View source for Morgan Library & Museum

{{Short description|Institution in Manhattan, New York}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox museum
| name                           = Morgan Library & Museum
| image                          = Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2017 02.jpg
| image_size                     = 250
| caption                        = The main building
| mapframe                       = yes
| mapframe-zoom                  = 12
| mapframe-marker                = museum
| mapframe-wikidata              = yes
| mapframe-frame-width           = 250
| mapframe-frame-height          = 250
| coordinates                    = {{Coord|40|44|57|N|73|58|53|W|type:landmark_region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| former_name                    = Pierpont Morgan Library
| established                    = {{start date|1906}} (private library)<br>{{start date|1924|03|28}} (public institution)
| location                       = 225 [[Madison Avenue]] (at [[36th Street (Manhattan)|East 36th Street]]), [[Manhattan]], New York, U.S.
| type                           = [[Museum]] and [[research library]]
| collection_size                = 350,000<ref name="AR-2002-10" /><ref name="The New York Sun 2006 f917" />
| visitors                       = 274,000 (fiscal year 2019)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/13-1624146 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library |publisher=GuideStar |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-date=February 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222064029/https://www.guidestar.org/profile/13-1624146 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| founder                        = [[J. P. Morgan]]
| director                       = [[Colin B. Bailey]]
| architect                      = [[Charles Follen McKim]] (main building)<br>[[Benjamin Wistar Morris (architect)|Benjamin Wistar Morris]] (main building annex)<br>[[Isaac Newton Phelps]] (231 Madison Avenue)<br>[[Renzo Piano]] and [[Beyer Blinder Belle]] (expansion)
| publictransit                  = [[New York City Subway|Subway]]: {{NYCS Grand Central|time=bullets}} at [[Grand Central–42nd Street (New York City Subway)|Grand Central–42nd Street]]<br />{{NYCS Lexington local day|time=bullets}} at [[33rd Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)|33rd Street]]<br />[[New York City Bus|Bus]]: {{NYC bus link|M1|M2|M3|M4|M34 SBS|M34A SBS|M42|Q32}}<ref>{{Cite NYC bus map|M}}</ref>
| parking                        = 
| website                        = {{URL|themorgan.org}}
| embedded                       = 
{{Infobox NRHP
| embed                          = yes
| name                           = J. Pierpont Morgan Library
| nrhp_type                      = nhl
| map_label                      = Morgan Library & Museum
| designated_nrhp_type           = November 13, 1966 (main building)<ref name="nhlsum" />
| added                          = November 13, 1966 (main building)<ref name="nris" />
| refnum                         = 66000544<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
| visitation_num                 = 
| visitation_year                = 
| designated_other1              = New York State Register of Historic Places
| designated_other1_abbr         = NYSRHP
| designated_other1_date         = June 23, 1980<ref>{{cite web |title=Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) |publisher=[[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]] |date=November 7, 2014 |url=https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ |access-date=July 20, 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
| designated_other1_number       = 06101.000434
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
| designated_other2_name         = New York City Landmark
| designated_other2_date         = May 17, 1966 (main building exterior)<ref name="NYCL-0239" /><br>March 23, 1982 (main building interior)<ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=1}}</ref><br>February 26, 2002 (231 Madison Avenue exterior)<ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=1}}</ref>
| designated_other2_abbr         = NYCL
| designated_other2_link         = New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
| designated_other2_number       = 0239, 1119, 2114
| designated_other2_color        = #ffe978
}}
}}

The '''Morgan Library & Museum''' (originally known as the '''Pierpont Morgan Library''' and colloquially known as '''the Morgan''') is a museum and research library in [[New York City]], New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the [[private library]] of the banker [[J. P. Morgan]], the institution is housed at 225 [[Madison Avenue]] in the [[Murray Hill, Manhattan|Murray Hill]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]]. {{As of|2024}}, the museum is directed by [[Colin B. Bailey]] and governed by a board of trustees.

The site was formerly occupied by several Phelps family residences, one of which was sold to J. P. Morgan in 1880. After collecting thousands of objects in the late 19th century, Morgan erected the main library building between 1902 and 1906, with [[Belle da Costa Greene]] serving as its first librarian for more than four decades. The library was made a public institution in 1924 by J. P. Morgan's son [[J. P. Morgan, Jr.|John Pierpont Morgan Jr.]], in accordance with his father's will, and further expansions were completed in 1928, 1962, and 1991. The Morgan Library was renamed the Morgan Library & Museum after the completion of a major expansion in 2006. Further renovations were completed in 2010 and 2022.

The Morgan Library & Museum is composed of several structures. The main building was designed by [[Charles Follen McKim|Charles McKim]] of the firm of [[McKim, Mead and White]], with an annex designed by [[Benjamin Wistar Morris (architect)|Benjamin Wistar Morris]]. A 19th-century Italianate brownstone house at 231 Madison Avenue, built by [[Isaac Newton Phelps]], is also part of the grounds. The complex includes three additional structures, including a glass entrance building designed by [[Renzo Piano]] and [[Beyer Blinder Belle]]. The main building and its interior is a [[New York City designated landmark]] and a [[National Historic Landmark]], while the house at 231 Madison Avenue is a designated city landmark.

The Morgan Library & Museum's collection has more than 350,000 objects, which include [[illuminated manuscript]]s, authors' original manuscripts, books, and sheets of music. The Morgan also houses collections of drawings, photographs, paintings, maps, and other objects. In addition to its permanent collection, the museum has hosted temporary exhibitions, as well as events such as concerts and lectures. Both the collection and the original building's architecture have received praise over the years, while the annexes' architecture has received mixed commentary.

== History ==

=== Background ===

==== Phelps Stokes/Dodge houses ====
In the second half of the 19th century, the Morgan Library & Museum's site was occupied by four brownstone houses on the east side of Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th Street to the north. The houses were all built in 1852 or 1853 by members of the Phelps Stokes/Dodge merchant family.<ref name="nyt20010826">{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=August 26, 2001 |title=Streetscapes/Morgan Library's Bookstore at 37th Street and Madison Avenue; A Brownstone Holdout Among the Skyscrapers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/realestate/streetscapes-morgan-library-s-bookstore-37th-street-madison-avenue-brownstone.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423000451/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/realestate/streetscapes-morgan-library-s-bookstore-37th-street-madison-avenue-brownstone.html |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 2">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=2}}</ref> Three houses were built along Madison Avenue on lots measuring {{Convert|65|ft||abbr=}} wide by {{Convert|157|ft||abbr=}} deep, while a fourth house to the east measured {{Convert|18|ft||abbr=}} wide and stretched {{Convert|197.5|ft||abbr=}} between 37th and 36th Streets. All the houses were designed in an Italianate style with pink brownstone.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 2" /> A driveway and stables were located behind the homes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=November 4, 2010 |title=New York's Rare Family Compounds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/realestate/07scapes.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195542/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/realestate/07scapes.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Madison Avenue houses, from north to south, were owned by Isaac Newton Phelps, [[William E. Dodge]], and [[John Jay Phelps]], while the 37th Street house was owned by George D. Phelps.<ref name="nyt20010826" /><ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 2" /> The houses were separated from each other by gardens.<ref name="Detroit Free Press 1908">{{Cite news |date=March 15, 1908 |title=A Stonishing Extravagances of the Hopelessly Rich: How J. Pierpont Morgan Tore Down a Half Million Dollar Mansion to Make a Garden Palaces of Other Multi-Millionaires |page=D4 |work=Detroit Free Press |id={{ProQuest|564128665}}}}</ref> The surrounding neighborhood of [[Murray Hill, Manhattan|Murray Hill]] was not yet developed at the time, but began to grow after the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{harvnb|ps=|Strouse|1999|p=74}}; {{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|pp=2–3}}</ref>

{{Stack|[[File:231 Madison Avenue - Morgan Library & Museum (51878305458).jpg|alt=The Isaac Newton Phelps house at 231 Madison Avenue, a brownstone house, as seen from diagonally across Madison Avenue and 36th Street|thumb|The Isaac Newton Phelps house at 231 Madison Avenue predates the rest of the Morgan Library & Museum.]]}}

Isaac Newton Phelps's daughter Helen married [[Anson Phelps Stokes]] in 1865. Their son, the architect [[Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes]], was born in the Isaac Newton Phelps house at 231 Madison Avenue two years later. Helen Phelps inherited the house following her father's death. In 1888, she doubled the size of her house and added an attic; the architect [[R. H. Robertson]] designed the expansion.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 2" />

The banker [[J. P. Morgan|John Pierpont Morgan]], who lived at 6 East 40th Street in the 1870s,<ref name="TL p. 65">{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|page=65}}</ref> was looking to buy his own house by 1880. He wished to live in Murray Hill, where many of his and his wife's friends and business contacts lived.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 3">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=3}}</ref> Morgan sought to buy John Jay Phelps's house at 219 Madison Avenue, at the corner with 36th Street, which was offered for $225,000.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 3" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Strouse|1999|p=195}}</ref> He acquired the house in 1880 and renovated it over the following two years, moving there in 1882.<ref name="TL p. 65" /><ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 3" /> The exterior design was largely retained, but the interior was extensively renovated by the [[Herter Brothers]].<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 3" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Strouse|1999|pp=226–229}}</ref>

==== Morgan collection ====
Morgan had collected handwriting samples as early as the 1850s,<ref name="Boyce p. 21">{{harvnb|Boyce|1952|ps=.|page=21}}</ref> and he also acquired pictures and [[stained glass]] pieces throughout the years.<ref name="Chapin 1971">{{cite news |last=Chapin |first=Louis |date=July 23, 1971 |title=Museum Treasure Hunt: Pierpont Morgan Library |work=The Christian Science Monitor |page=8 |issn=0882-7729 |id={{ProQuest|511256520}}}}</ref><ref name="Russell 1988">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=April 20, 1988 |title=Morgan Library, In an Expansion, Is Buying a Neighboring Mansion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/20/arts/morgan-library-in-an-expansion-is-buying-a-neighboring-mansion.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422024428/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/20/arts/morgan-library-in-an-expansion-is-buying-a-neighboring-mansion.html |archive-date=April 22, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the late 19th century, Morgan became one of the most influential financiers in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=|National Park Service|1966|p=5}}; {{harvnb|Wilson|1983|pp=218–219|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="Roth p. 288">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=288|ps=.}}</ref> As his wealth grew, Morgan amassed a collection of fine art, inspired by the collection of his father [[Junius Spencer Morgan]], and he also began collecting rare books and other bindings at his nephew [[Junius Spencer Morgan II|Junius]]'s suggestion. The fine art was subject to import taxes and was stored in England; since books were not subject to import taxes, they were stored in the basement of his New York residence.<ref name="Roth p. 288" /><ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=|pp=3–4}}; {{harvnb|ps=.|Strouse|1999|pp=11–21}}</ref> J. P. Morgan's collection included 160 titles by 1883.<ref name="Boyce p. 21" />

The collection grew quickly after his father died in 1890.<ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Adams|1974|p=7}}</ref> Morgan began acquiring historically important manuscripts after his father obtained [[Walter Scott]]'s original manuscript of the book ''[[Guy Mannering]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1952|ps=.|pages=21–22}}</ref> From 1899 to 1902 alone, he took over three collectors' libraries, which included hundreds of illuminated manuscripts, prints, and other manuscripts.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1952|ps=.|page=22}}</ref> Morgan also acquired smaller collections, such as French literature, medieval chivalry, and American manuscript collections.<ref name="Boyce p. 23">{{harvnb|Boyce|1952|ps=.|page=23}}</ref> Morgan may have collected these objects exclusively for pleasure and not for investment purposes.<ref name="Davis 1974">{{cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Douglas |date=April 1, 1974 |title=Morgan's Treasure |magazine=Newsweek |pages=85 |volume=83 |issue=13 |id={{ProQuest|1866774792}}}}</ref> Morgan brought his art collection to the U.S. because an 1897 law allowed him to do it without paying import taxes, and also because he wanted to preserve the objects for the American people.<ref>{{harvnb|Byard|2008|ps=.|pages=21–23}}</ref>

=== Development of library ===
By 1900, Morgan's collection took up more space than was available in his residence,<ref name="TL p. 65" /><ref name="nyt19811230">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=December 30, 1981 |title=Morgan Library Show Traces 75-Year History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/30/arts/morgan-library-show-traces-75-year-history.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051430/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/30/arts/morgan-library-show-traces-75-year-history.html |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and his son-in-law described the basement as being packed with piles of objects.<ref name="nyt-1981-12-30">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=December 30, 1981 |title=Morgan Library Show Traces 75-Year History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/30/arts/morgan-library-show-traces-75-year-history.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051430/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/30/arts/morgan-library-show-traces-75-year-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of his collection had to be stored at the [[Lenox Library (New York City)|Lenox Library]].<ref>{{harvnb|Byard|2008|ps=.|page=21}}</ref> Morgan was unable to expand the house due to an {{convert|18|ft|m|-wide|adj=mid}} driveway east of it.<ref name="nyt19070616">{{Cite news |date=June 16, 1907 |title=J. P. Morgan's Plans for Beautified Home; Private Park Will Take the Place of the Old Buildings Adjoining Financier's Residence and Art Museum. Preservation of Murray Hill Section of Madison Avenue Assured by Elaborate Scheme Proposed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/06/16/archives/jp-morgans-plans-for-beautified-home-private-park-will-take-the.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429161822/https://www.nytimes.com/1907/06/16/archives/jp-morgans-plans-for-beautified-home-private-park-will-take-the.html |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Cincinnati Enquirer 1900">{{Cite news |date=February 24, 1900 |title=Fireproof Home: For His Valuable Manuscripts Will Be Built by Pierpont Morgan |work=Cincinnati Enquirer |page=4 |id={{ProQuest|882375742}}}}</ref> While part of Morgan's collection was stored in the basement of his house,<ref name="Landmarks Preservation Commission 1982" /> other items were loaned to institutions or placed in storage.<ref name="Landmarks Preservation Commission 1982">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|pp=2–3}}</ref><ref name="Swanson 2005">{{cite news |last=Swanson |first=Stevenson |date=May 13, 2005 |title=Cultural Butterfly Looking to Emerge; The Morgan Library's $102 Million Makeover Aims to Take It from Drab to Fab in the New York Museum Scene |work=Chicago Tribune |page=1.22 |issn=1085-6706 |id={{ProQuest|420315024}}}}</ref>

==== Site acquisition ====
In 1900, the plots north and east of J. P. Morgan's house were placed for sale after the death of Melissa Stokes Dodge, who lived in the Dodge mansion just north of Morgan's house.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> That January, he bought a {{convert|75|by|100|ft|adj=on}} plot of land on 36th Street,<ref name="nyt19070616" /><ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 13, 1900 |title=Clubs on Upper 5Th Avenue—Historical Interest of A Coming Sale. |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_025&page=ldpd_7031148_025_00000097&no=1 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=65 |pages=45 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423094245/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_025&page=ldpd_7031148_025_00000097&no=1 |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1661}}</ref> for a library.<ref name="TL p. 65" /><ref name="Cincinnati Enquirer 1900" /> The site had been occupied by two brownstone homes at 35 and 37 East 36th Street, which Morgan promptly razed.<ref name="nyt19070616" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 15, 1908 |title=The Gorgeous Homes of New York Millionaires: Pierpont Morgan Tore Down Two $150,000 Houses to Make Room for His Art Gallery |page=14 |work=The Sun |id={{ProQuest|537521315}}}}</ref> In 1902, Morgan acquired two more lots on 36th Street with a total frontage of {{convert|50|ft}}.<ref name="nyt19070616" /> On the far eastern side of that plot, [[McKim, Mead & White]] designed a six-story house at 33 East 36th Street for Morgan's daughter Louisa and her husband [[Herbert Satterlee]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=October 8, 1904 |title=Status of New Work |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_034&page=ldpd_7031148_034_00000819&no=5 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=74 |pages=725 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324104809/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_034&page=ldpd_7031148_034_00000819&no=5 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1908}}</ref><ref name="NY1900">{{cite NY1900|pages=102–103}}</ref><ref name="Roth p. 289">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=289|ps=.}}</ref> The Satterlees' house was made of limestone, as contrasted with the brownstones on Madison Avenue, and was connected to Morgan's own home by tunnels.<ref name="Roth p. 409">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=409|ps=.}}</ref> The Satterlee residence measured {{convert|28|ft}} wide, and Morgan used the {{convert|135|ft|m|-wide|adj=mid}} plot between his house and the Satterlees' home for his new library.<ref name="TL p. 65" />

