Oscar H. Dodson - Academic Career

Academic Career

After World War II Dodson was appointed Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois.

A numismatist most of his life, Dodson served as president of the American Numismatic Association from 1957 to 1961 and was responsible for bridging the transition between "traditional numismatics" and the then-new investment market. In the Centennial History of the American Numismatic Association, author Q. David Bowers wrote, "More than any other ANA president since August G. Heaton . . . Oscar Dodson was a philosopher."

He joined the ANA in 1933, and became life member number 78 in 1950 - the same year he received the ANA Medal of Merit. He served on the U.S. Assay Commission in 1948 and the Hobbies Committee of the U.S. State Department's "People-to-People" program.

In 1962 he authored the book Money Tells the Story, and he served as a contributing editor to COINage magazine from 1973 to 1987.

Two years after retiring from the Navy, he established The Money Museum at the National Bank of Detroit, serving as its director for six years. He also was honorary assistant curator of the ANA Money Museum. Through his generosity, many important ancient Greek coins and other items were donated to the Association. Oscar Dodson received the Association's highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award, in 1968, and the ANA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.