Three Gutenberg Bibles, the only surviving manuscript of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Thoreau’s journals, 1,500 Old Master drawings: financier John Pierpont (J. P.) Morgan (1837–1913) acquired these and more for his personal library in New York City, now the Morgan Library & Museum. In 2024, a collection that began as one man’s haul of rarities has been celebrating 100 years as a public institution. The Morgan continues to expand access, notably digital access, to holdings that include handwritten works by Bob Dylan as well as Jane Austen, and drawings by Jackson Pollock as well as Michelangelo. Its growing collections of rare books, manuscripts, music, drawings, and prints constitute what the Morgan calls a history of creativity. The museum and independent research library attracts 250,000 people and 7 million online visitors annually, from scholars using its resources to visitors enjoying its well-curated changing exhibitions. A new strategic plan focuses on preserving and sharing its collections, expanding its use of technology, and attracting a younger, diverse public from New York and beyond.
A centerpiece of the Morgan’s centennial is the in-depth exhibition “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy.” A Black woman who lived as white, Greene (1879–1950) was J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian and the Morgan’s influential first director until 1948. Also on view is “Franz Kafka,” with manuscripts, diaries, letters, and photos from Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries on view in the U.S. for the first time. The exhibition also looks at Kafka’s role as a cultural icon whose name has become an adjective: Kafkaesque. During holiday season (November 26, 2024–January 5, 2025), a page of the bound original manuscript of Charles Dickens’s beloved A Christmas Carol is on view each year.
The Morgan Grows
The institution’s complex of buildings reflects its changing role over the decades. J. P. Morgan commissioned Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White to design a grand library for his collections next to his home at 36th Street and Madison Avenue. The 1906 building still retains its neoclassical exterior and an interior resembling an Italian Renaissance palazzo.
Morgan died in 2013, and in 1924 his son J. P. (Jack) Morgan Jr. (1867–1943) realized, with the strong encouragement of librarian Belle da Costa Greene, that the collections were too significant to remain private. He established what was then called the Pierpont Morgan Library, a public institution to be run by a board of trustees. The 1928 Annex replaced J. P. Morgan’s house, adding galleries and a reading room. In 1988, Jack Morgan’s brownstone home at 37th and Madison became part of the complex. A major expansion designed by Renzo Piano, completed in 2006, united the historical buildings and added a Madison Avenue entrance, modern galleries, and below-ground spaces including a performance hall. At the same time, the institution introduced its current name.
Visiting the Morgan
The modern lobby and central light-filled Gilbert Court, incorporating a bar and café, have the same appeal as the Morgan’s other spaces, whether older and ornate or newer and minimalist. All are intimate in scale, perfect for the generally small-scale treasures on display. Any visit should include the richly decorated rooms of the original library, from the Rotunda to the East Room with its three stories of packed bookcases. These areas often present treasures from the collection, such as the illuminated medieval Lindau Gospels and a letter signed by Langston Hughes.
The fascinating “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy” (October 2024 through May 4, 2025) examines the personal life and professional achievements of Greene, who was hired by J. P. Morgan in 1905 and served as library director from 1924 to 1948. She shepherded the institution through the construction of the Annex and two world wars, and acquired material including 138 illuminated manuscripts and 17,000 reference works. Greene expanded access to the collection, presenting blockbuster exhibits, welcoming scholars, and photographing objects for use by researchers. As a stylish, confident young woman acquiring valuable works for Morgan, she attracted attention from the press but kept her Black identity secret. Her father, Richart T. Greener—Greene modified the name—was a book- and art-loving activist and the first Black graduate of Harvard College. After her parents separated, Greene passed as white, a decision the exhibition explores in the context of a segregated era. (The Personal Librarian, the bestselling 2021 novel, is a fictionalized look at Greene’s early career.) Displays of key acquisitions, videos, reproductions of press stories, and photographs bring Greene to life in all her complexity.
Poignant, surprising, and engaging, “Franz Kafka” (November 22, 2024 through April 13, 2025) uses colorful displays that include models, enlarged photographs, original manuscripts, diaries, and books to examine the life and legacy of Franz Kafka (1883–1924), the modernist writer who was born in Prague. Material from the Bodleian Libraries archives gives a sense of the writer’s family and his personality, interests and travels, feelings about Judaism, and struggle with tuberculosis. Among the writings are postcards to his favorite sister, Ottla, as well as the manuscripts of Amerika and The Castle. The manuscript of The Metamorphosis, the novella in which Gregor Samsa awakens as an insect, is presented alongside entomological works. One section explores the story of Max Brod, Kafka’s literary executor, who was instructed to burn Kafka’s unpublished work but went on to publish key novels. The exhibition also shows how Kafka’s work, with its themes of alienation and anxiety, continues to influence film, dance, theater, and art as well as literature.
Reaching Out
Some of the Bella da Costa Greene exhibition videos show one aspect of the Morgan’s outreach: the exhibition was co-curated by Erica Ciallela, recipient of a two-year Belle da Costa Greene Curatorial Fellowship, a program started in 2019 for “promising scholars with experiences and perspectives that have not been adequately reflected in the curatorial and special collections fields.”
For everyone who wants to explore more deeply, the Morgan offers tours (among them free highlight tours), Music at the Morgan concerts, film screenings, lectures, and other programs related to exhibitions or particular items. One 2025 program will feature Philip Glass’s Metamorphosis for solo piano and a discussion of how Kafka’s works influenced Glass. For Women’s History in March, the documentary Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn, will be screened, followed by a performance of her Easter Sonata, the autograph manuscript of which was acquired by the Morgan. The website and YouTube channel also offer extensive resources, including an online version of the Belle da Costa Greene exhibition.
The weekly Free Friday evening program has been extended an hour and takes place from 5 to 8 pm. Besides free museum entry, there’s live jazz in Gilbert Court. It’s also worth nothing that the historic rooms of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library are free to enter on Tuesday and Sunday from 3 to 5 pm.
As part of its outreach, in 2024 the Morgan began offering free admission to college students on the first Sunday of each month, along with other offerings aimed at a younger audience. Immersive activities are part of this, such as a December workshop in which participants look at illuminated manuscripts, make medieval paints, and use them in their own creation.
Side Dish
The Morgan Café in the light-filled central courtyard is a lovely, convenient spot for a light bite or larger lunch, elegant afternoon tea, or a drink. Well worth the block stroll to Park Avenue, Björk Café & Bistro in Scandinavia House presents Nordic and seasonal fare in a casual Scandinavian modern setting. Classics such as Swedish meatballs, a smorgasbord plate, gravlax with honey mustard sauce, and savory potato waffles are among the tempting options.
Linda Cabasin is a travel editor and writer who covered the globe at Fodor’s before taking up the freelance life. She’s a contributing editor at Fathom. Follow Linda on Instagram at @lcabasin.
Featured photo: From Madison Avenue it’s easy to distinguish Jack Morgan’s brownstone (left), the Morgan’s central modern entrance, and the 1928 Annex (right). Photo by Linda Cabasin