Morgan acquired William E. Dodge's home in April 1903.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 29, 1903 |title=Mr. Morgan's Purchase of Dodge House |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/04/29/archives/mr-morgans-purchase-of-dodge-house.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221211133437/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/04/29/archives/mr-morgans-purchase-of-dodge-house.html |archive-date=December 11, 2022 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|postscript=none}}; {{cite magazine |date=April 11, 1903 |title=The Real Estate World; Gossip, News and Personals |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_031&page=ldpd_7031148_031_00000822&no=1 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=71 |pages=704 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417170832/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_031&page=ldpd_7031148_031_00000822&no=1 |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1830}}</ref> While the Satterlee house was under construction, the couple moved into the Dodge mansion.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 4" /> By late 1904, Morgan had also purchased the old Isaac Newton Stokes house at 229 Madison Avenue for his son [[J. P. Morgan Jr.]], who was known as "Jack".<ref>{{harvnb|ps=|Strouse|1999|p=493}}; {{cite book |last=Forbes |first=John |title=J. P. Morgan Jr., 1867–1943 |publisher=University Press of Virginia |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-8139-0889-2 |publication-place=Charlottesville |pages=30–31, 54–55 |oclc=7274491|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=November 23, 1904 |title=Morgan Has Block Front: Buys From Mrs. Stokes She Repurchases Old Home Across Madison-ave. |work=New-York Tribune |page=4 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|571472649}}}}</ref> Jack initially lived nearby at 22 Park Avenue.<ref name="TL p. 70">{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|page=70}}</ref> When Jack and his wife [[Jane Norton Grew]] moved into 229 Madison Avenue in 1905, he commissioned a major renovation of the interior and renumbered it as 231 Madison Avenue. Jack Morgan also performed $1,900 in changes to the house's exterior.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 4" /><ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 13, 1905 |title=The Real Estate World; Gossip, News and Personals |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_035&page=ldpd_7031148_035_00001180&no=5 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=75 |pages=1104 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707155419/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_035&page=ldpd_7031148_035_00001180&no=5 |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1939}}</ref> J. P. Morgan came to own two-thirds of the city block;<ref name="nyt-2006-02-12">{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=February 12, 2006 |title=A Private Library That Became a Public Treasure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/realestate/a-private-library-that-became-a-public-treasure.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004090844/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/realestate/a-private-library-that-became-a-public-treasure.html |archive-date=October 4, 2021 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |language=en}}</ref> his holdings by 1907 included the whole {{convert|197.5|ft|adj=on}} frontage on Madison Avenue, stretching {{convert|300|ft}} on 36th Street and {{convert|167|ft}} on 37th Street.<ref name="nyt19070616" />

==== Construction ====
[[File:J.P. Morgan's private library, New York, N.Y. det.4a22876.jpg|thumb|left|The library {{Circa|1910}}, shortly after its completion]]

Morgan first hired [[Warren and Wetmore]] to design a Baroque-style library,<ref name="Roth p. 288" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 3">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=3}}</ref><ref name="Wilson p. 219">{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|p=219|ps=.}}</ref> which would have had a heavily decorated upper section.<ref>{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|pages=65–67}}</ref> [[Whitney Warren]] of Warren and Wetmore had then just completed the elaborately decorated [[New York Yacht Club Building]],<ref name="Roth p. 409" /><ref name="wsj-2022-07-27">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Michael J. |date=July 27, 2022 |title='J. Pierpont Morgan's Library: Building the Bookman's Paradise' Review: Speaking Volumes |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-pierpont-morgans-library-building-the-bookmans-paradise-review-the-morgan-library-and-museum-charles-f-mckim-mckim-mead-and-white-renzo-piano-whitney-warren-hughson-hawley-edward-steichen-todd-longstaffe-gowan-11658957622 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321170832/https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-pierpont-morgans-library-building-the-bookmans-paradise-review-the-morgan-library-and-museum-charles-f-mckim-mckim-mead-and-white-renzo-piano-whitney-warren-hughson-hawley-edward-steichen-todd-longstaffe-gowan-11658957622 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Warren had wanted to design a domed structure.<ref name="nyt-1981-12-30" /><ref name="wsj-2022-07-27" /> Morgan's preference for an austere structure may have led him to reject Warren and Wetmore.<ref name="Roth p. 409" /> He instead hired Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White to design the library in 1902.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 4" /><ref>{{harvnb|Roth|1983|pp=288–289|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="Wilson p. 219" /> C. T. Wills was hired as the builder.<ref name="The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 1904">{{cite magazine |date=October 8, 1904 |title=Of Interest to the Building Trades |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_034&page=ldpd_7031148_034_00000823&no=9 |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=74 |pages=729 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1908 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051430/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_034&page=ldpd_7031148_034_00000823&no=9 |url-status=live}}</ref> The library was to be a classical marble structure with a simple design; Morgan had told McKim that he wanted "a gem".<ref name="Roth p. 289" /> McKim's designs were traditional for their time, while those who wanted more fashionable designs typically hired McKim's partner [[Stanford White]].<ref name="nyt-1981-12-30" /><ref name="wsj-2006-06-082">{{Cite news |last=Huxtable |first=Ada Louise |date=June 8, 2006 |title=The New Morgan Library's Building Is Cool... |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114972314380374322 |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427222747/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114972314380374322 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the time of the library's planning, [[restrictive covenant]]s in Murray Hill prohibited the construction of museums there, but the library was originally not planned as a museum.<ref name="TL p. 67">{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|page=67}}</ref> While McKim was responsible for the overall design, Morgan had final say over the aspects of the plan.<ref name="Roth p. 289" /><ref name="TL p. 67" /> An initial proposal called for a projecting central mass flanked by recessed wings, which Morgan deemed unwieldy. The second version of the plan reduced the size of the central mass and added a recessed entrance.<ref name="Roth p. 289" /> Morgan also rejected a proposal for a Greek temple–like structure topped by a [[portico]].<ref name="TL p. 67" /> The final designs called for the central section and wings to be the same distance from the street.<ref name="Roth p. 289" /> Morgan insisted the library be made of marble, even though his whole family except for his daughter Louisa lived in a brownstone house.<ref name="Roth p. 409" /> Morgan originally planned to use white marble, but he used pinkish-gray Tennessee marble instead after a neighbor told him that white marble would make the building look like a mausoleum.<ref name="TL p. 67" />

By early 1903, workers were laying the foundation for the library.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1903 |title=Palace for Morgan's Books. |page=A9 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |id={{ProQuest|495815718}}}}</ref><ref name="TL p. 69">{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|page=69}}</ref> Construction began that April,<ref name="Roth p. 291">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=291|ps=.}}</ref> and the library was being dubbed as "Mr. Morgan's jewel case" by the next year.<ref name="The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 1904" /> Few details of the library were given out during construction, as Morgan prohibited the workers from talking to the press.<ref name="New-York Tribune 1906">{{cite news |date=June 10, 1906 |title=J. P. Morgan's Library: Massive New Structure for Literary and Artistic Treasures |page=A2 |work=New-York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|571839633}}}}</ref> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported in June 1906 that Morgan had "wanted the most perfect structure that human hands could erect and was willing to pay whatever it cost".<ref name="wsj19060623">{{cite news |date=June 23, 1906 |title=J. Pierpont Morgan's New Library |page=6 |work=The Wall Street Journal |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28804046/ |access-date=January 1, 2021 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211226/https://www.newspapers.com/article/28804046/ |url-status=live}}</ref> For example, the usage of dry masonry marble blocks, an uncommon construction method that eliminated the need for [[Joint (building)|joints]] made of [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]], added $50,000 to the cost of construction.<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 3" /><ref name="Wilson p. 219" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Andrews|1957|pp=4–5}}</ref> McKim had suggested the dry masonry blocks to Morgan, who readily agreed to pay the extra cost.<ref>{{harvnb|Tauranac|1985|ps=.|pages=67–69}}</ref><ref name="Poughkeepsie Journal 1964">{{Cite news |date=May 19, 1964 |title=Library Has a Greek Style, Unlike 'Boxes-On-Boxes' |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/poughkeepsie-journal-library-has-a-greek/146238042/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=Poughkeepsie Journal |pages=6 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428200541/https://www.newspapers.com/article/poughkeepsie-journal-library-has-a-greek/146238042/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To fit New York City's climate,<ref name="Boyce p. 23" /> tinfoil sheeting was placed between the blocks.<ref name="Roth p. 291" /><ref name="wsj19060623" /> In addition, the stonework contractor nearly went out of business because the builders would not use any stones with cracks.<ref name="Conklin 2019 g140" />

Morgan was impressed with the quality of the work<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=6}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Andrews|1957|p=1}}</ref> and often upheld the library as an accomplishment of McKim's.<ref name="TL p. 69" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Andrews|1957|p=12}}</ref> This was because McKim was not only responsible for selecting the marble from Rome but also for hiring the library's decorators and craftsmen.<ref name="TL p. 69" /> The final design was more representative of the work of [[William M. Kendall]] from McKim, Mead & White.<ref name="Wilson p. 218">{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|p=218|ps=.}}</ref> Morgan acquired two hundred cases of books, which were temporarily stored in the [[Lenox Library (New York City)|Lenox Library]] and moved to Morgan's personal library starting in December 1905.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 21, 1905 |title=Assembling Morgan's Books; Volumes in Big Private Library to Be Together by Jan. 1. |page=9 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/12/21/100496121.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901022729/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/12/21/100496121.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Around the same time, Morgan hired [[Belle da Costa Greene]] as his personal librarian;<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=5}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Ardizzone|2007|page=76}}</ref> she remained in charge of the collection for the next four decades.<ref name="wsj-2025-02-22">{{Cite web |last=Wilkin |first=Karen |date=2025-02-22 |title='Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy' Review: The Woman Who Shaped the Morgan Museum |url=https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/belle-da-costa-greene-a-librarians-legacy-review-the-woman-who-shaped-the-morgan-museum-b6877bbe |access-date=2025-06-02 |work=The Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Toward the library's completion, Morgan reportedly requested that the entire library be shortened by one foot.<ref name="Poughkeepsie Journal 1964" />

=== Private library ===

==== Opening and early years ====
Morgan first used his office in November 1906 with a reception for the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]'s purchasing committee. The decorative details were not completed until January 1907, and the collection was relocated into the library later that year.<ref name="Roth p. 291" /> Morgan's library had cost $1.2 million (equivalent to ${{inflation|index=US-GDP|start_year=1906|value=1.2|fmt=c|r=3}} million in {{inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{inflation/fn|group=lower-alpha|index=US-GDP}}).<ref name="nycland">{{cite nycland |page=98}}</ref><ref name="inside">{{cite inside|pages=197–198}}.</ref> During the [[Panic of 1907]], the presidents of the city's banks and trust companies were locked in the library overnight until they agreed on a plan to stop the financial crisis.<ref name="Roth p. 410">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=410|ps=.}}</ref> To allow people to see his new library from Madison Avenue, Morgan demolished the Dodge house in 1907–1908<ref name="Detroit Free Press 1908" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 28, 1907 |title=Morgan Overbid Kaiser; News of the Sale of the Van Dycks Arouses Anger in Italy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/02/28/archives/morgan-overbid-kaiser-news-of-the-sale-of-the-van-dycks-arouses.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211254/https://www.nytimes.com/1907/02/28/archives/morgan-overbid-kaiser-news-of-the-sale-of-the-van-dycks-arouses.html |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |language=en}}</ref> and replaced it with a garden designed by [[Beatrix Farrand]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jane |title=Beatrix : The Gardening Life of Beatrix Jones Farrand, 1872–1959 |date=1995 |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-83217-0 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=204–216}}</ref>

As the librarian, Greene was tasked with expanding the collection,<ref name="wsj-2025-02-22" /><ref name="The Buffalo News 1913">{{Cite news |date=August 3, 1913 |title=Young Woman Librarian Continues Work of Great Morgan Collection |pages=46 |work=The Buffalo News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-young-woman-librarian-c/129337943/ |access-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211236/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-young-woman-librarian-c/129337943/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1912 v610">{{cite web |date=April 7, 1912 |title=Spending J.P. Morgan's Money for Rare Books; That Is One of the Pleasant Duties of the Librarian of the Financier, Miss Belle Green, Who at 26 Has Won Fame by Her Intimate Knowledge of Valuable Tomes. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/07/archives/spending-jp-morgans-money-for-rare-books-that-is-one-of-the.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506232716/https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/07/archives/spending-jp-morgans-money-for-rare-books-that-is-one-of-the.html |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as cataloging and researching the history of each item.<ref name="wsj-2025-02-22" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Ralph |date=October 2, 1910 |title=Great Fortunes Are Exaggerated: Immense Fortunes Have Way of Dwindling. Men Reputed to Be Worth $50,000,000 Generally Leave Estates Valued at Around $10,000,000—a Remarkable New York Woman |page=c7 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |id={{ProQuest|496345927}}}}</ref> She frequently searched for rare volumes in back alleys, but initially tended to avoid auctions and rarely spent more than $10,000 on a book without permission.<ref name="The Buffalo News 1913" /> Greene tended to acquire items created before the 16th century, since Morgan believed that other libraries were able to adequately care for newer items.<ref name="The New York Times 1912 v610" /> Morgan also decided to import the rest of his collection and display it at his library. To avoid paying import taxes, he was required to open the library to the public on certain days of the week.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 8, 1903 |title=The Great Morgan Museum: Financier Plans a Wonderful Storehouse for His More Wonderful Treasures of Art |page=12 |work=The Sun |id={{ProQuest|536637416}}}}</ref> Morgan sometimes acquired art on short notice; in one case, he bought a [[Vermeer]] painting minutes after learning about the artist.<ref name="Chapin 1971" /> He also refused to buy works that he believed were too expensive,<ref name="Chapin 1971" /> and, although Morgan sometimes bought whole collections, in other instances he acquired a small number of pieces from a collection.<ref name="Brake 2010 v340">{{cite web |last=Brake |first=Alan G. |date=October 21, 2010 |title=The Morgan Opens the Vault (And the Director's Office) |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2010/10/the-morgan-opens-the-vault-and-the-directors-office/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=The Architect's Newspaper |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501015124/https://www.archpaper.com/2010/10/the-morgan-opens-the-vault-and-the-directors-office/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Morgan frequently met with foreign bankers in the library's study,<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1915 |title=Room: In Morgan Library Destined to Live Long in Financial History |page=4 |work=Cincinnati Enquirer |id={{ProQuest|870100335}}}}</ref> and he often opted to work in the library rather than in his downtown office.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=October 28, 2010 |title=The Architect Charles McKim, Designer of the Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/realestate/31scapes.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502183551/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/realestate/31scapes.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Among Morgan's larger acquisitions in the late 1900s and early 1910s was a collection of rare American authors' manuscripts from merchant S. H. Wakeman in 1909.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 27, 1909 |title=J.P. Morgan Buys Rare Manuscripts; Gets Wakeman Collection of Poe, Thoreau, Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, And Bryant |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/10/27/archives/jp-morgan-buys-rare-manuscripts-gets-wakeman-collection-of-poe.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211230/https://www.nytimes.com/1909/10/27/archives/jp-morgan-buys-rare-manuscripts-gets-wakeman-collection-of-poe.html |url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Wall Street Journal'' wrote in 1911 that "Mr. Morgan buys books as some financiers buy a thousand shares of stock";<ref name="The Wall Street Journal 1911">{{cite news |date=December 23, 1911 |title=Hobbies of Several Millionaires.: While Morgan Turns to Art and Books Hill's Delight Is in Holstein Cattle. |page=6 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|129266279}}}}</ref> in some years, he spent half his income on the collection.<ref name="Irwin 1927">{{cite news |last=Irwin |first=Will |date=April 10, 1927 |title=Morgan Island: On the Crest of Murray Hill Stands the One Perfect Great Thing on Manhattan Island-- The Morgan Library-- Whose Marble Walls Inclose Treasure More Valuable Than the Vault Contents of Most New York Banks |page=SM14 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1132967715}}}}</ref> Acquisitions continued until his death in March 1913.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Strouse|1999|p=26}}</ref> Morgan had bought thousands of objects since 1899, including 600 manuscripts and 3,000 medieval items.<ref name="Budick 2006">{{Cite news |last1=Budick |first1=Ariella |last2=Davidson |first2=Justin |date=April 23, 2006 |title=The House of Morgan, An Expansion Reinvigorates the Legendary Financier's Famous Library |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-the-house-of-mo/146480484/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=Newsday |pages=152, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-the-house-of-mo/146480567/ 153], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-the-house-of-mo/146480593/ 154] |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502181148/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-the-house-of-mo/146480484/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== After J. P. Morgan's death ====
[[File:J.P. Morgan's body taken from his library LCCN2014692276.jpg|thumb|J. P. Morgan's body being brought to his home and library after his death in Rome]]

