Women in Rare Books: Belle da Costa Greene Exhibit at the Morgan Library Spotlights Life of Extraordinary Librarian

I’m new to the Belle da Costa Greene fan club, but I can assure you I’m going to be one of its most enthusiastic members.

That’s Belle, who in 1905 became financier JP Morgan’s personal librarian with the slenderest of professional credentials and a recommendation from his nephew Junius, then a student at Princeton; and that’s Belle who became an expert in the world of rare books and manuscripts and eventually the first director of the Morgan Library when it became a public institution in 1924 and served until her retirement in 1948.

That’s Belle whose father, Richard T. Greener, was the first Black graduate of Harvard. Belle, who, with her mother changed her name to Greene, added da Costa for a plausible - if not exactly true - Portuguese connection - and passed for white from the time she was a teenager until she died in 1950. That’s Belle who was one of the highest paid women in the United States and who in the first decade of the 20th century earned an annual salary that would be $250,000 in today’s dollars.

That’s Belle who had extensive correspondence, and rumored romantic liaison with multiple people, notably Bernard Berenson, the great historian of Italian art and some say it was a threesome with Berenson’s wife).That’s Belle who had a taste for beautiful clothing, extravagant hats, flamboyant as well as intellectual friends.... and it is also hinted that’s Belle who was gender flexible, though so far the personal details of who she loved have been elusive, or perhaps not as yet disclosed.

That’s Belle da Costa Greene who is the focus of a grand exhibit and series of associated events and publications at the Morgan Library, highlighting their 100th anniversary as a public institution, on view until May 4, 2025.

That’s Belle who is already the subject of multiple fictionalized and biographical books, with at least several more scheduled to be released coinciding with the events at the Morgan. And that’s Belle, who unless I miss the mark has resurfaced at the exact right historical moment with a life so over-the-top and out-of-the-ordinary that it seems inevitable that we will be hearing more, perhaps a great deal more, going forward.

Forget Marian, Madam librarian, this is a much glamorous, glorious, extravagant upmarket version of what the world of rare and valuable books and manuscripts can be with an unlimited budget, a taste for scholarship, a gift for self-invention and a knack for survival in what was then (and mostly still is) a bastion of rich white men.

It turns out there’s a lot already written and on video about her; there are also articles and monographs, scholarly papers galore. Even if you can’t get to New York there’s plenty to read, watch, digest and speculate about readily available online and every last one of them is interesting. I’ll call your attention to just a few:

In late October the ex-libris listserv posted a graceful letter from Philip Palmer, one of the show’s two curators, it read in part:

“Great to see all of the recent interest in Belle da Costa Greene! I am one of the Morgan Library’s co-curators of Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy

“The exhibition itself features objects drawn from every curatorial department at the Morgan, its archives, and over twenty lenders. The books, manuscripts, drawings, paintings, photographs, letters, ephemera, and objects on display will certainly satisfy visitors wanting to learn more about Greene’s library work, acquisitions, collections-based teaching, and leadership, while also addressing many additional themes and contexts. We are particularly excited to display Greene’s desk and one of the intricately carved catalog card cabinets from her office, along with some early catalog cards written in her hand.

“We also envision our book, in part, as a springboard for future research. To that end, Greene’s recently processed professional papers, which are heavily footnoted in the catalog, offer a trove of information about Greene’s management of the Pierpont Morgan Library, her research into the collection, her exhibitions and teaching, her acquisitions, and her position in the book world. These papers are open for research and were processed by the show’s co-curator Erica Ciallela, Exhibition Project Curator and former Belle da Costa Greene curatorial fellow. (Soon) we will launch two new digital resources on Greene, a website presenting images and transcriptions of her letters to Bernard Berenson (the culmination of a five-year project) and an online “Portrait Gallery” featuring every known visual image of Belle da Costa Greene.”

Also posting on ex-libris for the scholarly community was Deborah Parker, Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia who wrote: “Amazon began shipping copies of my book, Becoming Belle da Costa Greene: A Visionary Librarian Through Her Letters, last week.”

Parker also mentioned a free upcoming talk via Zoom in early November at the Caxton Club and her recent lecture at the University of Virginia’s Rare Books School. Another talk for I Tatti’s Council here. Recent mentions and interviews have appeared in FABS and Humanities Watch.

For a view of Greene from a Black perspective and some candid thoughts on “passing” watch The Reinvented Life of Belle da Costa Greene | A Masterclass with Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting Sharpley-Whiting is a scholar at Vanderbilt University, she gave these remarks at an event hosted by Duke.

Exhibit co-curator Erica Ciallela provides her own YouTube video about Belle with interesting visuals. All this and lots more when you type Belle da Costa Greene into your search engine.

Hats off to the Morgan for capitalizing on a remarkable life and using it as a vehicle to celebrate and extol her and their achievements. If you didn’t notice the Morgan Library and Museum before, or haven’t had occasion to look at their work recently, you’ll notice them now. Belle would be proud and two thumbs up from me.

The Morgan Library and Museum

225 Madison Avenue at 36th St.

New York, NY 10016

(212) 685-0008

The Morgan Library & Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10:30 am to 5 pm, and Friday from 10:30 am to 7 pm

https://www.themorgan.org/

Entry to the Museum is by timed ticket. Advance timed tickets are suggested for best availability, but not required. Please note, service fees apply for online ticket sales.

Admission
$25 Adults
$17 Seniors (65 and over)
$13 Students (with current ID)
Free to children 12 and under (must be accompanied by an adult)

Admission is not required to visit the Morgan Shop and Morgan Café.

Discounted admission of $13 is available for disabled visitors, admission is free for accompanying caregivers. Admission to the historic rooms of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library is free Tuesday and Sunday 3 to 5 pm. Reservations for these free hours are not required.

SHOPPING: The Belle da Costa Greene section of the Morgan Shop