 2016 Archer M. Huntington Award for Excellence in Numismatic Scholarship to Dr. Michael Alram

The Trustees of the American Numismatic Society (ANS) have voted to award Dr. Michael  Alram the 2016 Archer M. Huntington Award in recognition of his outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship. The award ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at 6:00 PM at the American Numismatic Society, 75 Varick Street, Floor 11, in New York City. The event will include remarks by Dr. Alram for the Silvia Mani Hurter Memorial Lecture, entitled “Money and Power in Ancient Bactria,” followed by a reception in his honor.

Dr. Alram has been the Director of the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien in Vienna, Austria, since 2008, and has also served, since 2013, as  the Vice President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AAS). He was chairman of the Numismatic Commission, AAS from 1997-2012, and Curator for Byzantine, Medieval and Oriental Numismatics at the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien from 1986-2008.

Dr. Alram has been teaching as a member of the Doctoral College “Cultural Transfers and Cross-Contacts in the Himalayan Borderlands,” at the University of Vienna since 2011; and in 1997 was the Eric P. Newman Visiting Scholar in Residence of the American Numismatic Society. Since 1997, Dr. Alram has been a lecturer at the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, and, since 1982, at the University of Vienna.

Professor Jere L. Bacharach, Chairman of the ANS’s Huntington Committee, described the choice for this years’ honoree: “Dr. Alram has spent his entire career invested in and devoted to the field of numismatics. His academic credentials, from his numerous awards to his teaching positions to the variety of leadership roles, made him an obvious choice for this prestigious award. All of us in the numismatic community are indebted to him for his lifelong work and contributions to our field of study, and we are delighted to present him with the 2016 Archer M. Huntington Award.”

Among his numerous awards, Dr. Alram received the Medal of the Gesellschaft für Internationale Geldgeschichte, Frankfurt/Main in 2014; the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 2013; Jeton de Vermeil of the Société Française de Numismatique in 2010; the Gilljam Prize of the Royal Numismatic Society, London; Robinson Fellowship, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London in 2005; and the Roman Ghirshman Prize of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Institut de France), Paris in 2004.

Dr. Alram is a Full Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences; a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and a Corresponding Member of the Istituto Italiano per l ́Africa e l ́Oriente, Rome, the American Numismatic Society, the German Archaeological Institute and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. Dr. Alram is currently the President of the International Numismatic Council (INC), where he also served as their Secretary from 2009-2015.

The lecture will begin at 6:00 PM. It will be preceded by a reception at 5:30.
RSVP required to membership@numismatics.org,
or 212-571-4470 ext. 117.
 Government issued photo I.D. required for entry.

A subscription dinner will be held following the event at a nearby restaurant. Pre-registration is required. Contact membership@numismatics.org for details.

The Archer M. Huntington Award, first presented to Edward T. Newell in 1918, is conferred annually in honor of the late Archer M. Huntington, ANS President from 1905 to 1910 and a major benefactor, in recognition of outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship. The medal was designed in 1908 by Emil Fuchs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Numismatic Society.

The American Numismatic Society, organized in 1858 and incorporated in 1865 in New York State, operates as a research museum under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is recognized as a publicly supported organization under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) as confirmed on November 1, 1970.