Morgan's estate was valued at $128 million (about ${{inflation|index=US-GDP|start_year=1913|value=0.128|fmt=c|r=3}} billion in {{inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{inflation/fn|group=lower-alpha|index=US-GDP}}), over half of which lay in the worth of his collection.<ref name="wsj19990305">{{Cite news |date=March 5, 1999 |title=Object Lessons: A Stroll Through House of Morgan |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB920605107868736500 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051431/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB920605107868736500 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> J. P. Morgan bequeathed all except one piece in the collection to the library,<ref name="Seldis 1966" /> with the request that Jack make the collection "permanently available for the instruction and pleasure of the American people".<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=|Strouse|1999|pp=684–688}}; {{Cite news |date=April 20, 1913 |title=$3,000,000 To Each Child and $1,000,000 To Mrs. Morgan |language=en-US |pages=1–3 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/04/20/100077577.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830224129/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/04/20/100077577.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The month after J. P. Morgan's death, the New York state legislature granted a two-year exemption enabling Jack to import his father's overseas collection without having to pay import duties.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1917 |title=Carries Out Wishes of the Elder Morgan; His Will Suggested a Public Gift—No Advantage Taken of the Tax Exemption Law. Grew Impatient at Delay. Breaks in the Collection. |language=en-US |page=14 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/12/18/98257343.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211821/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/12/18/98257343.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Jack did not publicly show interest in his father's art collection and reportedly did not expand it in the year after his father died.<ref name="The Washington Post 1914">{{cite news |date=February 8, 1914 |title=Great Morgan Art Collection May Prove White Elephant to New Head of House: Son Said to Lack the Father's Artistic Appreciation of Rare Treasures Costing Millions, And Even Proposes to Sell Some of Them -Will He, In Time, Make Gift to the People as Father Planned? |page=6 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|145355573}}}}</ref> Jack sold off much of the overseas collection rather than importing it, but he decided to keep the items that were already in his father's library.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 2, 1915 |title=Morgan Will Keep His Library Intact; Appraisal of 30,000 Volumes Is Now Being Made for the Inheritance Tax. |language=en-US |page=1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/02/106731281.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830224215/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/02/106731281.pdf |url-status=live|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=April 2, 1915 |title=Morgan Library Not to Be Sold |page=7 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|509362618}}}}</ref> During 1914, the collection was displayed in full at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the only time the whole collection was displayed.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 22, 1914 |title=Art at Home and Abroad; Enamels in Morgan Collection on Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum Not Only Priceless Works of Art, But Extremely Valuable as Human Documents |language=en-US |page=M11 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/22/100083163.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830224301/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/22/100083163.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

The import duty exemption expired in April 1915,<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1915 |title=Morgan Art Tax Must Be Levied; Controller Travis Announces the State Will Collect on Objects Worth Many Millions |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/04/01/archives/morgan-art-tax-must-be-levied-controller-travis-announces-the-state.html |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429163247/https://www.nytimes.com/1915/04/01/archives/morgan-art-tax-must-be-levied-controller-travis-announces-the-state.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and Jack sold various items in the collection to pay the inheritance taxes and to raise money for the cash bequests in his father's will.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref name="Irwin 1927" /> The next year, the collection was valued at $7.5 million for taxation purposes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 19, 1916 |title=J. P. Morgan Library Taxed at $7,500,000; State Transfer Appraisal Puts Books at $5,000,000 And Other Objects at $2,500,000 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/03/19/archives/jp-morgan-library-taxed-at-7500000-state-transfer-appraisal-puts.html |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421111724/https://www.nytimes.com/1916/03/19/archives/jp-morgan-library-taxed-at-7500000-state-transfer-appraisal-puts.html |url-status=live|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=March 20, 1916 |title=$7,500,000 Value on Morgan Library: Books Valued at $5,000,000 and Other Objects at $2,500,000 |page=7 |work=The Hartford Courant |issn=1047-4153 |id={{ProQuest|556319971}}}}</ref> Jack and Jane Morgan continued to employ Greene as the librarian, adding items that personally interested them.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Ardizzone|2007|page=309}}</ref><ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992">{{cite book |last1=Wiegand |first1=W.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WR9bsvhc4XMC&pg=PA499 |title=Encyclopedia of Library History |last2=Davis |first2=D.G. |publisher=Garland Pub. |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-8240-5787-9 |series=Garland reference library of social science |page=499 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211821/https://books.google.com/books?id=WR9bsvhc4XMC&pg=PA499 |url-status=live}}</ref> Frances Morgan, Jack's mother and John Pierpont's widow, lived at J. P. Morgan's old residence until her death in November 1924.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /> By then, despite Jack's opposition, the surrounding stretch of Madison Avenue was being redeveloped as a business street.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1926 |title=J. P. Morgan Loses Long Zoning Fight; City Plan Committee Votes to Open Madison Avenue to Trade Near His Home |page=1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/04/07/104206020.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211728/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/04/07/104206020.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NY1930">{{cite NY1930|page=137}}</ref> Although Jane Morgan died in 1925, Jack continued to live at 231 Madison Avenue until his death in 1943,<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 13, 1943 |title=J. P. Morgan Dies, Victim of Stroke at Florida Resort; Financier, 75, Had a Recurrence of Heart Ailment on Vacation Trip 2 Weeks Ago |page=1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/03/13/85089130.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211728/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/03/13/85089130.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live}}</ref> and the Satterlee home remained in the Morgan family until 1944.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Lee E. |date=December 10, 1944 |title=Brown Assembles Murray Hill Land for Housing Site: Realty Man Gets Four Parcels at Park Avenue Corner in the Morgan Block |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|106902315}}|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=December 10, 1944 |title=Morgan Home In 36th St., Last Of 'Block,' Sold: House Next Door to Morgan Library to Make Room for 19-Story Apartment |page=45 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1264864029}}}}</ref> The [[United Lutheran Church in America]] bought 231 Madison Avenue for its headquarters in 1943<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 11, 1943 |title=Morgan Deal Completed; Lutherans Sign Contract for Purchase of Madison Ave. Home |page=B24 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/09/11/85120618.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211804/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/09/11/85120618.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="p1282798435">{{cite news |date=2 Sep 1943 |title=United Lutheran Church Buying J. P. Morgan Madison Av. Home |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=21A |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1282798435}}}}</ref> and built a five-story annex there in 1957.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref name="Hampson 1988">{{cite news |last=Hampson |first=Rick |date=April 22, 1988 |title=Manhattan Neighborhoods Manhattan Closeup; Morgan Library to Expand Next Door |work=Newsday |page=27 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|277873501}} |agency=The Associated Press}}</ref> It was the only remaining brownstone house along the Murray Hill section of Madison Avenue by the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|115290625}} |title=Contrasts Sharp on Murray Hill: Modern Apartment Houses Tower Among Opulent Brownstones |date=March 5, 1961 |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Public institution ===

==== 1920s to 1940s ====
[[File:Morgan Library & Museum (51877263417).jpg|thumb|The 1928 annex]]
The '''Pierpont Morgan Library''' was incorporated as a public institution in March 1924,<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637">{{cite book |last=Stam |first=D.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=APtYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA637 |title=International Dictionary of Library Histories |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-136-77785-1 |page=637 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211728/https://books.google.com/books?id=APtYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA637 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 28, 1924 |title=Morgan Library Bill a Law; Senate Committee Reports in Favor of Phone Rate Inquiry. |language=en-US |page=16 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/03/28/104033985.pdf |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211729/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/03/28/104033985.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live}}</ref> a month after Jack Morgan announced that he would transfer the collection to a board of trustees and provide a $1.5 million endowment for the library.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1924">{{cite news |date=February 17, 1924 |title=Morgan Gives Great Library to the Public: $8,500,000 Memorial to His Father |page=1 |work=Chicago Tribune |issn=1085-6706 |id={{ProQuest|180566977}}}}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1924 m054">{{cite web |date=February 17, 1924 |title=Puts Its Value at $8,500,000; Scholars Call Gift Most Splendid of the Kind Ever Made. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/02/17/archives/puts-its-value-at-8500000-scholars-call-gift-most-splendid-of-the.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806211728/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/02/17/archives/puts-its-value-at-8500000-scholars-call-gift-most-splendid-of-the.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The library's name reflected the fact that the elder J. P. Morgan had disliked being called by his first name and even his first initial.<ref name="nyt-1995-11-09">{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Dinitia |date=November 9, 1995 |title=The Morgan Tries to Unstuff the Shirts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/09/arts/the-morgan-tries-to-unstuff-the-shirts.html |access-date=April 30, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501000101/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/09/arts/the-morgan-tries-to-unstuff-the-shirts.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgans transferred the library building, and the land under 219 Madison Avenue, to the Morgan Library.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /> Greene was retained as the librarian.<ref name="The New York Times 1924 m054" /> The Morgan Library was not a [[public library]] and initially only allowed researchers into the space;<ref>{{cite news |date=February 24, 1924 |title=Morgan Library Doors Ajar in Welcome to Needy Students |page=A5 |work=New-York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1331159491}}}}</ref><ref name="Dashwood 1932">{{cite news |last=Dashwood |first=Wyona |date=February 3, 1932 |title=Morgan Library's Rich Stores Placed on Special Exhibition: Treasure House of World's Rare Manuscripts and First Editions |page=5 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|513138486}}}}</ref> as Jack Morgan said, "one soiled thumb could undo the work of 900 years".<ref name="Dashwood 1932" /> Only ten scholars could initially enter the building at once.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 16, 1924 |title=Seekers for Admission Swamp Morgan Library: Consideration of Applications Halted Until Late Summer |page=15 |work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113092372}}}}</ref> The library's collection continued to grow, with emphasis placed on rare items; for example, though only four items were acquired in 1926, all of these were unique manuscripts.<ref name="Irwin 1927" />

To accommodate additional scholars, the Morgan Library announced plans for an annex in January 1927.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 7, 1927 |title=Morgan Library to Be Given City |work=The Christian Science Monitor |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|512125429}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=January 7, 1927 |title=To Wreck Home of Late J. Pierpont Morgan And Double the Size of Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/01/07/archives/to-wreck-home-of-late-j-pierpont-morgan-and-double-the-size-of.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421114838/https://www.nytimes.com/1927/01/07/archives/to-wreck-home-of-late-j-pierpont-morgan-and-double-the-size-of.html |archive-date=April 21, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="New York Herald Tribune 1927">{{cite news |date=January 7, 1927 |title=Razing of Morgan Home Denied; Fenced In- For Library Addition |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=1 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113512236}}}}</ref> Though Jack initially denied that 219 Madison Avenue would be demolished,<ref name="New York Herald Tribune 1927" /> that house was ultimately razed.<ref>{{cite news |date=February 1, 1927 |title=Morgan Library to Build Annex: Will Aid Research Workers |page=4A |work=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|512070198}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt01927-01-30">{{Cite news |date=January 30, 1927 |title=Outlines Annex to Morgan Library; Plan Calls for a Two-Story Structure on Site of Late Financier's Home. |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/01/30/archives/outlines-annex-to-morgan-library-plan-calls-for-a-twostory.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212322/https://www.nytimes.com/1927/01/30/archives/outlines-annex-to-morgan-library-plan-calls-for-a-twostory.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Benjamin Wistar Morris (architect)|Benjamin Wistar Morris]] was hired to design the annex, while [[Marc Eidlitz & Son]] was hired to build it.<ref name="New York Herald Tribune 1927" /><ref name="nyt01927-01-30" /> The annex was completed in 1928.<ref name="Roth p. 410" /><ref name="Strouse 1999">{{harvnb|ps=.|Strouse|1999|p=689}}</ref><ref name="Wilson p. 223">{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|p=223|ps=.}}</ref> The Morgan Library continued to expand its collections;<ref name="The Morgan Timeline">{{cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=Timeline |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/history-of-the-morgan/timeline |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122230316/https://www.themorgan.org/about/history-of-the-morgan/timeline |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> for instance, between 1936 and 1940, it acquired twelve manuscripts and dozens of drawings.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 12, 1941 |title=Rarities Enrich Morgan Library; Art and Literary Treasures Acquired in Last 4 Years Described in Report |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/12/archives/rarities-enrich-morgan-library-art-and-literary-treasures-acquired.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212323/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/12/archives/rarities-enrich-morgan-library-art-and-literary-treasures-acquired.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 25 years after it became a public institution, the Morgan Library acquired 200 total manuscripts, 83 books, and hundreds of autographed letters and papers.<ref name="The New York Times 1949 d369">{{cite web |date=April 4, 1949 |title=Morgan Library to Review Gains; Exhibition Opening Tomorrow Will Feature Acquisitions in Quarter Century |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/04/archives/morgan-library-to-review-gains-exhibition-opening-tomorrow-will.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212320/https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/04/archives/morgan-library-to-review-gains-exhibition-opening-tomorrow-will.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Through the early 1940s, the Morgan Library continued to limit access only to researchers,<ref name="nyt-1942-12-08">{{Cite news |date=December 8, 1942 |title=Morgan Library Opened to Public; In Return, The City Withdraws Its Opposition to Exemption From Taxes Since 1935 |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/12/08/archives/morgan-library-opened-to-public-in-return-the-city-withdraws-its.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212234/https://www.nytimes.com/1942/12/08/archives/morgan-library-opened-to-public-in-return-the-city-withdraws-its.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> prompting city officials to request that the library's tax-exempt status be removed because it was not a public library.<ref name="The New York Times 1941 t703">{{cite web |date=July 9, 1941 |title=Court Blocks Tax on Morgan Library; Justice McLaughlin Rules It Is Public Institution and Exempt From Levy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/07/09/archives/court-blocks-tax-on-morgan-library-justice-mclaughlin-rules-it-is.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212235/https://www.nytimes.com/1941/07/09/archives/court-blocks-tax-on-morgan-library-justice-mclaughlin-rules-it-is.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In December 1942, Morgan Library officials agreed to open the library to the general public, and city officials agreed not to fight the library's tax-exempt status.<ref name="nyt-1942-12-08" /><ref>{{cite news |date=December 15, 1942 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library Is Opened To General Public |page=4 |work=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|514101202}}}}</ref> Many of the library's most valuable artifacts were transported to other locations in the U.S. in 1942 to protect them from possible World War II [[airstrike]]s; the objects were returned to the library in December 1944.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 14, 1944 |title=Morgan Library Art Items Back From Hideouts: Treasures, Which Had Been Guarded From Air Raids, Will Be Exhibited Today |page=19 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1289108302}}|postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Devee |first=Howard |date=December 14, 1944 |title=Religious Works on Display Today; Exhibition at Morgan Library Includes Two Copies of the Gutenberg Bible |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/12/14/archives/religious-works-on-display-today-exhibition-at-morgan-library.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212237/https://www.nytimes.com/1944/12/14/archives/religious-works-on-display-today-exhibition-at-morgan-library.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library was formed in 1949 to raise funds for the collections and distribute funds to scholars and publications.<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 7">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=7}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1959-11-24">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=November 24, 1959 |title=Morgan Library Seeks $3,000,000; Funds Needed to Enlarge Building, Widen Program and Spur Acquisitions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/11/24/archives/morgan-library-seeks-3000000-funds-needed-to-enlarge-building-widen.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427204419/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/11/24/archives/morgan-library-seeks-3000000-funds-needed-to-enlarge-building-widen.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After Belle da Costa Greene retired from the library in 1948,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 1948 |title=Miss Greene Retiring as Morgan Librarian |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/10/22/98428747.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806214351/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/10/22/98428747.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=23|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=October 24, 1948 |title=Head of Morgan Library Ending 13-Year Career: Belle Da Costa Greene Will Be Succeeded by Frederick B. Adams Jr |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=43 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1324175502}}}}</ref> [[Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr.]] was appointed as the Morgan's second director.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 2, 1948 |title=F. B. Adams Jr. Takes Post at Morgan Library |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=25 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1327198740}}}}</ref>

