Belle da Costa Greene

Belle da Costa Greene (December 13, 1883 in Washington, D.C. - May 10, 1950 in New York City, New York) was the librarian to J. P. Morgan and after his death she became the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library.

She was born Belle Marion Greener in Washington, D.C., and grew up there and in New 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-known African American family in the nation's capital, while her father was Richard Theodore Greener, an attorney who served as dean of the Howard Law School and was the first black student and first black graduate of Harvard (class of 1870). After his separation from his wife (they never divorced), Greener became a U.S. diplomat posted to Siberia, 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 the Princeton 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 a Bohemian 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.”