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Belle da Costa Greene
Belle da Costa Greene (November 26, 1879 – May 10, 1950) was an American librarian who managed and developed the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan died in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Despite being born to black parents, Greene spent her professional career passing for white.
Greene worked in the administrative offices at Columbia University's Teachers College in the mid-1890s, where she was introduced to the philanthropist and social welfare advocate Grace Hoadley Dodge. Dodge arranged for Greene to be admitted to the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies and funded her education there. Greene attended the seminary for three years, likely from 1896 to 1899. In 1900, Greene attended Amherst College's Summer School of Library Economy, a six-week program that offered courses in the nascent library science field, including cataloging, indexing, and handwriting. Following her graduation, she began working at the Princeton University Library. At Princeton, she was trained in cataloging and reference work, and she developed a knowledge of rare books. While working at Princeton, she met Junius Spencer Morgan II, who later introduced her to his financier uncle J. P. Morgan. Greene began working as J. P. Morgan's librarian in 1905.
Greene was an expert in illuminated manuscripts. She spent millions of dollars in buying and selling rare manuscripts, books, and art for Morgan. She told Morgan, that her goal was to make his library "pre-eminent, especially for incunabula, manuscripts, bindings, and the classics". She was particularly focused on making rare books accessible to the public, rather than keeping them locked away in the vaults of private collectors. According to a biographer of Morgan, Greene helped Morgan in evading customs duties for art objects. At one point, she allowed customs agents to find several dutiable items in her luggage, while preventing them from noticing that she was transporting a painting, three bronzes, and a very expensive watch for Morgan. Greene herself reported that she and her employer performed a "war dance" and jointly laughed following the success of their scheme.
Belle da Costa Greene was born and raised in the neighborhood of Georgetown, Washington, D.C. as Belle Marion Greener. Although her birth date is sometimes noted as December 13, 1883, her biographer Heidi Ardizzone gives Greene's birth date as November 26, 1879. Her mother was Genevieve Ida Fleet, a music teacher and member of a prominent African-American family in the upscale Northwest Quadrant of Washington, D.C. Her maternal grandfather, James H. Fleet, was an abolitionist and founding member of the Mount Zion United Methodist congregation in Georgetown, whose church served as a station of the Underground Railroad in Antebellum Washington. Her father, Richard Theodore Greener, was the first black student to attend and first black graduate of Harvard University (class of 1870). He went on to work as an attorney, professor and racial justice activist and served as dean of the Howard University School of Law.
After Greene took the job with Morgan, she likely never spoke to her father again and listed him as deceased on passport applications throughout the 1910s, though he lived until 1922. She may have met him once in Chicago around 1913, but no written records of this meeting are known. Historians have long believed that Richard Greener had lost most of his papers in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
After her parents' separation, the light-skinned Belle, her mother, and her 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 in an effort to assume Dutch ancestry. Belle also made a change to her name, swapping out Marion for "da Costa", and claiming a Portuguese background to explain her darker complexion. The changes to her and her family's stated ancestry resulted in further fabrications, including one that led people to believe Greene had been raised in Virginia. The true nature of her background was further complicated by Greene's claim to be younger than she was, an action biographer Heidi Ardizzone describes as "a masquerade" in response to a youth-focused society in which "single women past a certain age were disdained".
Greene began working in the administrative offices at Columbia University's Teachers College sometime in the mid-1890s, where she was introduced to philanthropist and social welfare advocate Grace Hoadley Dodge. Dodge, impressed by Greene's work and social abilities, arranged for Greene to be admitted to the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies and funded her education there. Greene attended the seminary for three years, likely from 1896 to 1899. In 1900, Greene attended Amherst College's Summer School of Library Economy, a six-week program that offered courses in the nascent library science field, including cataloging, indexing, and handwriting.
Greene began working at the Princeton University Library in 1902. It was during this time that she was trained in cataloging and reference work and developed a knowledge of rare books. While working at Princeton, she met Junius Spencer Morgan II, who later introduced her to his financier uncle J. P. Morgan. Greene began working as J. P. Morgan's librarian in 1905.