==== 1950s to mid-1980s ====
[[File:The Morgan Library & Museum.jpg|thumb|Interior of the East Library]]The Morgan Library started to host concerts and tours during the 1950s,<ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992" /> and it also acquired items such as a collection of 1,375 letters from a British dealer.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 31, 1970 |title=Unpublished Dickens Blast at U. S. Shown: 1842 Letter on Display in Morgan Library |work=Chicago Tribune |page=A2 |issn=1085-6706 |id={{ProQuest|169034245}}}}</ref> Officials began raising $3 million for an expansion of the library in 1959; the money was to fund modifications to the annex and a new lecture hall, as well as artifact purchases and new programs.<ref name="nyt-1959-11-24" /><ref>{{cite news |date=November 24, 1959 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library Begins Drive |page=18 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1324104148}}}}</ref> By that November, the library had raised $550,000.<ref name="nyt-1959-11-24" /> In 1960, the main library and its annex were connected by a cloister structure.<ref name="Roth p. 410" /> During the renovation, the operating hours of the east room and west room were expanded from three to six days a week.<ref name="nyt-1960-09-06">{{Cite news |date=September 6, 1960 |title=Morgan Library Opens Silken Room 6 Days a Week |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/06/archives/morgan-library-opens-silken-room-6-days-a-week.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428004442/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/09/06/archives/morgan-library-opens-silken-room-6-days-a-week.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The renovation, designed by J. P. Morgan's nephew Alexander P. Morgan,<ref name="Roth p. 410" /> was completed in 1962 and included office space, a gallery, and meeting space.<ref name="NPS p. 2">{{harvnb|National Park Service|1966|ps=.|p=2}}</ref><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 7" /><ref name="nyt-1962-10-05">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=October 5, 1962 |title=Morgan Library, Remodeled, Opens; Cost of Reconstruction, And Additions Is $1.4 Million |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/10/05/archives/morgan-library-remodeled-opens-cost-of-reconstruction-and-additions.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427235520/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/10/05/archives/morgan-library-remodeled-opens-cost-of-reconstruction-and-additions.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In total, the renovation cost $1.4 million.<ref name="nyt-1962-10-05" /> By the early 1960s, the library was open six days a week (five days during the summer), and it charged no admission fee.<ref name="Daily News 1960" /> Access to parts of the collection was limited to authorized researchers.<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref name="Daily News 1960">{{Cite news |date=February 14, 1960 |title=The Pierpont Morgan Library |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-pierpont-morgan-library/146191507/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=184 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428004447/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-pierpont-morgan-library/146191507/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Adams retired as the Morgan's director in 1969 and was succeeded by [[Charles Ryskamp]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 1, 1969 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library Appoints a New Director |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/12/01/89386852.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806214255/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/12/01/89386852.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=15}}</ref> During Ryskamp's 17-year tenure, the $11 million endowment was expanded to $38 million.<ref name="nyt-1986-12-19a">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=December 19, 1986 |title=The Frick Gets New Director |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/arts/the-frick-gets-new-director.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203214531/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/arts/the-frick-gets-new-director.html |archive-date=February 3, 2024 |access-date=February 3, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Newsday 1986">{{Cite news |date=December 19, 1986 |title=Frick Collection Names New Director |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-frick-collection-names-new-direc/140185691/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203214940/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-frick-collection-names-new-direc/140185691/ |archive-date=February 3, 2024 |access-date=February 3, 2024 |work=Newsday |pages=194 |issn=2574-5298}}</ref> By the early 1970s, the Morgan Library had several hundred fellows, or members,<ref name="Chapin 1971" /> and Ryskamp wanted to attract more visitors to the library.<ref name="Shirey 1970">{{cite magazine |last=Shirey |first=David L. |date=January 12, 1970 |title=J.P.'s Place |magazine=Newsweek |pages=64 |volume=75 |issue=2 |id={{ProQuest|1895337127}}}}</ref> The Morgan Library constructed a five-story addition with storage vaults and offices in 1975.<ref name="nyt19750709">{{Cite news |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=July 9, 1975 |title=Morgan Library Starts New Wing |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/09/archives/morgan-library-starts-new-wing-19million-building-to-house-offices.html |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212758/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/09/archives/morgan-library-starts-new-wing-19million-building-to-house-offices.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The library continued to acquire other collections in the 1970s and 1980s, including the musical manuscript collection of [[Mary Flagler Cary]];<ref name="Otto E 1972">{{Cite magazine |last=Otto E |date=June 1, 1972 |title=Musical Treasures in the Morgan Library |magazine=Notes |page=643 |volume=28 |issue=4 |id={{ProQuest|1296768815}}}}</ref><ref name="Turner p. 290">{{harvnb|Turner|1998|ps=.|page=290}}</ref> 1,500 Italian drawings from [[János Scholz]];<ref>{{cite news |last=Loercher |first=Diana |date=December 20, 1973 |title=A Dazzling Gift of Italian Drawings: New York's Pierpont Morgan Library Gets Private Janos Scholz Collection--'finest In America' Art Outright Gift |work=The Christian Science Monitor |page=B6 |issn=0882-7729 |id={{ProQuest|511596975}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=December 12, 1973 |title=Morgan Library Obtains 1,500-Piece Art Treasure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/12/archives/morgan-library-obtains-1500piece-art-treasure-morgan-library-buys.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428200541/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/12/archives/morgan-library-obtains-1500piece-art-treasure-morgan-library-buys.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Dannie Heineman]]'s collection of letters, books, and newspaper clippings;<ref name="Turner p. 290" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shenker |first=Israel |date=November 18, 1977 |title=Treasures for Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/18/archives/new-jersey-pages-treasures-for-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428211733/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/18/archives/new-jersey-pages-treasures-for-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref> part of [[Robin Lehman]]'s music manuscript collection;<ref name="Turner p. 290" /><ref name="nyt-1983-03-03">{{Cite news |last=Schonberg |first=Harold C. |date=March 3, 1983 |title=Morgan Library Buys 19 Rare Music MSS. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/03/arts/morgan-library-buys-19-rare-music-mss.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428221600/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/03/arts/morgan-library-buys-19-rare-music-mss.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and 75 rare manuscripts from William S. Glazier.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=May 9, 1984 |title=Morgan Library Gets Rare Manuscript Collection |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/09/books/morgan-library-gets-rare-manuscript-collection.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201013044/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/09/books/morgan-library-gets-rare-manuscript-collection.html |archive-date=February 1, 2018 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |language=en}}</ref> Ryskamp also arranged various temporary exhibitions.<ref name="nyt-1986-12-19a" /> During the 1980s, the library raised $1.5 million each year for its operating budget, in addition to funding for repairs.<ref name="nyt-1986-12-19a" /> The institution received a $1 million grant for the preservation of its printed books (the largest donation it had ever received at the time)<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 9, 1981 |title=Morgan Library Receives A $1 Million Astor Grant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/09/books/morgan-library-receives-a-1-million-astor-grant.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428221600/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/09/books/morgan-library-receives-a-1-million-astor-grant.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a $600,000 [[matching grant]] for its conservation department in 1981.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 3, 1981 |title=Conservation Grant To Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/03/arts/conservation-grant-to-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428221601/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/03/arts/conservation-grant-to-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the mid-1980s, the institution was officially renamed the Morgan Library.<ref name="Gibson 2006">{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Eric |date=June 8, 2006 |title=...and Its Collections Are Showcased as Never Before |work=The Wall Street Journal |page=D08 |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398986911}}}}</ref>

==== 1980s and 1990s expansion ====
[[File:Detailed Ceiling of Morgan Library.JPG|thumb|Ceiling of the main building's rotunda]]
Ryskamp resigned as director in 1986<ref name="nyt-1986-12-19a" /><ref name="Newsday 1986" /> and was replaced the next year by Charles Eliot Pierce Jr.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=May 27, 1987 |title=Morgan Library Names Scholar Its New Director |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/27/arts/morgan-library-names-scholar-its-new-director.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429163546/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/27/arts/morgan-library-names-scholar-its-new-director.html |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Pierce was the first director of the Morgan who was not associated with [[Princeton University]]. After he was appointed, Pierce sought to attract visitors; he would later recall that he was "disconcerted" by reports that previous visitors had been turned away from the library.<ref name="nyt-1995-11-09" /> In 1988, the Morgan Library bought 231 Madison Avenue from the Lutheran Church for $15 million.<ref name="Russell 1988" /><ref name="Hampson 1988" /> The library planned to spend $5 million restoring the house,<ref name="Hampson 1988" /> and it also announced that it would raise $40 million for a capital campaign.<ref name="Russell 1988" /><ref name="Shepard 1989">{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Joan |date=March 24, 1989 |title=Morgan Library Ready to Put Wings Together |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-morgan-library-ready-to-put-w/146252542/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=50 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428232439/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-morgan-library-ready-to-put-w/146252542/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The original buildings could display only one percent of the total collection at once,<ref name="Russell 1988" /><ref name="Shepard 1989" /> and the entire exhibition space consisted of two rooms and a corridor.<ref name="Lipson 1991">{{cite news |last=Lipson |first=Karin |date=October 1, 1991 |title=Expanded Facility Debuts Today a Bigger and Better Morgan Library |work=Newsday |page=55 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|278425440}}}}</ref>

In 1989, the firm of [[Bartholomew Voorsanger|Voorsanger and Mills]] designed a glass conservatory connecting 231 Madison Avenue and the main building's annex.<ref name="Shepard 1989" /><ref name="nyt-1989-03-01">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=March 1, 1989 |title=Bridging 2 Architectural Styles at the Morgan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/01/arts/bridging-2-architectural-styles-at-the-morgan.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428232442/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/01/arts/bridging-2-architectural-styles-at-the-morgan.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The conservatory would expand the library's space to {{convert|45000|ft2}}, add a walled terrace on Madison Avenue, and make the structures wheelchair-accessible. Because the original building was a city landmark, the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC) had to approve the plans.<ref name="Shepard 1989" /> An early plan called for converting 231 Madison Avenue to exhibition galleries, but the house's internal structure made this impossible,<ref name="Goldberger 1991">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=November 3, 1991 |title=Architecture View; J. P. Morgan Jr.'s House Is Back |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/03/arts/architecture-view-j-p-morgan-jr-s-house-is-back.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202185523/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/03/arts/architecture-view-j-p-morgan-jr-s-house-is-back.html |archive-date=February 2, 2023 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> so 231 Madison Avenue became offices and a bookstore.<ref name="nyt20010826" /><ref name="Lipson 1991" /> The library's artworks were also extensively cleaned,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blau |first=Eleanor |date=August 8, 1991 |title=As Reopening Nears, The Morgan Library Gets a Good Scrubbing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/08/arts/as-reopening-nears-the-morgan-library-gets-a-good-scrubbing.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428234726/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/08/arts/as-reopening-nears-the-morgan-library-gets-a-good-scrubbing.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Pearson p. 104">{{harvnb|Pearson|1992|ps=.|page=104}}</ref> display cases were added to the original East Library, and the West Study was opened to the public.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=September 29, 1991 |title=ART VIEW; The New Morgan Is More Museum, No Less Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/29/arts/art-view-the-new-morgan-is-more-museum-no-less-library.html |access-date=April 29, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429003819/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/29/arts/art-view-the-new-morgan-is-more-museum-no-less-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The expansion was finished in October 1991,<ref name="Lipson 1991" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Fenster |first=Julie M. |date=March 8, 1992 |title=Morgan Library Spreads Its Wings: Recent Expansion Has Created New Interest in Banker's Impressive Collection of Rare Books |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-08-tr-5958-story.html |access-date=2025-10-28 |work=Los Angeles Times |pages=L6 |issn=0458-3035 |id={{ProQuest|1733966758}}}}</ref> initially with 275 pieces from the permanent collection, along with temporary exhibition space in the main building.<ref name="UPI k732">{{cite web |date=October 1, 1991 |title=Enlarged Morgan Library opens with resplendent show |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/10/01/Enlarged-Morgan-Library-opens-with-resplendent-show/6547686289600/ |access-date=October 28, 2025 |website=UPI}}</ref> The project was originally planned to cost $9–10 million,<ref name="nyt-1989-03-01" /> but it ultimately cost either $15 million<ref name="Lipson 1991" /> or $30 million.<ref name="UPI k732"/> The Morgan finished raising $40 million in November 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 17, 1992 |title=Fund Drive Successful, Morgan Library Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/17/arts/fund-drive-successful-morgan-library-says.html |access-date=April 29, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429003816/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/17/arts/fund-drive-successful-morgan-library-says.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Visitor numbers had increased by the mid-1990s,<ref name="nyt-1995-11-09" /> and the library had [[Pay what you want|pay-what-you-wish]] admission fees.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Colleen |date=December 16, 1995 |title=New York on the Cheap : No Need to Drop a Bundle on Visit to the Big Apple |work=The Record |page=C1 |id={{ProQuest|275375659}}}}</ref> At the time, the library still had a reputation for being a rich enclave, and many board members were part of rich families.<ref name="nyt-1995-11-09" /> The library's acquisitions in the 1990s included part of [[Alice Tully]]'s art collection,<ref>{{cite news |last=Page |first=Tim |date=March 2, 1994 |title=Big Bequests to Morgan Library, NYU Tully's Will: An Intricate Work for the Arts |work=Newsday |page=55 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|278761739}}}}</ref> [[Carter Burden]]'s collection of over 30,000 American literary volumes,<ref name="Samway 1999">{{Cite magazine |last=Samway |first=Patrick H. |date=January 23, 1999 |title=New Treasures at the Pierpont Morgan Library |magazine=America |pages=22–23 |volume=180 |issue=2 |id={{ProQuest|209659266}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=February 23, 1998 |title=$8 Million Literary Trove Given to Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/books/8-million-literary-trove-given-to-morgan-library.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926035436/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/books/8-million-literary-trove-given-to-morgan-library.html |archive-date=September 26, 2016 |access-date=August 2, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Pierre Matisse]]'s collection of 2,000 letters from artists.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=July 8, 1998 |title=A Pack Rat's Art Treasures; For Morgan Library, Pierre Matisse's Archives Are a Bonanza |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/08/arts/pack-rat-s-art-treasures-for-morgan-library-pierre-matisse-s-archives-are.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428211732/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/08/arts/pack-rat-s-art-treasures-for-morgan-library-pierre-matisse-s-archives-are.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgan opened a drawing center on the second floor of the annex, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, in 1999.<ref name="The Morgan Timeline" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 22, 1999 |title=Arts Notes |page=80 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66729909/ |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212331/https://www.newspapers.com/article/66729909/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The same year, the Morgan received $10 million from [[Eugene V. Thaw]] and Clare E. Thaw;<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Rogers |first1=Michael |last2=Oder |first2=Norman |date=Aug 1999 |title=Morgan Library Given $10 Million |magazine=Library Journal |page=22 |volume=124 |issue=13 |id={{ProQuest|196792417}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=June 29, 1999 |title=A $10 Million Gift for Conservation at the Morgan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/29/arts/a-10-million-gift-for-conservation-at-the-morgan.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429162412/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/29/arts/a-10-million-gift-for-conservation-at-the-morgan.html |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> these funds were used to establish the Thaw Conservation Center, completed in 2002.<ref name="AR-2002-10">{{cite magazine |last=Snoonian |first=Deborah |date=Oct 2002 |title=For Paper Savers, Samuel Anderson Architect Transforms an Old Attic at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City into the Modern Thaw Conservation Center |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-10.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |pages=132–135 |volume=190 |issue=10 |postscript=none |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803010217/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-10.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kissel |first=Howard |date=October 27, 2002 |title=Art for Art's Sake |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-art-for-arts-sake/129340333/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212810/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-art-for-arts-sake/129340333/ |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=144}}</ref> By the beginning of the 21st century, the library's facilities had become dated. Pierce said later: "We had a lecture hall, not a concert hall; a reading room that owed more to 1928 instead of 2006."<ref name="Swanson 2006">{{Cite news |last=Swanson |first=Stevenson |date=May 14, 2006 |title=New Morgan Library and Museum Exudes 'Vitality' |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-new-morgan-library-and-m/129337842/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212816/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-new-morgan-library-and-m/129337842/ |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=August 2, 2023 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=7.7}}</ref>

