Edward Groh

As a young man in 1858, Edward Groh (1837–1905) was one of the organizers and founding members of the American Numismatic Society. He served as an officer of the Society for many years, mostly as Curator (an office to which he was elected for 21 annual terms during his 47 years of membership). By the time he died in 1905, he was the last founding member still active in the Society.

As Curator, Groh initiated the series of ledger books in which accessions to the cabinet were recorded. His careful record-keeping is essential to our present knowledge of the early growth of the collection. He also worked on a partial card catalogue of the collection, in which he described many of the medals and tokens then in the Society’s cabinet.

As a collector, Groh built a major collection of more than 5,000 Civil War tokens, largely acquired during the war. He donated this collection to the Society in 1900.

For more about Groh and his activity in the Society, see the ANS Archives.