John Howard Hickcox, Sr.

John Howard Hickcox, Sr. (1832-1897), [http://books.google.com/books?id=8D8DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA112&dq=hickcox+howard+suddenly+washington] a nineteenth century librarian and bookseller [http://sevenroads.org/Bookish/HickcoxLg.jpg] , is well known for his efforts to organize and index federal government publications. He published "United States Government Publications; a Monthly Catalogue", also known as "Hickcox's Monthly Catalogue" [http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/admin-history/publication-indexes.html#hickox] , from 1885 [http://books.google.com/books?id=CkoFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=jh+hickcox&ei=YPcKR4CrAY74pwKIpYHTCA] to 1894 [http://books.google.com/books?id=DBguAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=jh+hickcox&ei=GfgKR7XGMJn4pwL_5YjTCA] in order to alert people to the availability of recent government publications -- a function which the government was not performing. His catalog was the predecessor of the "Monthly Catalog" [http://catalog.gpo.gov/F] , of which he was the first compiler.

Hickcox was also a famous numismatist, and wrote books such as "A History of the Bills of Credit or Paper Money Issued by New York, From 1709 to 1789 with a Description of the Bills, and Catalogue of the Various Issues" [http://books.google.com/books?id=i7WmL3G8O_YC&pg=PP3&dq=john+h+hickcox&ei=ovkKR-TkDaf8pwL5k_XSCA] and "Historical Account of American Coinage".

References

*Nancy F. Stimson and Wendy Y. Nobunaga, "Life and times of John H. Hickcox: Government publications history revisited" (1995). "Journal of Government Information". 22 (5), pp. 403-412. Postprint available for free at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1830
*Nancy F. Stimson and Wendy Y. Nobunaga, "The arrest and vindication of John H. Hickcox" (2004). "Journal of Government Information". 30 (5-6), pp. 751-758. Postprint available free at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/708
*Nancy F. Stimson and Wendy Y. Nobunaga, "John H. Hickcox's Confession: An Addendum" (2007). "Government Information Quarterly". 24 (1), pp. 216-217. Postprint available free at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1921