“I learned about Belle from a passing docent, who took a few moments from her busy schedule to describe this astonishing woman, and, in so doing, offered me a new lens through which to view the Pierpont Morgan Library, its collection, and the time in which it was created.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and that’s a comment from Marie Benedict’s Author’s Note to her novel The Personal Librarian. What Benedict discovered is that Belle Greene, who was Morgan’s personal librarian for more that forty years was, in fact, from African American descent. In order to qualify for a prized position and earn a decent wage and because her skin was light enough, she passed as white all those years. If her ruse had been discovered she and her whole family would have suffered.
The story recounts how she worked with Pierpont Morgan to build a library of rare manuscripts, books and artwork and then made it available to the general public.
Benedict enlisted the help of Victoria Christopher Murray to research and write the novel so that it would be as authentic as possible in fact and feeling. As the book jacket says “Belle became a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality.” The authors weave a fascinating tale of New York Society and the art world from 1906 to 1924.
If you want a glimpse into how the wealthy built their rare book and art collections, then you must read The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