==== 2000s expansion ====
The Morgan's board began planning another expansion in the late 1990s. The board hosted an [[architectural design competition]] and selected three finalists, all of whose plans involved demolishing the 1991 conservatory.<ref name="AR 2003-01">{{cite magazine |last=Stephens |first=Suzanne |date=Jan 2003 |title=Identity with Integrity Museum Expansion Is Proceeding, In Spite of a Troubled Economy. Questions of Growth Linger About New Buildings and Additions. When Is Small Just Enough? |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2003-01.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |pages=127–129 |volume=191 |issue=1 |id={{ProQuest|222156556}} |access-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502012205/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2003-01.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Pierce 2003">{{cite news |last=Pierce |first=Charles E. Jr |date=October 15, 2003 |title='First, Pick an Architect' |work=The Wall Street Journal |page=D16 |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|2436440232}}}}</ref> Ultimately, the board hired the Italian architect [[Renzo Piano]] (who had not participated in the original competition<ref name="Pierce 2003" />), along with Beyer Blinder Belle.<ref name="AR 2003-01" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=May 5, 2002 |title=When Expansion Leads to Inner Space |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/05/realestate/when-expansion-leads-to-inner-space.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819212819/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/05/realestate/when-expansion-leads-to-inner-space.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although Piano had not previously designed a building in New York City,<ref name="Horowitz 2005 p357">{{cite web |last=Horowitz |first=Jason |date=July 25, 2005 |title=Architects Live In Class Houses: Piano Vs. Gehry |url=https://observer.com/2005/07/architects-live-in-class-houses-piano-vs-gehry/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Observer |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163625/https://observer.com/2005/07/architects-live-in-class-houses-piano-vs-gehry/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Budick 2006" /> he had been selected because of his experience designing buildings in various styles and geographical contexts.<ref name="Horowitz 2005 p357" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Post |first=Nadine M. |date=May 5, 2003 |title=Global 'Starchitects' Sow Passion into Land of Pragmatism U.S. Teammates 'Wowed' by Foreign Cultures of Charisma, Clout, Collaboration and Design Above Dollar Sign |magazine=Engineering News-Record |pages=24–27 |volume=250 |issue=17 |id={{ProQuest|235700449}}}}</ref> The plans called for new exhibit areas, a reading room, an auditorium, and more storage space.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kenney |first=Brian |date=March 1, 2002 |title=Morgan Plans $75m Expansion |magazine=Library Journal |pages=20–21 |volume=127 |issue=4 |id={{ProQuest|196774805}}}}</ref><ref name="Vogel 2005">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 26, 2005 |title=Morgan Library Plans a Makeover and an Image Upgrade |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/arts/design/morgan-library-plans-a-makeover-and-an-image-upgrade.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125124043/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/arts/design/morgan-library-plans-a-makeover-and-an-image-upgrade.html |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Morgan planned to raise $25 million for maintenance and $100 million for the renovation itself.<ref name="AR 2003-01" /><ref name="Pierce 2003" /> Despite the [[September 11 attacks]], the Morgan decided to proceed with the expansion.<ref name="Pierce 2003" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Fred A. |date=April 23, 2003 |title=Nuts and Bolts; Renovation Question: Stay Open or Shut? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/nuts-and-bolts-renovation-question-stay-open-or-shut.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502160519/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/nuts-and-bolts-renovation-question-stay-open-or-shut.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The library presented preliminary plans to the LPC in January 2002.<ref name="Dunlap 2002">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=January 30, 2002 |title=A Plan Unfolds for a $75 Million Morgan Makeover |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/nyregion/a-plan-unfolds-for-a-75-million-morgan-makeover.html |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423003806/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/nyregion/a-plan-unfolds-for-a-75-million-morgan-makeover.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The LPC approved the proposal shortly afterward,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-04.pdf |title=Piano's Morgan Addition Approved |last=Sokol |first=David |volume=190 |issue=4 |date=April 2002 |magazine=Architectural Record |pages=26 |id={{ProQuest|222099855}} |postscript=none |access-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-date=May 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504133359/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-04.pdf |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=March 1, 2002 |title=Metro Briefing &#124; New York: Manhattan: City Clears Morgan Library Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/01/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-city-clears-morgan-library-plan.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502012205/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/01/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-city-clears-morgan-library-plan.html |url-status=live }}</ref> despite concerns about the design from [[Manhattan Community Board 6]] and the architect [[Robert A. M. Stern]].<ref>{{cite web |date=March 4, 2002 |title=Manhattan Community Boards |url=https://observer.com/2002/03/manhattan-community-boards-8/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Observer |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502012205/https://observer.com/2002/03/manhattan-community-boards-8/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 2003, the Morgan Library's buildings were closed for construction and expansion,<ref>{{cite web |last=Kramer |first=Hilton |date=May 5, 2003 |title=The Museum Follies: Giant Expansions Of Vast Pretension |url=https://observer.com/2003/05/the-museum-follies-giant-expansions-of-vast-pretension/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Observer |postscript=none |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502160520/https://observer.com/2003/05/the-museum-follies-giant-expansions-of-vast-pretension/ |url-status=live }}; {{cite news |last=Kissel |first=Howard |date=February 14, 2003 |title=A mirror up to nature |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66730140/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806212809/https://www.newspapers.com/article/66730140/ |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |page=61 }}</ref><ref name="nyt-2003-04-25">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 25, 2003 |title=Inside Art: The Morgan Goes on Hiatus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/25/arts/inside-art.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502160520/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/25/arts/inside-art.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the collection was placed into storage or moved to other institutions.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-25" /><ref name="Pierce 2003" /> At the time, the museum recorded about 200,000 annual visitors<ref name="Matthews 2006">{{cite news |last=Matthews |first=Karen |date=April 29, 2006 |title=J.P. Morgan's Manhattan Jewel Reopens to Public |work=The Globe and Mail |page=R17 |id={{ProQuest|1412698702}}}}</ref> but wanted to accommodate twice that number.<ref name="AR 2003-01" /><ref name="Pierce 2003" /> The library sponsored numerous traveling exhibitions around the country.<ref name="nyt20070420" /> All of the post-1928 annexes were demolished.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="Newhouse p. 97">{{harvnb|Newhouse|2006|ps=.|p=97}}</ref> Workers built most of the new spaces underground,<ref name="Swanson 2005" /> excavating nearly {{convert|50000|ST|LT t}} of bedrock.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /> The entrance was also relocated to Madison Avenue.<ref name="Matthews 2006" /><ref name="nyt20070420" /> In conjunction with the renovation, Pierce planned to rebrand the institution as a museum.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=March 30, 2005 |title=Rebuilding? It's Time for Rebranding |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/arts/artsspecial/rebuilding-its-time-for-rebranding.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502160521/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/arts/artsspecial/rebuilding-its-time-for-rebranding.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgan also continued to acquire objects during the renovation, such as the collection of the lyricist [[Fred Ebb]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=July 22, 2005 |title=At Morgan Library, Many New Treats |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/arts/design/at-morgan-library-many-new-treats.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163626/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/arts/design/at-morgan-library-many-new-treats.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The project cost $106 million in total;<ref name="Newhouse p. 93">{{harvnb|Newhouse|2006|ps=.|p=93}}</ref><ref name="Johnson 2007 z165">{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Caitlin |date=March 4, 2007 |title=Mr. Morgan's Library Opens Its Doors |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mr-morgans-library-opens-its-doors/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=CBS News |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428190609/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mr-morgans-library-opens-its-doors/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Rochon 2006" />{{Efn|One source gives a conflicting figure of $109 million.<ref name="Akers 2010 a118" />}} the renovation did not include the main building.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-12" /><ref name="Kissel 2006 c935">{{cite web |last=Kissel |first=Howard |date=May 28, 2006 |title=A Rich History; The Morgan Library Adds to J. Pierpont's Treasures |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2006/05/28/a-rich-history-the-morgan-library-adds-to-j-pierponts-treasures/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |archive-date=May 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503023144/https://www.nydailynews.com/2006/05/28/a-rich-history-the-morgan-library-adds-to-j-pierponts-treasures/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Madison Av Apr 2022 154.jpg|thumb|The Madison Avenue entrance building, which was completed in 2006]]

The library reopened on April 29, 2006,<ref name="Matthews 2006" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Cunningham |first=Bill |date=April 30, 2006 |title=Books, Boogie And Buffets: A Show House Opens, And the Morgan Library Reopens. |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=H14 |id={{ProQuest|93268137}}}}</ref> and was renamed the Morgan Library & Museum.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-12" /><ref name="Rochon 2006" /> J. P. Morgan's private office and vault were also opened to the public.<ref name="nyt20070420">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 20, 2006 |title=Morgan Library to Reopen With an Expanded Look, Name and Mission |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/arts/design/morgan-library-to-reopen-with-an-expanded-look-name-and-mission.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014317/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/arts/design/morgan-library-to-reopen-with-an-expanded-look-name-and-mission.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gibson 2006" /> Following the renovation, the number of annual visitors increased to 223,000, but this number had declined to 150,000 by 2010.<ref name="Akers 2010 a118">{{cite web |last=Akers |first=W.M. |date=September 8, 2010 |title=Extreme Makeover: Morgan Library Edition |url=https://observer.com/2010/09/extreme-makeover-morgan-library-edition/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417165609/https://observer.com/2010/09/extreme-makeover-morgan-library-edition/ |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=Observer}}</ref> The museum also hosted concerts in its new auditorium,<ref name="Schweitzer 2006 k752">{{cite web |last=Schweitzer |first=Vivien |date=September 19, 2006 |title=George London Foundation Announces First Season at Morgan Library's New Concert Hall |url=https://playbill.com/article/george-london-foundation-announces-first-season-at-morgan-librarys-new-concert-hall |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Playbill |postscript=none |archive-date=September 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926232410/https://www.playbill.com/article/george-london-foundation-announces-first-season-at-morgan-librarys-new-concert-hall |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Wakin |first=Daniel J. |date=June 23, 2006 |title=More Room for Music |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/arts/movies/more-room-for-music.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502181146/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/arts/movies/more-room-for-music.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and it hired [[Restaurant Associates]] to operate a cafe there.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Elan |first=Elissa |date=June 26, 2006 |title=Morgan Library Books RA for Renewed Dining Room |magazine=Nation's Restaurant News |page=60 |volume=40 |issue=26 |id={{ProQuest|229364074}}}}</ref> Pierce retired as the museum's director in early 2007,<ref name="Johnson 2007 z165" /><ref name="Vogel 2007">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=May 24, 2007 |title=Morgan Library Chooses Familiar Face for Its Next Chief |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/design/24morg.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212230648/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/design/24morg.html |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> saying that some museum members had opposed changes made during his tenure.<ref name="Johnson 2007 z165" /> [[William Griswold (museum director)|William M. Griswold]] was hired as the museum's next director that April,<ref name="Vogel 2007" /><ref>{{cite web |date=May 23, 2007 |title=Griswold Leaving MIA to Head NY'S Morgan Library & Museum |url=https://www.twincities.com/2007/05/23/griswold-leaving-mia-to-head-nys-morgan-library-museum/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=Twin Cities |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428190609/https://www.twincities.com/2007/05/23/griswold-leaving-mia-to-head-nys-morgan-library-museum/ |url-status=live }}</ref> overseeing the growth of its collections, exhibition programs, and curatorial departments.<ref name="Miller 2014 b718">{{cite web |last=Miller |first=M.H. |date=May 20, 2014 |title=Morgan Library's William Griswold Named Director of Cleveland Museum of Art |url=https://observer.com/2014/05/morgan-librarys-william-griswold-named-director-of-cleveland-museum-fo-art/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=Observer |postscript=none |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428190609/https://observer.com/2014/05/morgan-librarys-william-griswold-named-director-of-cleveland-museum-fo-art/ |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=May 20, 2014 |title=Cleveland Hires Leader of Morgan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/arts/design/cleveland-museum-of-art-names-william-m-griswold-director.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129180806/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/arts/design/cleveland-museum-of-art-names-william-m-griswold-director.html |archive-date=January 29, 2020 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> By the late 2000s, there was still not enough space for the museum's permanent collection.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-12">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=May 12, 2010 |title=At the Morgan, Gently Restoring a Treasure-Filled Building |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/arts/design/12morgan.html |access-date=May 1, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015649/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/arts/design/12morgan.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kissel 2006 c935" /> The museum began planning to restore the main building {{circa|2008}}.<ref name="Hart 2010">{{Cite magazine |last=Hart |first=Sara |date=Dec 2010 |title=Morgan Library & Museum McKim Building |magazine=Architect |page=72 |volume=99 |issue=12 |id={{ProQuest|880105615}}}}</ref>

