this is my proposal for the paper that I used as an assignment for my English class,
Denver’s Assay Office Becomes a Mint (Proposal for Essay 3)
The discovery of gold in Colorado in 1858, brought settlers, merchants and miners by the hundreds to the area looking to make a better life for themselves and their family. A year later the new city of Denver established an assay office to turn the gold in to coins. With successful Mints operating in Philadelphia and nearby in San Francisco, and the assay office bringing in more than 5 million dollars in gold in silver annually, why did it take the government nearly fifty years to convert to a United States Mint? Primary and secondary sources are plentiful on my topic. I have found many articles and books on the historical back round of the Mint and fact sheets on coins and currency from the Denver Mint. I have also located accounts and records of the bullion stored in the Mint during the late nineteenth century. The primary sources relate to the secondary sources by showing the actual records of the Mint that I am reading about. My research has given me a few reasons for the Mint’s delay, such as hostile Indians, and the Civil War that was looming in the East. My findings are pointing to outside influences that affected the opening of the Mint, and not the Government wants to do so.
I have found many secondary sources in my research. Articles on the historical back round of the Mint are easy to locate on the Web. The Department of the Treasury offers information on the Mint’s plans and buildings, the historical back round of the assay office, the history of the town’s precious metals, and the process of casting the metal in to bars. The Library of Congress has a few books that contribute to my secondary sources such as, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, and illustrated history from 1776 to present, and Historic Tours; The Denver Mint: the story of the mint from the gold rush to today. I am hoping that these different authors will offer different viewpoints of the incidents that delayed the opening of the Mint.
Primary sources have also been easy to obtain. I have found a majority of my information in the Library of Congress and the National Archives. I chose both of these locations because they offer records of the Mint’s functions during the nineteenth century. I was able to find records of the deposits showing how much bullion was produced during this time. The Library of Congress also housed letters from the Mint’s superintendents, and correspondence with other branch Mints. I am hoping that these documents will give me personal accounts of experiences that the workers had in the Mint, whether or not any one documented encounters with Indian’s or thieves. All of these documents give my research tangible evidence and help me to understand how the Mint worked.
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