Byron Reed Collection
collection of rare materials housed at the Durham Museum in Omaha
The Byron Reed Collection features rare books, manuscripts, autographs and coins that are located at the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. According to experts, "Byron Reed was one of the greatest collectors of the 19th century," with a reputation as a numismatist that is "largely unrecognized." Reed began collecting in the 1870s, continuing until he died, in 1891.
About
In the late 19th century, Omaha real estate agent Byron Reed gradually put together a stunning collection of coins, documents, books, maps, and other items of great historical importance. Upon his death in 1891, Reed gave his collection to the city of Omaha and it is now housed at The Durham Museum. Significant portions of Reed's collection are on exhibit; of special interest is the "Treasures Cabinet," containing Reed's specimen of the 1804 Dollar.
A corresponding member of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of New York, Byron Reed was a pioneer real estate businessman who was regarded as an "industrious" collector. His coin collection is still thought to be one of the most complete in the United States, and includes numerous Jewish and Roman coins, as well as an almost perfect compilation of coinage of the U.S. from colonial times through to the 1890s. In 1999 the Reed 1804 Dollar was labeled the "King of American Coins."
Highlights
Reed's personal library includes numerous documents relevant to the founding of Omaha, as well as religious texts from the Middle Ages. His collection is considered to include one of the largest numismatic libraries in the Midwestern United States. According to many experts, the library is probably the last one formed in the 19th century to remain intact.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Byron Reed Collection” as collection of rare materials housed at the Durham Museum in Omaha. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as collection of rare materials housed at the Durham Museum in Omaha. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5004457. Authority coordinates are 41.252, -95.928. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1804 and 1999.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Byron Reed Collection” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.