- Belle da Costa Greene
Belle da Costa Greene (
December 13 ,1883 inWashington, D.C. -May 10 ,1950 inNew York City, New York ) was thelibrarian toJ. P. Morgan and after his death she became the first director of thePierpont Morgan Library .She was born Belle Marion Greener in
Washington, D.C. , and grew up there and inNew York City . Her biographer Heidi Ardizzone lists Belle's birth date as November 26, 1879. Her mother was Genevieve Ida Fleet, a member of a well-knownAfrican American family in the nation's capital, while her father wasRichard Theodore Greener , an attorney who served as dean of the Howard Law School and was the first black student and first black graduate ofHarvard (class of 1870). After his separation from his wife (they never divorced), Greener became a U.S. diplomat posted toSiberia , where he produced a second family with a Japanese woman.After her parents' separation, the light-skinned Belle, her mother, and siblings passed as white and changed their surname to Greene to distance themselves from their father. Her mother changed her maiden name to Van Vliet, apparently in an effort to assume Dutch ancestry, while Belle dropped her middle name in favor of da Costa and began claiming a Portuguese background to explain her dusky complexion. Eventually, she moved to
Princeton, New Jersey , where she worked at thePrinceton University Library.The financier J. P. Morgan had in 1902 engaged Charles F. McKim to build him a library to the east of his
Madison Avenue brownstone as his collection already was too large for his study. To manage his collection he hired Greene as his personal librarian in 1905, having been introduced to her by his nephew, Junius, a Princeton student. Soon trusted for her expertise (she was an expert in illuminated manuscripts) as well as her bargaining prowess with dealers, Greene would spend millions of dollars not only buying but selling rare manuscripts, books and art. She has been described as smart and outspoken as well as beautiful and sensual. While she enjoyed aBohemian freedom, she was also able to move with ease in elite society, known for her exotic looks and designer wardrobe. "Just because I am a librarian," Greene reportedly announced, "doesn't mean I have to dress like one."Not only did her bearing, style, and seemingly unlimited means attract notice, but "her role at the Morgan Library placed her at the center of the art trade and her friendship was coveted by every dealer." The power that she wielded for 43 years was unmatched. She told Morgan - who was willing to pay any price for important works - that her goal was to make his library "pre-eminent, especially for incunabula, manuscripts, bindings, and the classics."
J.P. Morgan left her $50,000 in his will, which at that time was a significant sum, reportedly $800,000 in modern money. Asked if she was Morgan's mistress, she is said to have replied, "We tried!" She never married, however, and her most lasting romantic relationship was with the art expert
Bernard Berenson .Greene retired in 1948 and died in
New York City two years later.References
*Heidi Ardizzone, "An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege" (W.W. Norton, 2007).
*John Steele Gordon, "J. P. Morgan's Accomplice", "American Heritage," September, 1999, p.22.
*Jean Strouse, "Morgan: American Financier" (Random House, 1999).
*Chernow, Ron. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, (2001) ISBN 0-8021-3829-2
*cite book |last=Jackson |first=Stanley |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=J. P. Morgan, A Biography|year=1983|publisher=Stein and Day |location=New York|isbn=0-8128-2824-0 |oclc= |pages=pp 259-260,269,273,293-296,312,320 |quote=
* Auchincloss, Louis, "Belle da Costa Greene." In J.P. Morgan: The Financier as Collector, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990.
* "Belle Da Costa Greene," Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 4: 1946-1950. New York: American Council of Learned Socities, 1974.
* Louchheim, Aline B., "The Morgan Library and Miss Greene," New York Times, April 17, 1949.
* Rosenberg, Ruth, "Belle da Costa Greene," Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 187: American Book Collectors and Bibliographers, edited by Joseph Rosenblum. Detroit: Gale, 1997.
* Strouse, Jean, Morgan: American Financier, New York: Random House, 1999.
* [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC "Belle da Costa Greene." Notable Black American Women, Book 3. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2008.] Accessed 24 January 2008.
* [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&dcoll=nrb&locID=chan86036&frmml=1&c=1&ste=41&docNum=BT2310012391&mlcite=1 "Belle Da Costa Greene."Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 4: 1946-1950. American Council of Learned Societies, 1974.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2008.] Accessed 25 January 2008.
*Notable Am. Women, II, 83-85
*Pierpont Morgan Lib., The First Quarter Century of the Pierpont Morgan Lib.: A Retrospective Exhibition in Honor of Belle da Costa Greene (1949), includes a portrait
*"Belle of the Books," Time, Apr. 11, 1949, includes a portrait
*Dorothy Miner, ed., Studies in Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Greene (1954), includes a portrait
*letter of W. G. Constable, N.Y. Times, July 3, 1950
*"Morgan Librarian," Times Lit. Supp., Nov. 13, 1948
*Aline B. Louchheim, "The Morgan Library and Miss Greene," N.Y. Times, Apr. 17, 1949
*Curt F. Bühler, "Belle da Costa Greene," Speculum, July 1957 (reprinted in his Early Books and Manuscripts, Forty Years of Research, 1973)
*Publishers Weekly, June 10, 1950
*recollections of Rudolph Ruzicka and Henry Allen Moe
*Pierpont Morgan Lib., A Rev. of the Growth, Development and Activities of the Lib. . . . for 1924-1929 (1930) and similar reviews for 1930-1935 (1937), 1936-1940 (1941), and 1941-1948 (1949).
*cite news |first=CAROLINE |last=WEBER |title=Long Time Passing (book review)
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/books/review/Weber-t.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/M/Morgan%20Library |work=New York Times|date=2007-07-22 |accessdate=2008-01-25 |quote=“arguably the most powerful woman in the New York art and book world.”
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