[bright music] - [Narrator] It's a cultural institution with discoveries to be made at every turn.
- The first time I came to the Morgan, there was so much to discover.
- You can walk through and have a lot of different experiences and interactions.
- [Narrator] Home to a dazzling array of works from the finest artists, thinkers, and writers that the world has ever seen.
- We are a repository for forever, but for some of the very greatest achievements in art, printing, literature, music.
- All of these works are so incredibly important in their own right, and just to have 'em all together gives me chills.
- [Narrator] Where the historic and contemporary come together to form a unique partnership.
- You walk into this extraordinary space filled with learning and scholarship.
- I mean to marvel at the library rooms and the objects on display, it's a completely unforgettable experience.
- [Narrator] Step inside the Morgan Library and Museum, a treasure of New York.
[bright music continues] Major funding for this program is provided by the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation with additional funding from the New York State Education Department.
[upbeat music] On Madison Avenue, in the heart of New York City.
anticipation is in the air as the Morgan Library and Museum opens its doors.
What was once the private library of financier J.P. Morgan has become a one of a kind institution that provides a remarkable experience to visitors from across the globe.
- It's the place to discover marvels and it's the space to discover really interesting, well thought out programs and exhibitions that expand knowledge or introduce knowledge in a way that is always, I believe, enjoyable and thoughtful.
- [Narrator] Walking through the Morgan, you encounter a place full of wonder where the Gilded Age and modern day converge.
- That you can come and see an exhibition of contemporary photography or drawing, but then also walk into the library and be transported to the Gilded Age, that is possible all within one visit.
- There's these wonderful connections that you can make between past and present in a rather intimate space.
- [Narrator] Visitors can engage with a collection of extraordinary quality that spans centuries and continents.
- When I meet someone who hasn't been to the Morgan before, one of the places I start is to tell them how deep and how broad the collections are here.
- [Narrator] From the letters of Charlotte Bronte, to drawings by Raphael, the first folio of William Shakespeare, to ancient seals and tablets, as you are about to see, the Morgan is a feast for the eye and the mind.
- One of my favorite objects is the earliest surviving manuscript of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
We have some incredible high spots in the history of literature and culture.
- It's just everything I pull off the shelf is surprising to me and that's the really amazing part about working here, the magic never wears off.
- [Narrator] A magic that hasn't worn off for generations.
The Morgan story begins over a century ago with banker and cultural benefactor, John Pierpont Morgan.
John Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17th, 1837 into one of the most distinguished families in New England.
His father, Junior Spencer Morgan, was a well-regarded businessman who immersed his son in the world of finance and banking at an early age.
- J.P. Morgan was extremely well educated.
He studies in Europe where there are Gutenberg bibles to be seen, and then he comes home and really learns the trade.
- [Narrator] Following in his father's footsteps, J. Pierpont Morgan began his finance career in 1857 and over time, his influence expanded.
By the turn of the century, he secured his place as a titan of industry.
- He is, in some ways, the most powerful financier and in way the guardian of the American economy until the First World War.
- He was key to the expansion of the railway system and the consolidation of the railways.
He also played a major role in organizing large corporations, such as General Electric or US Steel.
- [Narrator] Aside from banking, J. Pierpont Morgan had a passion for art, history and literature, as well as a desire to collect that began in his youth.
- Pierpont Morgan starts collecting autographed letters of US presidents and bishops when he was 13 years old.
He actually sent a letter to President Millard Fillmore in 1850 requesting his autograph.
- He was very cultured and this shaped his ideas for building a collection that could rival the greatest collections of Europe in the United States.
- [Narrator] While his fortune grew, Morgan was simultaneously growing his collection.
- I believe it's really when he comes into his huge inheritance after his father dies in 1890, and as he begins to realize what he has capacity to acquire, that he develops into the extraordinary collector that he becomes.
- [Narrator] Acquiring works that spanned time, place, style, and medium, Morgan's attention span was vast.
He collected medieval masterpieces, such as the Lindau Gospels, objects from ancient civilizations, old master paintings by artists, like Hans Memling and Pietro Perugino.
Drawings by acclaimed draftsmen, including Albrecht Durer and Jean Antoine Watteau.
- And then, a suite, a full suite of Rembrandt etchings that he's devoted to build as the greatest in the country, perhaps, outside of Amsterdam, the greatest in the world.
- [Narrator] Morgan's enthusiasm for books, bindings and manuscripts was also profound.