==== 2010s to present ====
In May 2010, Griswold announced that the main building would be renovated, and the museum started providing audio guides about its collections.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-12" /> The renovation cost $4.5 million<ref name="Akers 2010 a118" /><ref name="Sheets 2010 t737">{{cite web |last=Sheets |first=Hilarie M. |date=October 1, 2010 |title=The Morgan Behind the Morgan |url=https://www.artnews.com/artnews/news/the-morgan-behind-the-morgan-344/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=ARTnews.com |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501015123/https://www.artnews.com/artnews/news/the-morgan-behind-the-morgan-344/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and included cleaning the marble facade, replacing electrical systems and lighting, and opening the North Room to the public.<ref name="Akers 2010 a118" /><ref name="Murdock 2011 k395">{{cite web |last=Murdock |first=James |date=February 15, 2011 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum |url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7657-the-morgan-library-museum |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=Architectural Record |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501232320/https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7657-the-morgan-library-museum |url-status=live }}</ref> Beyer Blinder Belle designed the restoration,<ref name="Hart 2010" /><ref name="Murdock 2011 k395" /> which was completed in October 2010.<ref name="Pogrebin 2010">{{cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=Lee |date=November 23, 2010 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum in a New Light |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703514904575602861857841360 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |postscript=none |archive-date=September 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924081050/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703514904575602861857841360 |url-status=live }}; {{cite web |last=Simon |first=Walker |date=October 25, 2010 |title=Morgan Library facelift brings treasures to light |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-morganlibrary-idUKTRE69O35Y20101025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417173247/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-morganlibrary-idUKTRE69O35Y20101025 |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |website=Reuters }}</ref><ref name="Cotter2010">{{cite web |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=October 31, 2010 |title=J.P. Morgan's Domain, Dusted and Illuminated |url=https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2010/10/31/jp-morgans-domain-dusted-and-illuminated/28975913007/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501005020/https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2010/10/31/jp-morgans-domain-dusted-and-illuminated/28975913007/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Alongside the main building's renovation, Griswold wanted to digitize the collection.<ref name="Catton p.">{{cite news |last=Catton |first=Pia |title=A Library to Shout About |date=October 17, 2010 |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304772804575558233937920108 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502183553/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304772804575558233937920108 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgan established a photography department in 2012.<ref name="Johnson 2014">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Ken |date=February 27, 2014 |title=A Certain Something, Repeated |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/arts/design/a-collective-invention-photographs-at-play-at-the-morgan.html |access-date=April 29, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429142107/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/arts/design/a-collective-invention-photographs-at-play-at-the-morgan.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Tremayne-Pengelly 2023 j811" /> Griswold resigned as the Morgan's director in 2014,<ref name="Miller 2014 b718" /> and [[Colin Bailey (museum director)|Colin Bailey]] was appointed as the director of the Morgan Library & Museum the next year.<ref name="Pobric 2015 p809">{{cite web |last=Pobric |first=Pac |date=April 16, 2015 |title=Colin Bailey Named Head of the Morgan Library and Museum |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2015/04/17/colin-bailey-named-head-of-the-morgan-library-and-museum |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper – International art news and events |postscript=none |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428190609/https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2015/04/17/colin-bailey-named-head-of-the-morgan-library-and-museum |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=April 16, 2015 |title=Colin Bailey Is Named the New Director of Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/arts/design/colin-bailey-is-named-the-new-director-of-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428190609/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/arts/design/colin-bailey-is-named-the-new-director-of-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Morgan Library & Museum announced in February 2019 that it would renovate the main building's facade.<ref>{{cite web |last=Plitt |first=Amy |title=The Morgan Library's Charles McKim-Designed Landmark Building to Get a Facelift |website=Curbed NY |date=February 14, 2019 |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/2/14/18224862/new-york-museums-morgan-library-charles-mckim-renovation |access-date=May 2, 2024 |postscript=none |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195543/https://ny.curbed.com/2019/2/14/18224862/new-york-museums-morgan-library-charles-mckim-renovation |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |last=Messman |first=Lauren |date=February 14, 2019 |title=Morgan Library & Museum Announces $12.5 Million Exterior Renovation |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/arts/design/morgan-library-museum-renovation.html |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107235903/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/arts/design/morgan-library-museum-renovation.html |url-status=live |postscript=none }}; {{Cite web |last=Fazzare |first=Elizabeth |date=February 15, 2019 |title=Morgan Library to Undergo First Exterior Renovation in 112 Years |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/morgan-library-to-undergo-first-exterior-renovation-in-112-years |access-date=January 2, 2021 |website=Architectural Digest |language=en-us |archive-date=March 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305202248/https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/morgan-library-to-undergo-first-exterior-renovation-in-112-years |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Holmes 2019 v179">{{cite web |last=Holmes |first=Helen |title=The Morgan Library and Museum Announces Plans for a New Public Garden |website=Observer |date=October 2, 2019 |url=https://observer.com/2019/10/morgan-library-museum-garden-design/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195543/https://observer.com/2019/10/morgan-library-museum-garden-design/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Integrated Conservation Resources restored the main building,<ref name="nyt-2022-06-10" /><ref name="The Architect's Newspaper 2022" /> completing the facade's restoration later that year.<ref name="Conklin 2019 g140">{{cite web |last=Conklin |first=Emily |title=AN Gets up Close with McKim, Mead & White at the Morgan Library Restoration |website=The Architect's Newspaper |date=October 10, 2019 |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2019/10/an-up-close-mckim-mead-white-morgan-library-renovation/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195545/https://www.archpaper.com/2019/10/an-up-close-mckim-mead-white-morgan-library-renovation/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Holmes 2019 v179" /> The landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan designed a garden surrounding the original building,<ref name="nyt-2022-06-10">{{Cite news |last=Levere |first=Jane L. |date=June 10, 2022 |title=Manhattan's New Green Space Was J. P. Morgan's Side Yard |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/arts/design/morgan-library-museum-restoration-garden.html |access-date=June 11, 2022 |archive-date=June 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611155146/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/arts/design/morgan-library-museum-restoration-garden.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Davidson 2022">{{cite web |last=Davidson |first=Justin |date=June 9, 2022 |title=The Morgan Library's Gilded Age Garden Gets a Glow-Up |url=https://www.curbed.com/2022/06/architecture-review-the-morgan-librarys-restored-garden.html |access-date=June 11, 2022 |website=Curbed |archive-date=June 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609215233/https://www.curbed.com/2022/06/architecture-review-the-morgan-librarys-restored-garden.html |url-status=live}}</ref> since the neighborhood, at the time, lacked parkland.<ref name="Walker o633">{{cite web |last=Walker |first=Victoria M. |date=July 23, 2022 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Opens Garden to the Public |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/realestate/morgan-library-museum-garden.html |access-date=October 28, 2025 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The LPC had initially opposed the garden, as the original building had never had a garden, but approved the project after learning that J. P. Morgan had wanted a garden around the library.<ref name="The Architect's Newspaper 2022">{{cite web |date=June 10, 2022 |title=Morgan Library Facade and Garden Restored for the First Time in 115 Years |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2022/06/morgan-library-facade-garden-restored-first-time-115-years/ |access-date=June 11, 2022 |website=The Architect's Newspaper |archive-date=June 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610185102/https://www.archpaper.com/2022/06/morgan-library-facade-garden-restored-first-time-115-years/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The museum was temporarily closed from March to September 2020 during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New York City|COVID-19 pandemic]],<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Libbey |first1=Peter |last2=Herrington |first2=Nicole |date=September 10, 2020 |title=New York's Reopened Museums: Where to Go and What to See |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/arts/design/new-york-museums-reopen-coronavirus.html |access-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806214837/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/arts/design/new-york-museums-reopen-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the renovation was delayed as a result.<ref name="nyt-2022-06-10" /> The garden opened to the public in June 2022;<ref name="The Architect's Newspaper 2022" /><ref name="Davidson 2022" /> the renovation had cost $13 million.<ref name="nyt-2022-06-10" /><ref name="Financial Times d265">{{cite web |last=Heathcote |first=Edwin |title=A New Chapter for New York's Morgan Library |url=https://www.ft.com/content/144bd9f5-8804-4e52-86c7-fba3973b7032 |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Financial Times |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427163321/https://www.ft.com/content/144bd9f5-8804-4e52-86c7-fba3973b7032 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrated its 100th anniversary as a public institution in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vadukul |first1=Alex |last2=Faibyshev |first2=Dolly |date=March 5, 2024 |title=Patti Smith Sings for the Morgan Library & Museum's 100th Anniversary |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/style/patti-smith-nyc-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175635/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/style/patti-smith-nyc-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Cassady 2024 i445">{{cite web |last=Cassady |first=Daniel |date=March 6, 2024 |title=Morgan Library Rings in Its Centennial with Black-Tie Gala and $15 M. In Birthday Gifts |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/morgan-library-museum-centennial-gala-endowment-1234698998/ |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=ARTnews.com |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175638/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/morgan-library-museum-centennial-gala-endowment-1234698998/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To celebrate its centennial, the museum began raising $50 million in 2023,<ref name="Cassady 2024 i445" /><ref name="Culgan 2023 p604">{{cite web |last=Culgan |first=Rossilynne Skena |date=November 10, 2023 |title=The Morgan Is Celebrating 100 Years with a Free Party and a Beatrix Potter Exhibit |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-morgan-is-celebrating-100-years-with-a-free-party-and-a-beatrix-potter-exhibit-111023 |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=Time Out New York |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175635/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-morgan-is-celebrating-100-years-with-a-free-party-and-a-beatrix-potter-exhibit-111023 |url-status=live }}</ref> including $35 million for its endowment and $15 million for capital improvements.<ref name="Tremayne-Pengelly 2023 j811">{{cite web |last=Tremayne-Pengelly |first=Alexandra |date=November 15, 2023 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Celebrates 100 Years of History, Literature and Art |url=https://observer.com/2023/11/morgan-library-museum-launches-centennial-fundraising/ |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=Observer |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175637/https://observer.com/2023/11/morgan-library-museum-launches-centennial-fundraising/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The heiress [[Katharine Rayner]] donated $10 million to endow the director's position, which was renamed in her honor in early 2024,<ref name="Goukassian 2024 g840">{{cite web |last=Goukassian |first=Elena |date=March 4, 2024 |title=Happy 100th! The Morgan Library and Museum Gets Birthday Gifts Totalling $15m |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/04/morgan-library-and-museum-gets-15-million-birthday-present |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175637/https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/04/morgan-library-and-museum-gets-15-million-birthday-present |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Lifestyles Magazine v161">{{cite web |date=March 13, 2024 |title=$10 Million Gift to Library from Katharine J. Rayner – Lifestyles Magazine |url=https://lifestylesmagazine.com/latest-news/10-million-gift-to-library-from-katharine-j-rayner/ |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=Lifestyles Magazine |archive-date=April 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426175640/https://lifestylesmagazine.com/latest-news/10-million-gift-to-library-from-katharine-j-rayner/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation donated another $5 million.<ref name="Cassady 2024 i445" /><ref>{{cite web |date=January 16, 2024 |title=Morgan Library Receives $15 Million for Centennial Campaign |url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/morgan-library-receives-15-million-for-centennial-campaign |access-date=April 26, 2024 |website=Philanthropy News Digest |archive-date=March 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314041535/https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/morgan-library-receives-15-million-for-centennial-campaign |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Collection ==
{{Main category|Collection of the Morgan Library & Museum}}
John Pierpont Morgan's original collection included porcelains, triptychs, books, and manuscripts.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 3" /> The collection of the Morgan Library & Museum contained more than 350,000 objects by the early 21st century.<ref name="AR-2002-10" /><ref name="The New York Sun 2006 f917">{{cite web |last=Esplund |first=Lance |date=April 27, 2006 |title=The Museum As Mall |url=https://www.nysun.com/article/arts-museum-as-mall |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=The New York Sun |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806214921/https://www.nysun.com/article/arts-museum-as-mall |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Swanson 2006" /> One late-20th-century reporter described the collection as including a variety of "almost random treasures".<ref name="Chapin 1971" /> The library's online catalog, Corsair, contains records for many of the collection's objects.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Izbicki |first=T. M. |date=February 2013 |title=Corsair, The Online Collection Catalog of the Pierpont Morgan Library |magazine=Choice |page=1016 |volume=50 |issue=6 |id={{ProQuest|1315525450}}}}</ref>

