#digital interface

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A physics major from Putney, Vt., who is interning this year at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, has created an iPad interface to help showcase 30 ancient Greek and Roman coins from the College’s collection.

Louise “Roo” Weed ’18.5, the current holder of the Reiff Internship in Ancient Art, taught herself the programming language Swift in order to create a digital catalog that shows both sides of the coins, the approximate year in which they were struck, and their metallic composition and historical significance. For example, the “Posthumous Denarius of Julius Caesar” is a silver coin from 44 BCE showing the wreathed head of Caesar with the Sidus Iulium (Julian Star) on the front of the coin, and the goddess Venus with the legend “SEPVLLIVS MACER” on the reverse.

The senior will give an illustrated lecture about her work with the coins on January 24 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 125 of the Mahaney Arts Center. Weed’s public lecture will be titled “Show Me the Money: A Digital Interface for Displaying Ancient Coins in a Museum Gallery.”