Having acquired such works as the sole surviving manuscript of John Milton's "Paradise Lost", "The Journals of Henry David Thoreau", and not one, but three Gutenberg Bibles.
- His collecting taste and his sort of his power and magnificence as a collector really developed, by the end of the 19th century, he had a library of over 3,000 books.
- He was very interested in great authors and the manuscripts they left behind.
He was also very interested in the lives of prominent individuals throughout history, the collection was really all encompassing and, you know, covered almost every format of cultural object we can imagine.
- [Narrator] An illustrious collection of great size and scope, Morgan realized he needed a separate space to house what he amassed and what he anticipated acquiring in the future.
- Morgan was building these collections and putting most of his books and manuscripts in his elegant, but limited sized townhouse at the corner of Madison and 36th Street, and it was certainly a grand brownstone, but there was no real space for books and objects.
- He picked up the phone and called his near neighbor, Charles Follen McKim, of the architectural firm, McKim, Mead and White and asked him to come over to breakfast, and at that point, he discussed with McKim the commission for the building.
- [Narrator] Charles McKim was an architect who gained prominence by designing grand masterpieces, such as the Boston Public Library and the University Club of New York.
For Morgan, he was tasked with designing a library that reflected the nature and stature of the collector's holdings.
- Eventually, he arrived at a concept that Morgan was very excited about and it was a very austere classic exterior.
But when you went through the doors and were welcomed into the interior, it was one that would be modeled on Renaissance examples, but with the most exquisite and sumptuous materials.
- [Narrator] Adjacent to Morgan's residence on Madison Avenue and 36th Street, the library was built between the years of 1902 and 1906.
Upon its completion, it stood as a testament to the splendors of architecture and design, as well as history and tradition.
- You would not for a minute think that we were in the modern world here, we are stepping back to 16th century Rome and beyond that to antiquity.
- [Narrator] Reflected in McKim's design was a kinship with the ancient world and an embracement of Renaissance ideals and traditions.
- The building's a remarkable construction that tries to create a visual impact to let you know that what's in this building is worthy of study and preservation.
- [Narrator] The building features rooms that are harmoniously aligned, reflecting an atmosphere of beauty and contemplation.
In the center, there is the rotunda, a vaulted entrance foyer from which radiates Morgan's private study, the librarian's office, and the magnificent library that serves as a temple of knowledge.
- Morgan was committed to this idea of learning and learning through engagement with cultural objects and the building itself, the architecture is very much reflective of that.
- It seems like this infinite possibility that you could open any of these cases and get lost in a book and in the world inside that book.
- He doesn't wanna come down to Wall Street anymore, he just wants to be in his library.
I think he feels that he's completed his life work.
- [Narrator] Having enjoyed his collection privately during the later years of his life, Morgan recognized that it had a greater purpose.
From this came a wish to make it accessible to scholars and the public alike.
- While you have this public perception of Morgan as this captain of industry, there's also this other side of his personality and of his persona is that he was a philanthropist, he really had an obligation and a passion to build that collection for the American people.
- [Narrator] After Morgan's death in 1913, it was up to his son J.P. Morgan Jr., known as Jack, to make this dream a reality.
While many of the artworks his father acquired were donated to museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jack retained a portion of the collection and formed a public institution.
An addition would be built adjacent to Morgan's library to create more space to house what was kept, which included books, manuscripts, drawings, and prints.
- He decided to take down his parents' brownstone and commissioned Benjamin Worcester Morris to build the annex building, and integral to that was always that there would be a reading room for scholars and an exhibition gallery to show the collection - [Narrator] Commissioned in 1924, the annex was a means to which this collection could serve as a resource to the greater public.
Complimenting Morgan's library, both in layout and design, it was completed in four years and, in October of 1928, the Morgan Library officially opened its doors.
- It was a cultural gift to the country because for the first time, scholars, educators, thinkers and collectors could come to an institution and see a tremendous representation of examples of the earliest printed books in the West.
- [Narrator] In the years that followed, the Morgan Library continued to grow as an institution and repository of some of history's most prominent thinkers and creators.
It flourished, thanks in large part, to Belle da Costa Greene, the institution's first director.
- Belle da Costa Greene was really one of the most prominent librarians in American history, and she ran the Morgan Library both as the private librarian and then the director until her retirement in 1948.
- [Narrator] Born in 1879, Belle da Costa Greene grew up in a predominantly African-American community in Washington DC.
Faced with racism and sexism, she carved a space for herself in the world of rare books and manuscripts.