=== Manuscripts and letters ===
[[File:Warwick Hours, perhaps London c. 1430-1445, and Ferrara Italy c. 1482, - Morgan Library & Museum - New York City - DSC06575.jpg|thumb|One of the illuminated manuscripts]]
The Morgan Library & Museum has long contained a collection of [[illuminated manuscript]]s,<ref name="Pastore 1961">{{cite news |last=Pastore |first=Arthur Jr. |date=September 22, 1961 |title=Art Splendors Tucked Away in N.Y. |work=The Christian Science Monitor |page=7 |issn=0882-7729 |id={{ProQuest|510206109}}}}</ref> which date from the sixth to sixteenth centuries.<ref name="Dashwood 1932" /><ref name="Shirey 1970" /><ref name="The Morgan Library and Museum Medieval Renaissance Manuscripts">{{cite web |date=May 29, 2013 |title=Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance-manuscripts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108080341/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance-manuscripts |archive-date=November 8, 2014 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> As early as 1923, the Morgan Library counted 560 illuminated manuscripts in its collection,<ref name="American Bankers Association 1923 p. 566">{{cite magazine |last=Honsford |first=Conkling |year=1923 |title=Banker Morgan's $8,500,000 Gift |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wS3XDYhU9DgC&pg=PA566 |magazine=Journal of the American Bankers Association |publisher=The Association |issue=v. 16 |page=566 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803012739/https://books.google.com/books?id=wS3XDYhU9DgC&pg=PA566 |url-status=live }}</ref> a number that had grown to over 1,100 by the 21st century.<ref name="The Morgan Library and Museum Medieval Renaissance Manuscripts" /> Among the manuscripts are the [[Morgan Bible]], [[Morgan Beatus]], [[Hours of Catherine of Cleves]], [[Farnese Hours]], [[Black Hours, Morgan MS 493|Morgan Black Hours]], and [[Codex Glazier]],<ref name="Dashwood 1932" /><ref>{{cite web |date=May 29, 2013 |title=Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance-manuscripts |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=November 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108080341/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance-manuscripts |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as an [[Anglo-Saxon Gospel]]s manuscript.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 11, 1955 |title=11th-Century Gospel MS. Bought by Morgan Library |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=21 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1327242295}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=May 11, 1955 |title=1000 A. D. Gospels in Morgan Show; Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Is Focal Point in Library's Display of Acquisitions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/11/archives/1000-a-d-gospels-in-morgan-show-anglosaxon-manuscript-is-focal.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427204417/https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/11/archives/1000-a-d-gospels-in-morgan-show-anglosaxon-manuscript-is-focal.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[manuscript]] collection also contains authors' original manuscripts, many of them autographed.<ref name="Shirey 1970" /> The library's early acquisitions included a [[Charles Dickens]] manuscript of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'';<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 8, 1912 |title=Mr. Morgan Owns Manuscript of "A Christmas Carol"; Original in Dickens's Handwriting of the Most Famous Yuletide Story Ever Written Is in the Private Library of the Financier and Collector |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/12/08/archives/mr-morgan-owns-manuscript-of-a-christmas-carol-original-in-dickenss.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213307/https://www.nytimes.com/1912/12/08/archives/mr-morgan-owns-manuscript-of-a-christmas-carol-original-in-dickenss.html |url-status=live}}</ref> a [[J. M. Barrie]] manuscript;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=September 4, 1967 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library Show Will Display Son's Collections |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/09/04/archives/pierpont-morgan-library-show-will-display-sons-collections.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428200541/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/09/04/archives/pierpont-morgan-library-show-will-display-sons-collections.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and original drawings for [[The Pickwick Papers]] and the [[Book of Job]].<ref name="R.R. Bowker Company 1913 p. 1229">{{cite magazine |date=April 5, 1913 |title=Obituary Notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khYDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1229 |magazine=The Publishers Weekly |publisher=F. Leypoldt |page=1229 |volume=83 |issue=2 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803182218/https://books.google.com/books?id=khYDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1229 |url-status=live }}</ref> The collection also includes manuscripts of poems by [[Robert Burns]];<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /> nine of [[Walter Scott]]'s novels;<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /> [[Alexander Pope]]'s poem ''[[An Essay on Man]]'';<ref name="Shirey 1970" /> [[John Keats]]'s poem [[Endymion (poem)|''Endymion'']];<ref name="Seldis 1966" /> [[Francis Bacon]]'s book ''[[Novum Organum]]'',<ref name="Strickland 1993" /> [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s short story "[[A Tale of the Ragged Mountains]]";<ref name="Swanson 2006" /> and [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s short story "[[Three Stories and Ten Poems]]".<ref>{{cite web |date=October 7, 2015 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Debuts "Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars" |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/hemingway-morgan-library-nyc |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=Architectural Digest |archive-date=February 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207151916/https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/hemingway-morgan-library-nyc |url-status=live}}</ref> There are also writings from [[Émile Zola]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Marie Antoinette]], [[George Sand]], [[Alexandre Dumas]], [[Thomas Moore]],<ref name="American Bankers Association 1923 p. 566" /> [[Jane Austen]], [[John Milton]],<ref name="Kissel 2006 c935" /> [[John Ruskin]],<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Burd | first=Van Akin |title=Frederick James Sharp: 1880–1957 | magazine=[[The Book Collector]] | publisher=Collector Limited | volume=44 |issue=4 | date=Winter 1995 | issn=0006-7237 | pages=543–573 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |date=September 30, 2000 |title=A Victorian's Victorian Morgan Library Examines Art Critic John Ruskin |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/09/30/a-victorians-victorian-morgan-library-examines-art-critic-john-ruskin/ |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163625/https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/09/30/a-victorians-victorian-morgan-library-examines-art-critic-john-ruskin/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Honoré de Balzac]].<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /> Other documents in the Morgan's collection are a collection of 64 Central European manuscripts<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1957 |title=Historic European Manuscripts to Go On Display at Morgan Library Tuesday |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/12/15/archives/historic-european-manuscripts-to-go-on-display-at-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427235519/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/12/15/archives/historic-european-manuscripts-to-go-on-display-at-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and one of about two dozen original prints of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 23, 1983 |title=Declaration on Display |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/23/arts/declaration-on-display.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524141935/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/23/arts/declaration-on-display.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are many letters in the collection, some dating as far back as ancient [[Babylonia]]n times.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 6, 1950 |title=Notable Letters on Display Today; 150 on Clay, Papyrus and Paper Begin 10-Weak Exhibition in Morgan Library |language=en |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/06/archives/notable-letters-on-display-today-150-on-clay-papyrus-and-paper.html |access-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812022502/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/06/archives/notable-letters-on-display-today-150-on-clay-papyrus-and-paper.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgan holds original letters by [[Napoleon]], [[Horace Walpole]],<ref name="R.R. Bowker Company 1913 p. 1229" /> [[Voltaire]], [[Francesco Filelfo]],<ref name="nyt-1956-05-15">{{Cite news |date=May 15, 1956 |title=About Art and Artists; Exhibition of the Morgan Library's New Acquisitions Offers Interesting Variety |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/05/15/archives/about-art-and-artists-exhibition-of-the-morgan-librarys-new.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427235514/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/05/15/archives/about-art-and-artists-exhibition-of-the-morgan-librarys-new.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[John Cheever]],<ref name="Samway 1999" /> [[Thomas Pynchon]],<ref name="Samway 1999" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rogers |first=Michael |date=May 15, 1998 |title=What's Happening in...Special Libraries |magazine=Library Journal |page=22 |volume=123 |issue=9 |id={{ProQuest|196771945}}}}</ref> [[Vincent van Gogh]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 30, 2007 |title=Van Gogh's Art, In His Own Words |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/arts/design/30shat.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163625/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/arts/design/30shat.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[George Beaumont]].<ref name="nyt-1959-05-17">{{Cite news |last=Preston |first=Stuart |date=May 17, 1959 |title=From Past to Present; New Morgan Library Acquisitions – Contemporary Art in Galleries |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/17/archives/from-past-to-present-new-morgan-library-acquisitions-contemporary.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427235519/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/17/archives/from-past-to-present-new-morgan-library-acquisitions-contemporary.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There is also a rare 1516 letter from [[Andrea Corsali]] with the first description of the [[Southern Cross]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contemporary Manuscript Copy of His Letter : Cochin, To Giuliano de'Medici, 1515 Jan. 6. |date=July 25, 2017 |url=https://www.themorgan.org/literary-historical/108202 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028212035/https://www.themorgan.org/literary-historical/108202 |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |access-date=October 26, 2020}}</ref>

The collection includes notebooks and journals as well. These include the notebooks of [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]],<ref name="nyt-2006-02-12" /><ref name="R.R. Bowker Company 1913 p. 1229" /> [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Gorman |first=Herbert |date=December 25, 1932 |title=Hawthorne's Notebooks Are Rescued From Distortion; The Manuscript as It Was Before Mrs. Hawthorne Edited It to Conform to "Genteel Standards" |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/25/archives/hawthornes-notebooks-are-rescued-from-distortion-the-manuscript-as.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312060834/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/25/archives/hawthornes-notebooks-are-rescued-from-distortion-the-manuscript-as.html |archive-date=March 12, 2018 |access-date=August 4, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Tennessee Williams]],<ref name="Samway 1999" /> and [[Henry David Thoreau]].<ref>{{cite web |date=February 15, 2017 |title=This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal |url=https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/thoreau |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310155055/https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/thoreau |archive-date=March 10, 2017 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum|postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=October 3, 1956 |title='Missing' Thoreau Journal Shown At Exhibition in Morgan Library; Journals of Henry David Thoreau Are Reunited at the Pierpont Morgan Library Here |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/03/archives/missing-thoreau-journal-shown-at-exhibition-in-morgan-library.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904093134/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/03/archives/missing-thoreau-journal-shown-at-exhibition-in-morgan-library.html |archive-date=September 4, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Diaries are also displayed, including those of [[Queen Victoria]], pirate [[Bartholomew Sharp]], writer [[E. B. White]], and J. P. Morgan Sr. himself.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rothstein |first=Edward |date=January 21, 2011 |title=Tales of Lives Richly Lived, But True? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/arts/design/22diary.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195207/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/arts/design/22diary.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Musical collection ===
The Morgan Library & Museum also houses a sizable musical manuscript collection.<ref name="Otto E 1972" /><ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992" /> A 1998 magazine article about the collection described it as containing 1,250 music manuscripts; 1,900 pieces of music-related literature; and 7,000 letters written by musicians.<ref name="Turner p. 290" /> The music collection includes autographed and annotated libretti and scores from [[Ludwig van Beethoven]], [[Johannes Brahms]], [[Luigi Cherubini]], [[Frédéric Chopin]], [[Charles Gounod]], [[George Frideric Handel]], [[Joseph Haydn]], [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Gioachino Rossini]], and [[Giuseppe Verdi]].<ref name="Otto E 1972" /><ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /> It also contains letters by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], [[Felix Mendelssohn]], and [[Richard Wagner]], among other musicians.<ref name="Turner p. 291">{{harvnb|Turner|1998|ps=.|page=291}}</ref>

The only significant music manuscript that Morgan bought in his lifetime was Beethoven's [[Violin Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)|Violin Sonata in G major]], Opus 96, which he acquired in 1907.<ref>{{harvnb|Turner|1998|ps=.|pages=291–292}}</ref> Notable specific pieces include two sets of Schubert's [[Impromptus (Schubert)|Impromptus]] manuscripts;<ref name="nyt-1983-03-03" /> [[Andrea Antico]]'s ''Motetti e Canzone'',<ref name="Turner p. 291" /><ref name="Otto E 1972" /> and Mozart's ''[[Symphony No. 35 (Mozart)|Haffner Symphony]]''.<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /><ref>{{cite news |date=August 27, 1979 |title=Holograph of Mozart's 'Haffner' Acquired by Morgan Library |work=Los Angeles Times |pages=E11 |issn=0458-3035 |id={{ProQuest|158976721}}}}</ref> The collection also contains the scraps of paper on which [[Bob Dylan]] jotted down "[[Blowin' in the Wind]]" and "[[It Ain't Me Babe]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sisario |first=Ben |date=March 2, 2016 |title=Bob Dylan's Secret Archive |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/arts/music/bob-dylans-secret-archive.html |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=March 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303101348/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/arts/music/bob-dylans-secret-archive.html |url-status=live|postscript=none}}; {{cite web |date=August 19, 2013 |title=Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956–1966 |url=https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/bob-dylans-american-journey |access-date=January 2, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126161438/https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/bob-dylans-american-journey |url-status=live}}</ref> There are several pieces of Victorian-era musical artifacts, such as [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] manuscripts and related artifacts.<ref>Wilson, Frederic Woodbridge. [http://arcadia.org/pml/gs-collection.html The Gilbert and Sullivan Collection] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105164350/http://arcadia.org/pml/gs-collection.html|date=January 5, 2009}} at The Morgan Library website, accessed May 5, 2010</ref> In 2024, museum staff discovered an unpublished [[waltz]] by Chopin, dating from the 1830s, in the collection.<ref>{{cite web | last=Peart | first=Hannah | title=Lost Chopin waltz discovered in New York museum after almost 200 years | website=NBC News | date=October 29, 2024 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chopin-waltz-discovered-new-york-mogran-library-museum-200-years-rcna177759 | access-date=November 2, 2024|postscript=none}}; {{cite web | last=Hernández | first=Javier C. | title=Hear a Chopin Waltz Unearthed After Nearly 200 Years | website=The New York Times | date=October 27, 2024 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/27/arts/music/chopin-waltz-discovery.html | access-date=November 2, 2024}}</ref>

=== Books ===
[[File:Morgan Library Gutenberg Bible.jpg|alt=A glass case holds an open book in a library|thumb|upright|A Gutenberg Bible on display at the Morgan Library]]
The collection includes early printed [[Bible]]s and other religious works, among them three [[Gutenberg Bible]]s,<ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992" /><ref name="Shirey 1970" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Schuessler |first=Jennifer |date=January 17, 2024 |title='Gutenberg!': A Guide to the Inventor Behind the Broadway Musical |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/theater/johannes-gutenberg-musical-broadway.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427154136/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/theater/johannes-gutenberg-musical-broadway.html |url-status=live }}</ref> one of six original copies of the first Italian Bible,<ref name="Dashwood 1932" /><ref>{{cite web |date=April 26, 1931 |title=Italian Bible, Rarer Than the Gutenberg, Acquired by Morgan for His Library Here |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/04/26/archives/italian-bible-rarer-than-the-gutenberg-acquired-by-morgan-for-his.html |access-date=August 4, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213304/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/04/26/archives/italian-bible-rarer-than-the-gutenberg-acquired-by-morgan-for-his.html |url-status=live}}</ref> one of three known copies of the [[Constance Missal]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=February 26, 1954 |title=Morgan Library Gets 'Oldest Book'; Missal, Placed Prior to Gutenberg Bible, Is Exhibited Here |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/02/26/archives/morgan-library-gets-oldest-book-missal-placed-prior-to-gutenberg.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427163321/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/02/26/archives/morgan-library-gets-oldest-book-missal-placed-prior-to-gutenberg.html |url-status=live }}; {{Cite news |date=February 26, 1954 |title=Morgan Library Acquires Missal |work=Daily Boston Globe |page=7 |id={{ProQuest|840087324}} |postscript=none}}; {{cite magazine |date=March 1, 1954 |title=A predecessor to the Gutenberg Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80 |access-date=March 22, 2020 |journal=Life Magazine |volume=36 |issue=9 |archive-date=May 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504133524/https://books.google.com/books?id=S0gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> a rare copy of the [[Mainz Psalter]],<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref name="Dashwood 1932" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Mackall |first=Leonard L. |date=November 2, 1930 |title=Notes for Bibliophiles: The Morgan Library |page=J27 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1113755897}}}}</ref> and the [[Golden Gospels of Henry III]].<ref name="R.R. Bowker Company 1913 p. 1229" /> The Morgan also contains material from ancient Egypt and medieval liturgical objects (including [[Coptic literature]] examples);<ref>{{cite web |date=March 1, 1914 |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Coptic Literature |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16027d.htm |access-date=June 18, 2012 |publisher=Newadvent.org |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927180530/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16027d.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> [[William Blake]]'s original drawings for [[William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job|his edition of the Book of Job]]; and concept drawings for Saint-Exupéry's ''[[The Little Prince]]''.<ref name="Stam 2001 p. 637" /> The Morgan has a collection of ancient Near Eastern [[cylinder seals]]: small stone cylinders finely engraved with images for transfer to clay by rolling.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 30, 2013 |title=Ancient Western Asian Seals & Tablets |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/ancient-near-eastern-seals-and-tablets |access-date=April 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |language=en |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411074716/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/ancient-near-eastern-seals-and-tablets |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Morgan contains various examples of Latin and Greek literary classics, along with more modern American and European printed books.<ref name="Russell 1988" /> The collection includes numerous examples of fine [[bookbinding]].<ref>{{cite web |date=May 29, 2013 |title=Printed Books & Bindings |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/printed-books-and-bindings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123084725/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/printed-books-and-bindings |archive-date=January 23, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> These include various bindings of [[Coptic literature|Coptic manuscripts]] from the 9th and 10th centuries,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Petersen |first1=T.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNqYzgEACAAJ |title=Coptic Bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library |last2=Trujillo |first2=F. |publisher=Legacy Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-953421-04-3 |page= |access-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427235520/https://books.google.com/books?id=SNqYzgEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> the metalwork covers of the [[Lindau Gospels]],<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref>{{cite web |date=January 27, 2016 |title=Lindau Gospels |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/lindau-gospels |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160210230541/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/lindau-gospels |archive-date=February 10, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |date=September 19, 2017 |title=Cover of the Lindau Gospels Crucificion and Mourning Figures · Medieval East Crucifixion Depictions · Medieval Art |url=http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/medievalart/exhibits/show/medieval_east_crucifixion_depi/crucifixion_and_mourning_figur |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904093136/http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/medievalart/exhibits/show/medieval_east_crucifixion_depi/crucifixion_and_mourning_figur |archive-date=September 4, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=PROJECTS}}</ref> copies of books by early British printer [[William Caxton]],<ref name="The New York Times 1949 d369" /> and a binding made for [[Christina, Queen of Sweden]].<ref name="nyt-1959-05-17" />