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Belle da Costa Greene
Belle da Costa Greene (November 26, 1879 – May 10, 1950) was an American librarian who managed and developed the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan died in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Despite being born to black parents, Greene spent her professional career passing for white.
Greene worked in the administrative offices at Columbia University's Teachers College in the mid-1890s, where she was introduced to the philanthropist and social welfare advocate Grace Hoadley Dodge. Dodge arranged for Greene to be admitted to the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies and funded her education there. Greene attended the seminary for three years, likely from 1896 to 1899. In 1900, Greene attended Amherst College's Summer School of Library Economy, a six-week program that offered courses in the nascent library science field, including cataloging, indexing, and handwriting. Following her graduation, she began working at the Princeton University Library. At Princeton, she was trained in cataloging and reference work, and she developed a knowledge of rare books. While working at Princeton, she met Junius Spencer Morgan II, who later introduced her to his financier uncle J. P. Morgan. Greene began working as J. P. Morgan's librarian in 1905.
Greene was an expert in illuminated manuscripts. She spent millions of dollars in buying and selling rare manuscripts, books, and art for Morgan. She told Morgan, that her goal was to make his library "pre-eminent, especially for incunabula, manuscripts, bindings, and the classics". She was particularly focused on making rare books accessible to the public, rather than keeping them locked away in the vaults of private collectors. According to a biographer of Morgan, Greene helped Morgan in evading customs duties for art objects. At one point, she allowed customs agents to find several dutiable items in her luggage, while preventing them from noticing that she was transporting a painting, three bronzes, and a very expensive watch for Morgan. Greene herself reported that she and her employer performed a "war dance" and jointly laughed following the success of their scheme.
Belle da Costa Greene was born and raised in the neighborhood of Georgetown, Washington, D.C. as Belle Marion Greener. Although her birth date is sometimes noted as December 13, 1883, her biographer Heidi Ardizzone gives Greene's birth date as November 26, 1879. Her mother was Genevieve Ida Fleet, a music teacher and member of a prominent African-American family in the upscale Northwest Quadrant of Washington, D.C. Her maternal grandfather, James H. Fleet, was an abolitionist and founding member of the Mount Zion United Methodist congregation in Georgetown, whose church served as a station of the Underground Railroad in Antebellum Washington. Her father, Richard Theodore Greener, was the first black student to attend and first black graduate of Harvard University (class of 1870). He went on to work as an attorney, professor and racial justice activist and served as dean of the Howard University School of Law.
After Greene took the job with Morgan, she likely never spoke to her father again and listed him as deceased on passport applications throughout the 1910s, though he lived until 1922. She may have met him once in Chicago around 1913, but no written records of this meeting are known. Historians have long believed that Richard Greener had lost most of his papers in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
After her parents' separation, the light-skinned Belle, her mother, and her 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 in an effort to assume Dutch ancestry. Belle also made a change to her name, swapping out Marion for "da Costa", and claiming a Portuguese background to explain her darker complexion. The changes to her and her family's stated ancestry resulted in further fabrications, including one that led people to believe Greene had been raised in Virginia. The true nature of her background was further complicated by Greene's claim to be younger than she was, an action biographer Heidi Ardizzone describes as "a masquerade" in response to a youth-focused society in which "single women past a certain age were disdained".
Greene began working in the administrative offices at Columbia University's Teachers College sometime in the mid-1890s, where she was introduced to philanthropist and social welfare advocate Grace Hoadley Dodge. Dodge, impressed by Greene's work and social abilities, arranged for Greene to be admitted to the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies and funded her education there. Greene attended the seminary for three years, likely from 1896 to 1899. In 1900, Greene attended Amherst College's Summer School of Library Economy, a six-week program that offered courses in the nascent library science field, including cataloging, indexing, and handwriting.
Greene began working at the Princeton University Library in 1902. It was during this time that she was trained in cataloging and reference work and developed a knowledge of rare books. While working at Princeton, she met Junius Spencer Morgan II, who later introduced her to his financier uncle J. P. Morgan. Greene began working as J. P. Morgan's librarian in 1905.
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