- Many people of color during this period that had the ability to pass in certain situations and use that to their advantage figured out strategies and means by which they could do so.
The question of Belle da Costa Greene and her ability to create a space for herself, that involves building relationships with people of means, people with immense sense of cultural capital.
- She first came to the Morgan through Pierpont Morgan's nephew, Junius Spencer Morgan, who worked at Princeton University as a university librarian and that's where Belle Greene actually had her first library position.
- [Narrator] In need of a librarian to manage his vast holdings, J.P. Morgan hired Greene per Junius' recommendation.
Confident, determined, and extremely well versed, Greene would ultimately come to not just manage but build the collection itself.
- She really, really uplifted the quality of acquisitions and was very discerning, very savvy at identifying and securing many of the sort of greatest known works in our collection.
- She became so adept, especially in the auction room, the feathered plume of her hat was said to actually frighten other bidders in the room 'cause they knew, "Uh-oh, Belle Greene is here."
- [Narrator] A career that spanned decades, Belle da Costa Greene helped make the Morgan what it is today.
- Near the end of her career, a friend of Belle Greene's described her as the soul of the Morgan Library, and I really think that's how I think of her and that's how many people on staff here think of Greene when we see her enduring legacy in our work today.
[bright music] - [Narrator] Because of the insight and foresight to figures like Belle da Costa Greene, Jack Morgan and J.P. Morgan, the Morgan Library and Museum has grown into a major cultural institution that embraces its past and places value in the present.
- What visitors can expect to see is a thriving cultural institution that is nimble enough to move and speak to the relevance of many of the cultural issues that are important to engage with today.
But also, from a perspective that is rooted in tradition and anchored in history.
- [Narrator] In elegant historic rooms and thoughtful contemporary spaces, visitors unlock a chest full of treasures where knowledge is preserved and the creative process is celebrated.
- Showing the birth of an idea, the trail by which artists and writers and sculptors and musicians and composers think about something that they are excited about, but also showing the fully realized achievement in these many different areas.
- [Narrator] Human thought and creativity is made visible through incomparable literary manuscripts, such as Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", Antoine de Saint-Exupery's, "The Little Prince", and Jane Austen's "Lady Susan".
- This is the only surviving complete draft of a Jane Austen novel in existence.
Presumably the manuscripts of "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma", "Sense and Sensibility", et cetera, were actually thrown away or destroyed when the books were published.
This is one of the great treasures of British literature.
- [Narrator] Everywhere you turn, treasure is abound.
You can contemplate handwritten letters and notebooks of historical and cultural importance.
- One is this incredible letter written by Mary Queen of Scots to Bess of Hardwick while she was imprisoned in Tutbury Castle in England.
You can see her handwriting is not very neat and is written quite hastily.
You can see the impact of the cold and the weariness.
So we really see that emotion, I think, in the handwriting itself.
- [Narrator] Examples of some of the earliest printed books and bindings are similarly on display, along with classics in the history of literature, with authors like Mary Shelley and Miguel de Cervantes represented.
[bright music continues] - There's over 50 books that we have printed by William Caxton, we have poems on various subjects by Phillis Wheatley, a single issue magazine called "Fire", which was a Harlem Renaissance publication, contributors including Aaron Douglas, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes.
One of I think the more important works in the collection, "The Wampanoag Bible", which I think resonates with Lenape and other indigenous communities that are in the area.
- [Narrator] A wide assortment of cultural objects awaken the imagination and stimulate curiosity.
At the Morgan, you'll find a variety of antiquities.
This includes cylinder seals, which were used in ancient times as a form of authentication.
- Morgan was very much excited by the ancient world, and he assembled one of the most extraordinary collections of ancient cylinder seals in existence.
It's almost as if it were a visualization of a complete timeline of human history from the beginnings of writing until today.
- [Narrator] The Morgan Library and Museum likewise plays a leading role in the field of drawings and prints, with holdings that bridge the 14th through 21st centuries.
- Just the idea of having this piece of paper that Rembrandt held in his hand, that Michelangelo was doodling on, that Leonardo was thinking through a problem to solve, there's this sense of an extreme closeness to somebody working through an idea creating something beautiful on a very humble surface.
- [Narrator] A comprehensive collection that also includes medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, modern and contemporary drawings, music manuscripts, printed music and photography, the Morgan awakens minds and enriches lives by presenting incredible works of art.
- I remember the first time that I was able to turn the page of the Gutenberg Bible here, I broke down in tears.
The power of literacy, the power of the printed word to democratize knowledge, understanding all the history and what it has meant for my life and what it means to the lives of others.
