To date while in Tarrytown, we have walked from the house, driven into neighboring towns or driven or took the train north on our little excursions. Today, we finally took the train into New York City. We went to visit a library made possible by John Pierpont Morgan, another of America’s Gilded Age Barons, many of whom seem to have made their money based in this area.
After a breakfast at the little cafe in the Tarrytown train station, we caught an express train into the city. The end of the line for the Hudson Line Trains is Grand Central Station. That is where we were headed, and there was only 1 stop before that, so the trip in took about 40 minutes.
We had tickets for an 11:30 entry to the Morgan Library and Museum, about an 8 minute walk from Grand Central Station. This museum and independent research library began as the personal library of John Pierpont Morgan, a banker and financier whose company, Drexel, Morgan, and Company, was involved in incorporating General Electric in 1889, reorganizing American railroads in the 1890s, and establishing United States Steel in 1901.
Mr. Morgan’s Library, as it was known in his lifetime, was built between 1902 and 1906 adjacent to his New York residence. It was originally built as three rooms in an Italian Renaissance style palazzo. In 1924, 11 years after his death, his son John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., fulfilled his father’s dream of making the library and collections available to the public by transforming it into a public institution.
A key player in Morgan’s impressive collection was Belle Da Costa Greene, a young, single Black woman who was passing as White in the segregated country. Her first librarian job was at Princeton, where she met Mr. Morgan’s nephew who recommended her to his uncle. Her story is perhaps most well known now from the recent book, “The Personal Librarian.”
the first Director of the library and museum
the two Italian Renaissance style buildings
designed by Charles Follen McKim
We never did see how one might access this upper level.
I took some photos of a couple of the volumes that were on display in the cases.
by the German novelist Goethe (“Faust”).
He produced 14 volumes of scientific writings.
In this book, he discussed his ideas on the emotional effects
of color and the interaction of light and shadow.
is a national epic of Ethiopia. It traces the Solomonic dynasty from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
The library supports the annual Morgan Book Project, a yearlong partnership program for 3rd-12th grade classes in New York City public schools. Participating classes visit the Morgan to explore the collections and learn about traditional methods of bookmaking and then create books based on their visits. Some of the honored pieces were on display.
and received the Director’s Choice Award.
and a champion of women’s rights.
She also helped raise money to fund
the rebuilding of France after WWI.
The train we brought back to Tarrytown was a local with a number of stops before Tarrytown, so the trip back took about an hour.
Peckish Travels 