The Weekly Croissant: Historic Art Hoes

Belle da Costa Greene

Dear Croissants,

Back when I was a kid, I used to love reading historical fiction. It started with the American Girl Doll books, and then as I grew older, the “Dear America” series. Maybe some of you remember these? They were written as diaries and had these amazing ribbon bookmarks in them. I would chomp these books down like Dorritos! I was telling George recently how after “lights out” I could scootch to the very edge of my bed to catch some rays from the hallway light in order to continue reading my books. Very unsurprisingly, I soon needed glasses.

The other day I started listening to a podcast from the London Review of Books. It was an interview with Francesca Wade about Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian of JP Morgan. In light of two new books and an exhibit about Greene, Wade wrote an article about this amazing woman, who was in charge of traveling the world and acquiring rare manuscripts for the NYC-based financier and millionaire.

I had never heard of Greene, but her story is incredible. Apparently, both of her parents identified as black, but at some point, after her father left the family, her mother started “passing” as white, along with her children. As a white woman, Greene was able to attend Librarian school at Princeton and eventually land her job with Morgan, neither of which would have been possible as a black woman at the time. She went on to curate one of the foremost collections of rare books and after
Morgan’s death she turned it into a public library which she directed for 25 years.

I have to believe Greene is one of the foremost examples of historic Art Hoedom in America. Which begs the question, is it time for an “Art Hoes of America” YA series? Who else should we nominate?

Yours in Pastry

Rachel