Belle da Costa Greene

Uncommon card · No. 99171

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. Born to black parents, Greene passed for white throughout her career. 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...

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