{"id":61117,"date":"2021-07-17T00:53:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T00:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=61117"},"modified":"2021-07-17T00:54:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T00:54:20","slug":"j-p-morgans-librarian-hid-her-race-a-novel-imagines-the-toll-on-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=61117","title":{"rendered":"J.P. Morgan\u2019s librarian hid her race. A novel imagines the toll on her."},"content":{"rendered":"

J.P. Morgan\u2019s librarian hid her race. A novel imagines the toll on her.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Christian Science Monitor<\/a>
\n2021-06-29<\/p>\n

Heller McAlpin<\/strong><\/a>, Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nLibrary of Congress<\/em>
\nBelle da Costa Greene<\/a>, shown in 1929, curated rare books for mogul J.P. Morgan<\/a>. She was the first director of the Morgan Library<\/a>.<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Some books leave you wondering why the author has chosen to tell this particular story, and why now. This is emphatically not the case with \u201cThe Personal Librarian<\/a>,\u201d a novel about the woman who helped shape the Morgan Library\u2019s<\/a> spectacular collection of rare books and art more than a century ago. It quickly becomes clear why two popular authors, Marie Benedict<\/a> and Victoria Christopher Murray<\/a>, have teamed up to tell this important, inspirational story.<\/p>\n

Belle da Costa Greene\u2019s<\/a> success in the almost exclusively male world of art and rare book dealers was an unusual feat for a woman in the early 20th century. But what makes it even more extraordinary \u2013 and such rich material for historical fiction \u2013 is the secret she harbored throughout her long career: She hailed from a prominent, light-skinned Black family, many of whose members had chosen to pass as white<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Personal Librarian\u201d reminds readers that this decision was not made lightly. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act<\/a> in 1883 \u2013 a ruling that ushered in Jim Crow segregation<\/a> and gave white supremacy and racial discrimination legal cover, the ramifications of which are felt to this day \u2013 few opportunities were open to anyone classified as nonwhite…<\/p>\n

Read the entire book review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J.P. Morgan\u2019s librarian hid her race. A novel imagines the toll on her. The Christian Science Monitor 2021-06-29 Heller McAlpin, Correspondent Library of Congress Belle da Costa Greene, shown in 1929, curated rare books for mogul J.P. Morgan. She was the first director of the Morgan Library. Some books leave you wondering why the author […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1245,5,459,8,6462,20,25],"tags":[31643,13974,1429,31642,31644,31646,31647,5666,31645],"class_list":["post-61117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-biography","category-book-reviews","category-history","category-media-archive","category-passing-2","category-usa","category-women","tag-belle-marion-greener","tag-christian-science-monitor","tag-j-p-morgan","tag-john-pierpont-morgan","tag-marie-benedict","tag-morgan-library","tag-pierpont-morgan-library","tag-the-christian-science-monitor","tag-victoria-christopher-murray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61121,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61117\/revisions\/61121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}