{"id":10474,"date":"2025-08-06T01:19:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/?p=10474"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:20:12","slug":"the-personal-librarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/the-personal-librarian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Personal Librarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As a librarian and writer, it is fun to read about topics that somehow involve books, whether in terms of libraries<\/a>, bookstores<\/a>, or even other writers<\/a>. It\u2019s like a behind-the-scenes look into the career and subject matter that you have devoted your life to pursuing. And of course it is impossible NOT to compare the experiences in the book to your own!<\/p>\n

This was the case with my most recent read, The Personal Librarian<\/a>, <\/em>by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. This book had been on my list for a while and hits several of my interest areas \u2013 historical fiction, libraries, and the Gilded Age. It is a fascinating story about the real-life librarian tasked with curating and maintaining the library of the demanding, uber-wealthy financier and banker J.P. Morgan. Starting in 1905, Belle da Costa Greene was hired for this challenging task. No small feat, since not only was she a woman during a time when women had yet to even gain the right to vote, but she was also a woman of color whose family chose to identify as white to avoid discrimination and racism. Born Belle Marion Greener, the light-skinned Greene, her mother and siblings changed their surname from Greener to Greene and claimed Portuguese heritage in order to pass as white.<\/p>\n

Greene attended the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies and then Amherst College\u2019s Summer School of Library Economy, where she began her library science training. She then honed her library and cataloguing skills and gained a great deal of rare books knowledge while working at Princeton University. This in itself was intriguing \u2013 learning more about the experiences of being a librarian at a prestigious university at the turn of the twentieth century. (Oh, how things have changed in today\u2019s digital age!) While at Princeton, she met Morgan\u2019s nephew, Junius Spencer Morgan II, who suggested Greene would be perfect to run his uncle\u2019s library. Greene interviewed and got the job, a life-changing experience for both her and Mr. Morgan.<\/p>\n

Greene had to overcome A LOT, living in fear her entire life that her true identity would be revealed. Her father was Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and well-known advocate for equality, but when her parents divorced and her mother decided to move Belle and her other children to New York and away from their Black community in Washington D.C., she largely lost that connection with him, his family and that whole part of her heritage. \u00a0Nevertheless, she thrived and succeeded at what she did, which was serving as an archivist, an art and fine books dealer, and a confidant to Morgan, ultimately building him a world-class collection and becoming a society fixture and powerful negotiator within the art and book world.<\/p>\n

Even though the book is a work of historical fiction, much of it stems from Greene\u2019s experiences. Authors Benedict and Murray acknowledged that they \u201cendeavored to share the life and legacy of Belle da Costa Greene as accurately as possible,\u201d discussing some of their challenges and the changes they made in the book\u2019s Historical Note section. The end result is an intriguing look behind the scenes of the library and fine art world during this pivotal point in history, as well as a treatise on systemic racism<\/a> and the effects of microaggressions so rampant within the United States. Belle was hugely successful and led an extremely interesting life, yet could never fully acknowledge her true background. She also never married or had children, as she was worried this could possibly expose her secret. As a fellow librarian, I admire her spunk, tenaciousness, and many contributions to the library community while wishing she had been able to truly enjoy all her successes while being recognized for her true identity.<\/p>\n

Some other similar books on my \u201cto-read\u201d list:<\/p>\n