Morgan Library & Museum in New York, USA

The Morgan Library & Museum is a museum, historic library, and non-circulating research library centered on the collection formed by financier and collector J. Pierpont Morgan. Its holdings range from ancient seals and medieval manuscripts to rare printed books, literary papers, music manuscripts, drawings, photographs, paintings, and other works of art. The institution also preserves Morgan’s original 1906 library, one of the defining parts of the museum experience today.

From J. Pierpont Morgan’s Private Library to a Public Institution

Morgan was assembling illuminated, literary, and historical manuscripts, early printed books, drawings, and prints by the 1890s. As the collection grew, he commissioned architect Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White to create a purpose-built library beside his Madison Avenue residence.

Construction took place from 1902 to 1906. McKim designed the building in a style inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture, using precisely fitted Tennessee pink marble for the exterior. The original structure remains the historic heart of the Morgan.

After Pierpont Morgan died in 1913, the library and much of its rare-book and manuscript collection passed to his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr., commonly known as Jack Morgan. In 1924, he established the Pierpont Morgan Library as a public institution. An adjoining building designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris was later constructed on the site of the elder Morgan’s former residence, and the institution opened its doors to the public in October 1928.

Belle da Costa Greene and the Development of the Library

Belle da Costa Greene played a central role in shaping the Morgan’s collections and its transition from private library to public institution. She began working for Pierpont Morgan in 1905 while the library building was nearing completion and became his librarian, managing acquisitions and developing relationships with booksellers, scholars, and collectors.

Greene continued to oversee the collection after Morgan’s death and became the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library when it was established as a public institution in 1924. She remained director until her retirement in 1948. Her former office is the North Room of the historic library and is now accessible to museum visitors.

Inside J. Pierpont Morgan’s Historic Library

The original McKim building contains four principal historic interiors: the East Room, Rotunda, West Room, and North Room. These spaces were designed not only for storing books and manuscripts but also for studying, displaying, and discussing the collection.

East Room

The East Room served as Morgan’s main library. Bookshelves rise through several levels beneath a decorated ceiling, and exhibition cases display changing selections from the Morgan’s holdings. One of the institution’s Gutenberg Bible volumes is traditionally displayed in the historic library, although objects on view can change for conservation or exhibition reasons.

West Room

The West Room was Pierpont Morgan’s study. Its furnishings and works of art help preserve the character of the room as a working and collecting space. A steel-lined vault built to hold rare materials and potential acquisitions is incorporated into the room.

Rotunda

The Rotunda originally served as the entrance to Morgan’s private library and connects the major historic rooms. Its marble surfaces, mosaics, paintings, and architectural decoration form part of McKim’s integrated design for the building.

North Room

The North Room was Belle da Costa Greene’s office for much of her career. It now functions as a gallery for early material from the collection, including ancient Western Asian seals and tablets and other works from the ancient and early medieval periods.

The interiors of the 1906 library underwent restoration completed in 2010. Work included cleaning marble and decorative surfaces, restoring original fixtures, improving lighting, conserving furnishings, and reopening the rooms with museum display cases suited to sensitive collection material.

What the Morgan Collects

The Morgan’s holdings extend far beyond the books that formed Pierpont Morgan’s original library. Its curatorial areas include ancient Western Asian seals and tablets, archives, drawings and prints, literary and historical manuscripts, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, modern and contemporary drawings, music manuscripts and printed music, paintings and art objects, photography, and printed books and bindings.

Rare Books and the Gutenberg Bibles

The printed-book collection covers centuries of Western book production, including incunables, illustrated books, fine bindings, children’s books, and first editions by major writers. The Morgan holds works associated with authors including Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Lord Byron, John Ruskin, and William Morris.

Among its best-known holdings are three copies of the Gutenberg Bible, produced in Mainz around 1455. The Morgan states that it is the only institution in the world to possess three copies. One is printed on vellum, while two are on paper; one of the paper copies contains only the Old Testament. The three copies entered Morgan’s collection through separate acquisitions.