- [Narrator] It is that kind of history that is all around you and can be appreciated year-round through exhibitions and programs, like musical performances, readings, lectures, and illuminating tours.
- So this is J.P. Morgan's study, also known as his man cave, it is where he came to relax.
Regal, what about the colors?
- If you come on one of our our docent tours of the library, it will be lively, they will ask questions, they'll engage you and it's an opportunity to sort of step out of that passive world and enter into one that is much more engaging.
- We are a public institution devoted to bringing as large an audience to come and see the many areas of our collection and to be inspired, to be informed, to be uplifted, and to be educated on topics that are of interest.
- [Narrator] Engagement at the Morgan also consists of educational outreach.
Informative school programs are building the next generation of creative thinkers.
- My feeling has always been that the great writers, artists, thinkers are always relevant.
They need to be reintroduced to every generation.
We can find in them ideas, concerns that particularly touch us at the moment but we can also be introduced to worlds that we are not familiar with.
- The students of tomorrow are always, I love to meet them and show them this incredible collection.
Bringing people to the objects, that's really the main thing that keeps us going - [Narrator] Committed to learning and scholarship, the Morgan serves as a working library where material from the collection is made available both online and in person.
- These books that you see on the shelf, many of these books are available for research and are researched by scholars and students alike.
- [Narrator] Each year, people from around the world make the journey to the Drawing Institute and the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room to access material that can't be seen anywhere else.
- We have researchers, artists, writers, teachers from around the world who visit our reading room to look at our collections and it's really exciting that we have such a wide variety of people that come here.
- They can have access to the most extraordinary treasures of human thought and all are welcome.
- [Narrator] Recognizing the importance of these beloved treasures, the Morgan created the Thaw Conservation Center, an on-campus world-class laboratory dedicated to preserving the Morgan's holdings for generations to come.
- In some ways, it's the heart and soul of the Morgan.
We have a really first rate conservation team that looks after the collection.
- This is done with watercolor and gouache.
Over time, the pigments have dried out a little bit so they've offset onto the other side 'cause this leaf is normally folded so I'm just picking them up with a little cosmetic sponge.
It's a wonderful, colorful, beautiful piece by Sonia Delaunay.
- The work of the Conservation Center is really central to the Morgan's institutional mission.
It's an essential part of collection stewardship to make sure that the things that we acquire will be safely housed and preserved and will be there for audiences of the future.
- [Narrator] Amongst the hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan, the Morgan Library and Museum is a window to the past with an eye to the future.
Over the years, it has undergone a series of forward-thinking transformations, including the largest expansion in its history, designed by award-winning architect Renzo Piano, the 2006 expansion added 75,000 square feet to the campus and seamlessly integrated old and new elements.
- Piano did an extraordinary job creating almost a piazza on Madison, between Madison and Park, giving us all of the facilities that a modern institution wants to be able to offer its visitors, somewhere to eat, somewhere to sit, as well as expanded space for all of the collections and exhibitions.
- Over my time at the Morgan, the institution has been really transformed.
Its physical campus is one of the most spectacular spaces in the city.
- [Narrator] Since its expansion in 2006, the Morgan has continued to blossom.
New life has been given to the exterior of J.P. Morgan's library owing to a multi-year restoration.
- Preserving our historic architecture is just as important as preserving everything that it contains.
Reviving just the vision of that beautiful classical facade and a main entryway, the presentation now is absolutely beautiful.
- [Narrator] Beauty is also ever-present, while walking through the Morgan's garden, which had its inaugural season in 2022, developed by renowned landscape architect, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, it exists as an enduring green space in the ever-changing city scape.
- The exquisite craftsmanship is completely in tandem with the craftsmanship of the building, which is absolutely meticulous.
- It's wonderful to see our visitors rediscovering the Morgan, rediscovering a space that they thought they already knew.
- [Narrator] From its beginnings as a private library to its role today as a public institution, the Morgan Library and Museum has established itself as a treasure unlike any other.
It is a haven for the arts and humanities and a welcoming home to New Yorkers and visitors from across the globe.
- In a big city that reinvents itself, every generation, the Morgan Library and Museum invites you in, it wants you to become part of this ecosystem, which is to look at old and new, historic and contemporary, and it is part of the New York story that is most admirable, the desire to collect, the desire to preserve, the desire to interpret and the desire to share.
[gentle music] - [Narrator] Major funding for this program is provided by the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation with additional funding from the New York State Education Department.
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