Belle da Costa Greene

Black Librarianship and the Legacy of Belle da Costa Greene

Submitted by Publications De... on Tue, 11/12/2024 - 8:00am

Belle da Costa Greene achieved unparalleled status as a library director, collector, and curator during her lifetime. As scholars continue to uncover the complex layers of Greene’s life, two main aspects have risen to the forefront of her legacy—her position as the personal librarian of financier J. Pierpont Morgan, along with the luxuries and challenges this position provided, and her Black ancestry, complicated as it was by her decision to pass as white.

New Light on Belle da Costa Greene

Submitted by Daria Rose Foner on Mon, 03/15/2021 - 2:00pm

I recently came across a pair of letters that shed new light on the youth and education of the Morgan’s inaugural Director, Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950).

The Belle da Costa Greene Professional Papers at the Morgan

Submitted by Erica Ciallela on Wed, 06/21/2023 - 2:20pm

Belle da Costa Greene was librarian for J. Pierpont Morgan from 1905–1913, J. P. Morgan Jr. from 1913–1924, and director at the Pierpont Morgan Library from 1924–1948. Her career spanned two world wars and the Great Depression.

The Origins of the Drawings Department at the Morgan

Submitted by Jennifer Tonkovich on Tue, 04/13/2021 - 1:00pm

Once the Pierpont Morgan Library’s newly-completed Annex building opened to the public in 1928, the Library’s activities and staff expanded. The collection of prints and drawings could be consulted by scholars in the Reading Room, and works were routinely included in presentations in the main exhibition gallery.