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts

Illuminated manuscripts were one of Pierpont Morgan’s core collecting interests and remain one of the institution’s best-known areas. The holdings preserve handwritten and decorated books produced across different regions and periods, with many manuscript pages available through the Morgan’s online collections for detailed study.

Drawings and Prints

The Morgan holds nearly 12,000 drawings dating from the fourteenth through the twenty-first centuries. European drawings made before 1825 form a major part of the collection, while later European and American works are also represented. Artists in the holdings include Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, J. M. W. Turner, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and John James Audubon.

The collection grew sharply in 1909 when Morgan acquired about 1,500 old master drawings from artist and collector Charles Fairfax Murray. The museum has continued to add drawings through purchases, gifts, and bequests.

Music Manuscripts and Printed Music

The music collection contains approximately 40,000 items spanning six centuries. It includes autograph manuscripts, printed scores, letters, librettos, and related material. The holdings include works associated with Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Mahler, Debussy, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Schoenberg.

The Morgan also preserves an extensive Gilbert and Sullivan archive and major music collections assembled or given by collectors including Mary Flagler Cary, James Fuld, and Robert Owen Lehman.

The Modern Morgan Campus

The Morgan expanded beyond McKim’s original library as its collection and public functions grew. The 1928 Annex added exhibition and research space. Jack Morgan’s former nineteenth-century residence at Madison Avenue and 37th Street became part of the complex in 1988, and a garden court built in 1991 connected parts of the campus.

A larger expansion designed by architect Renzo Piano was completed in 2006. The project added about 75,000 square feet and increased exhibition space by more than half. Three steel-and-glass pavilions were integrated with the existing historic buildings around a central court. The project also added visitor facilities, a performance hall, a reading room, collection storage, and a Madison Avenue entrance.

Research Access

The Morgan remains an independent research library as well as a museum. Its rare books, manuscripts, drawings, archives, and other research materials do not circulate and cannot be checked out like books from a public lending library.

Qualified researchers may request appointments to consult relevant materials on site in the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room. The Morgan also provides extensive digital access. Its CORSAIR collection catalog contains records for hundreds of thousands of manuscripts, books, scores, drawings, prints, seals, tablets, and other objects, while separate online projects provide digitized manuscripts, drawings, music, and complete or partial facsimiles of selected works.

Hours, Admission, and Free Access Periods

The Morgan’s currently published museum and shop hours are 10:30 AM–5 PM Tuesday through Thursday, 10:30 AM–8 PM Friday, and 10:30 AM–5 PM Saturday and Sunday. The museum is closed Monday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Holiday closing times can differ, so the official visitor information page should be checked before a time-sensitive visit.

Current general admission is $25 for adults, $17 for visitors age 65 and over, and $13 for students with current identification. Children age 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. The museum lists a discounted $13 admission for visitors who identify as disabled, while accompanying caregivers receive free admission.

Free Friday admission is offered from 5 PM to 8 PM, with advance reservations required and tickets released one week ahead. The historic rooms of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library can also be visited free on Tuesday and Sunday from 3 PM to 5 PM without a reservation; this free access does not include special exhibitions. College students receive free admission on the first Sunday of each month under the museum’s Free College Sundays program.

Accessibility and Visitor Facilities

The Morgan Library & Museum and its programs are wheelchair accessible. Standard wheelchairs and seated walkers are available for visitors, and assistive listening devices are available for amplified programs in Gilder Lehrman Hall. Large-print labels for special exhibitions can be obtained through the museum or its website.

The Morgan Café and Morgan Shop can be entered without museum admission, although admission is required for the galleries and historic library. Visitors with a museum ticket may leave and re-enter during the same day.

The museum is located on Madison Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets in Manhattan. Nearby public transportation includes the 6 subway line at 33rd Street and the 4, 5, 6, and 7 lines at Grand Central. Because exhibitions, individual objects on display, admission policies, and special access arrangements can change, current visit details are maintained on the Morgan’s official website.