Biography

Belle Da Costa Greene | All About Morgan’s First Librarian

Belle da Costa Greene was the first librarian and director of John Pierpont Morgan. John Morgan was an American investor a banker which was mostly known as Morgan.

Morgan is a huge name in the business industry. He reorganized businesses for making them more profitable and flexible to get complete control over them.

One of the main reasons for belle da costa Greene’s popularity is being the first librarian and director of Morgan.

So, here in this article, we will tell you all about belle Greene, her siblings, parents, career, and belle da costa Greene cause of death,

Belle Da Costa Greene Early Life:

Belle Da Costa Greene was born on November 26, 1879, in Washington, D.C. America. There is confusion in her birthdate. Some people said that she was born on December 13, 1883. The most accurate and more agreeable date is November 26, 1879.

This data is presented by Belle Da Costa Greene’s biographer, Heidi Ardizzone.

Family:

Belle Da Costa Greene mother was Genevieve Ida Fleet while Richard Theodore Greener was the father of Belle Greene.

Her parents were separated when she was a teenager. She changed her surname and her mother changed her maiden name to get complete separation. She has four siblings. After the parent’s separation, her sisters also changed their surnames.  

Here is an important query to tell you. Most people ask about Belle Da Costa Greene husband. Keep in mind that she has not married in her whole life.

Belle lived with her mother for many years.

Career:

Belle Da Costa Greene | All About Morgan’s First Librarian
Image taken from interest.com

Belle Da Costa Greene started her career as a librarian at Princeton University. From this library, she got incredible knowledge of rare books. Junius Spencer Morgan II introduced her to her financier uncle J.P Morgan.

Here, J.P. Morgan hired Belle Da Costa Greene as his librarian in 1905.

From Princeton University, Belle was trained in cataloging. Here in the Morgan’s library, she started working as an organizer and a catalog. Ada Thurston also started contributing with Belle in her work.

In 1908, she started representing John aboard. She knew rare books. She spent a lot of money on just buying rare scripts and books for Morgan’s library.

Morgan was paying all the payments because he was also willing to buy rare books and manuscripts.

Although she was working for Morgan’s private library her main focus was to collect rare books and to make these books accessible for the public.

After collecting many rare books and manuscripts, the library was opened for the public.

Morgan died in 1913. After his death, Belle continued her career. Now, she was working for Morgan’s son.

Her annual salary was $10,000. She was retired in 1948.

Belle Da Costa Greene cause of death:

After two years of being retired from the library, she died in 1950. Belle Da Costa Greene cause of death was cancer. In 1949, she attended an event in Morgan’s library on a wheelchair.

According to New York Times after her death, she was one of the most well-known librarians of that time.

She has also worked in some other academies and museums but the main career and the main cause of her popularity was her Morgan’s library career.

Belle Da Costa Greene is one of the most well know and influential female librarians in the world. Collecting rare books and then making the library accessible for the public is the greatest act that she did in her life.  

She never married but she was found in love with Bernard Berenson who was an art expert. They both met in 1909.

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Last Updated on November 16, 2022

Soban Nasir
I am a professional Content Writer, author at PostManic, and the founder of TwistPedia. Throughout my work experience, I have recognized the professional way of writing content to attract the audience by ensuring the need and attention. With the proper way of research on a particular topic, I've illuminated my readers with the accurate truth about the topic.

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