There are also children's books. For example, the collection includes a book with the first known printing of the rhyme "[[This Is the House That Jack Built]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobson |first=Aileen |date=November 22, 1977 |title=Library's Tiny Book a Rare Treasure |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-librarys-tiny/146247660/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=Newsday |pages=9 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428223105/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition-librarys-tiny/146247660/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the collection contains the first editions or proofread versions of ''[[Struwwelpeter]]'', ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', and ''[[Max and Moritz]]''.<ref name="Russell 1986">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=November 30, 1986 |title=Art View; Morgan Library Shows Off Its New Treasures |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/30/arts/art-view-morgan-library-shows-off-its-new-treasures.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428221601/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/30/arts/art-view-morgan-library-shows-off-its-new-treasures.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Visual art ===
[[File:Eugène Delacroix - Royal Tiger - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|alt=The painting "Royal Tiger" by Eugene Delacroix|''Royal Tiger'' by [[Eugène Delacroix]], one of the paintings in the collection]]
The Morgan contains a large collection of [[incunabula]], prints, and drawings. The collection includes some [[Old Master]] paintings collected by Morgan,<ref>{{cite web |date=May 30, 2013 |title=Paintings & Art Objects |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/paintings-and-art-objects |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509141910/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/paintings-and-art-objects |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as objects like wedding portraits.<ref name="Seldis 1966" /> The Old Master paintings include works by [[Hans Memling]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=September 1, 2016 |title=A Hans Memling Show Is More Than the Sum of Its Divine Parts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/arts/design/review-hans-memling-morgan-library-museum.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616135934/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/arts/design/review-hans-memling-morgan-library-museum.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Pergam 2017 p. 517">{{cite book |last=Pergam |first=Elizabeth A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCQxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT517 |title=The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: "Entrepreneurs, Connoisseurs and the Public " |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-351-54279-1 |page=517 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213300/https://books.google.com/books?id=QCQxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT517 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Perugino]],<ref>{{cite magazine |date=September 23, 1991 |title=Museums |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IOkCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58 |magazine=New York Magazine |language=en |publisher=New York Media, LLC |page=58 |issn=0028-7369 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803010216/https://books.google.com/books?id=IOkCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Cima da Conegliano]].<ref name="Pergam 2017 p. 517" /> Some Old Master works have been sold off over the years, such as [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]]'s masterpiece ''[[Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kandell |first=Jonathan |date=April 28, 2002 |title=Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Industrialist Who Built Fabled Art Collection, Dies at 81 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/28/nyregion/baron-thyssen-bornemisza-industrialist-who-built-fabled-art-collection-dies-81.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407132200/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/28/nyregion/baron-thyssen-bornemisza-industrialist-who-built-fabled-art-collection-dies-81.html |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|postscript=none}}; {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kd7X1xTi2RsC |title=ARTnews |publisher=ARTnews Associates |year=1949 |volume=47 |page=34 |access-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213251/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kd7X1xTi2RsC |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |url-status=live |number=8}}</ref> The collection also includes numerous drawings from 13th-to-19th-century [[French masters]] such as [[Antoine Watteau]], [[François Boucher]], [[Jacques-Louis David]], and [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Revzin |first=Philip |date=June 18, 1993 |title=Morgan's French Masters Visit the Louvre |work=The Wall Street Journal |page=11 |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|308138894}}}}</ref> The Morgan also holds a set of miniature [[Rajput painting]]s.<ref name="Russell 1986" /> Other notable artists of the Morgan Library & Museum include [[Jean de Brunhoff]],<ref>{{cite news |date=October 10, 2008 |title=Babar, From Concept to Creation |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122358400755620261 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163627/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122358400755620261 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Paul Cézanne]],<ref>{{cite web |date=October 3, 2017 |title=Paul Cézanne Sketchbook |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/paul-cezanne/sketchbook |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163625/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/paul-cezanne/sketchbook |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Gaston Phoebus]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Karen |date=April 18, 2008 |title=The Art of the Hunt, As Practiced Way Back When |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/arts/design/18morg.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163625/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/arts/design/18morg.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Rembrandt van Rijn]].<ref>{{cite web |date=May 22, 2014 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Has Digitized Its Entire Collection of Rembrandt Etchings |url=https://www.afanews.com/articles/item/2727-the-morgan-library--museum-has-digitized-its-entire-collection-of-rembrandt-etchings |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=AFAnews |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502163626/https://www.afanews.com/articles/item/2727-the-morgan-library--museum-has-digitized-its-entire-collection-of-rembrandt-etchings |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Morgan's collection includes around 12,000 drawings and watercolors dating as far back as the 14th century, including 1,000 sheets from British artists and 3,000 sheets from Italian artists.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 29, 2013 |title=Drawings & Prints |url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings-and-prints |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329061516/https://www.themorgan.org/collection/drawings-and-prints |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> Notable specific objects include twelve [[William Blake]] watercolors,<ref>{{cite web |date=March 7, 1950 |title=Morgan Library Gets Blake Water-Colors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/03/07/archives/morgan-library-gets-blake-watercolors.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427181406/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/03/07/archives/morgan-library-gets-blake-watercolors.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the drawing ''Bathers'' by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Acquisitions of the Month: November 2018 |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/acquisitions-of-the-month-november-2018/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308055916/https://www.apollo-magazine.com/acquisitions-of-the-month-november-2018/ |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |access-date=January 28, 2019 |website=Apollo Magazine|date=December 7, 2018 }}</ref> eight Rembrandt etchings, and 54 drawings by [[Eugène Delacroix]].<ref name="The New York Times 1941 t703" /> The Morgan also has a photography department.<ref name="Johnson 2014" /> The collection includes work from such photographers as [[Dennis Oppenheim]] and [[Henri Cartier-Bresson]], and the photographs themselves are collected from various genres and time periods.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 7, 2024 |title=Seen Together: Acquisitions in Photography at the Morgan Library & Museum. |url=https://museemagazine.com/culture/2024/3/5/seen-together-acquisitions-in-photography-at-the-morgan-library-amp-museum |access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Musée Magazine |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502195544/https://museemagazine.com/culture/2024/3/5/seen-together-acquisitions-in-photography-at-the-morgan-library-amp-museum |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Other objects ===
[[File:Morgan Ruby vase, China, Jingdezhen, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, 1662-1722, porcelain langyao glaze - Morgan Library & Museum - New York City - DSC06538.jpg|thumb|upright|A vase in the Morgan Library & Museum's collection|alt=A ruby red vase in the collection of the Morgan Library & Museum]]
Before J. P. Morgan died, he had acquired a variety of decorations such as a Persian carpet, Genoese and Chinese vases, and an Egyptian carved-stone group.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 29, 1914 |title=Million Taxable in Morgan Home; State Appraisal of Furnishings of Dead Financier's City Residence Filed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1914/12/29/archives/million-taxable-in-morgan-home-state-appraisal-of-furnishings-of.html |access-date=August 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213752/https://www.nytimes.com/1914/12/29/archives/million-taxable-in-morgan-home-state-appraisal-of-furnishings-of.html |url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' reported in 1914 that the collections included "tapestries, bronzes and silver, Greek antiques, jeweled miniatures, porcelains, ancient jewelry, and wonderful books and manuscripts".<ref name="The Washington Post 1914" /> Among these were royal jewels, 70 pieces of old German silver, 64 miniatures, a set of 15th-century marble and bronze objects, Chinese porcelain, and watches.<ref name="The Washington Post 1914" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 2, 1913 |title=Was Greatest Art Collector: Morgan's Gems Would Bring $125,000,000 |page=4 |work=Boston Daily Globe |id={{ProQuest|502220081}}}}</ref> Morgan also kept various "knickknacks" such as a four-thousand-year-old Babylonian figure found near [[Pompeii]].<ref name="Strickland 1993">{{cite news |last=Strickland |first=Carol |date=December 13, 1993 |title=Pierpont Morgan's Palace of Culture In Mid-Manhattan: Rare Books, Relics, Letters, And Illuminated Manuscripts Share Space in the Lavishly Appointed Morgan Library |work=The Christian Science Monitor |page=16 |issn=0882-7729 |id={{ProQuest|513201211}}}}</ref> The institution once had a [[reliquary]] that supposedly included [[Mary Magdalene]]'s tooth,<ref name="Brake 2010 v340" /> as well as Renaissance-era bronze medals, which have been sold off.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 7, 1950 |title=Many Art Items to Be Auctioned; Renaissance Bronze Medals From Morgan Library to Be Sold This Week Moonlight Cruise June 13 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/05/07/archives/many-art-items-to-be-auctioned-renaissance-bronze-medals-from.html |access-date=August 11, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |language=en |archive-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811234020/https://www.nytimes.com/1950/05/07/archives/many-art-items-to-be-auctioned-renaissance-bronze-medals-from.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The modern-day museum has a silver-gilt figure of Le Roi de Bourges,<ref name="Callahan 1980">{{Cite news |last=Callahan |first=Rosellen |date=May 24, 1980 |title=Secondary Museums Shine Too Among New York Superstars |work=The Globe and Mail |page=T.7 |id={{ProQuest|386916561}}}}</ref> and the 12th-century [[Stavelot Triptych]].<ref name="Seldis 1966" /><ref>{{cite web |date=July 27, 2018 |title=Stavelot Triptych |url=https://www.themorgan.org/objects/item/93248 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411110156/https://www.themorgan.org/objects/item/93248 |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Stracke |first=Dick |date=October 6, 2008 |title=The Stavelot Reliquary |url=http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/michelleRoberts/stavelotReliquary.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006174634/http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/michelleRoberts/stavelotReliquary.html |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=aug.edu |postscript=none}}; {{cite book |last=Baert |first=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVcRd2sldBIC&pg=PA94 |title=A heritage of holy wood : the legend of the true Cross in text and image |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |isbn=978-90-04-13944-2 |publication-place=Leiden Boston |page=94 |oclc=191935466 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213752/https://books.google.com/books?id=vVcRd2sldBIC&pg=PA94 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other notable objects include stage and costume designs from the collection of [[Donald Oenslager]]<ref name="Russell 1986" /> and a map of the [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] region from around 1300.<ref name="nyt-1956-05-15" /> The museum's Gilder Lehrman Collection also contains various maps.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=James |date=September 20, 2003 |title=Looking Forward to Reading, Not Minding, Books |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/nyregion/looking-forward-to-reading-not-minding-books.html |access-date=May 2, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502160518/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/nyregion/looking-forward-to-reading-not-minding-books.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Restitution claims ===
Over the years, there have been several [[restitution]] claims regarding alleged stolen artwork in the Morgan's collection.The Morgan returned two items to Germany in 2001 after the Morgan's officials confirmed that they had been stolen.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=June–July 2001 |title=Morgan Library Returns Rare Items |magazine=American Libraries |page=38 |volume=32 |issue=6 |id={{ProQuest|197143869}}}}</ref> In 2019, an Italian prosecutor claimed that the museum hosted a sacramentary that was stolen in 1925 from the municipality of [[Apiro]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kenney |first1=Nancy |last2=Miliani |first2=Stefano |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Italian Prosecutor Claims Medieval Missal in Morgan Library Was Stolen from Parish Church |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/04/26/italian-prosecutor-claims-medieval-missal-in-morgan-library-was-stolen-from-parish-church |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The Art Newspaper – International art news and events |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427154144/https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/04/26/italian-prosecutor-claims-medieval-missal-in-morgan-library-was-stolen-from-parish-church |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, the Morgan and several other institutions surrendered seven pieces painted by [[Egon Schiele]] after the [[New York County District Attorney]] determined that the works had been looted from the collection of [[Fritz Grünbaum]], who was murdered in the Holocaust.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mashberg |first1=Tom |last2=Bowley |first2=Graham |date=September 20, 2023 |title=Schiele Artworks Returned to Heirs of Owner Killed by Nazis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/schiele-fritz-grunbaum-nazis.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none |archive-date=April 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425020739/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/schiele-fritz-grunbaum-nazis.html |url-status=live }}; {{cite web |last=Tremayne-Pengelly |first=Alexandra |date=September 22, 2023 |title=The Return of Seven Schiele Works Marks a Turning Point in Nazi-Looted Art Claims |url=https://observer.com/2023/09/return-schiele-works-nazi-looted-art/ |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Observer |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427154136/https://observer.com/2023/09/return-schiele-works-nazi-looted-art/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Programming and events ==
Various events and programs are hosted at the Morgan, such as concerts, films, and lectures.<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Programs |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |date=April 23, 2013 |url=https://www.themorgan.org/programs |access-date=April 27, 2024 |postscript=none |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427154137/https://www.themorgan.org/programs |url-status=live }}; {{cite web |date=October 21, 2021 |title=Museums in Murray Hill, New York |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/the-morgan-library-museum |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Time Out New York |archive-date=January 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120171833/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/the-morgan-library-museum |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum has hosted concerts and tours since the 1950s,<ref name="Wiegand Davis 1994 p. 4992" /> and it began hosting regular concerts and recitals in Gilder Lehrman Hall in 2006.<ref name="Schweitzer 2006 k752" /> In addition, guided tours of the permanent collection are hosted each afternoon except Monday.<ref name="Nast 2013 l265">{{cite web |date=August 7, 2013 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum – Museum Review |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/new-york/the-morgan-library-and-museum |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Condé Nast Traveler |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427154137/https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/new-york/the-morgan-library-and-museum |url-status=live }}</ref> The Morgan also operates several classes for school groups, including the "Exploring with the Morgan" course for [[humanities]] and [[the arts]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Exploring with the Morgan | website=The Morgan Library & Museum | date=May 8, 2013 | url=https://www.themorgan.org/education/overview | access-date=May 3, 2024 | archive-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329061519/https://www.themorgan.org/education/overview | url-status=live }}</ref> Parties are hosted at the Morgan annually, such as the Young Fellows Summer Cocktail Party<ref name="Taylor 2013 r712">{{cite web | last=Taylor | first=Mike | title=Bibles, Lies and Innuendo at the Morgan Library Young Fellows Party | website=Observer | date=July 24, 2013 | url=https://observer.com/2013/07/bibles-lies-and-innuendo-at-the-morgan-library-young-fellows-party/ | access-date=May 3, 2024 | archive-date=August 10, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810152209/https://observer.com/2013/07/bibles-lies-and-innuendo-at-the-morgan-library-young-fellows-party/ | url-status=live }}</ref> and Mr. Morgan's Winter Gala.<ref>{{cite web | title=Mr. Morgan's Winter Gala | website=The Morgan Library & Museum | date=September 1, 2019 | url=https://www.themorgan.org/support/events/winter-gala | access-date=May 3, 2024 | archive-date=July 4, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704125835/http://www.themorgan.org/support/events/winter-gala | url-status=live }}</ref>

The Morgan hosts exhibits on a variety of topics throughout the year.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 30, 2014 |title=Morgan Library & Museum |url=https://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/morgan-library-museum/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=NYC-ARTS |archive-date=May 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504133511/https://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/morgan-library-museum/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the mid-20th century, the Morgan's annual exhibits included showcases of recent acquisitions{{Efn|See, for example:<ref name="nyt-1956-05-15" /><ref name="nyt-1959-05-17" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Bromley |first=Dorothy Dunbar |date=March 5, 1951 |title=New Morgan Library Treasures Will Be Opened to Public Today: 15th-Century Book of Hours on View at Morgan Library |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=13 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1323089100}}}}</ref>}} and rare books.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 14, 1954 |title=Rare Book Show Set for Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/14/archives/rare-book-show-set-for-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427181405/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/14/archives/rare-book-show-set-for-morgan-library.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Temporary exhibitions were staged in the annex buildings, while the main building was reserved for Morgan's main collection.<ref name="nyt-1981-12-30" /> Until the Morgan Library's expansion was completed in 1991, the institution had so little space that parts of the permanent collection had to be hidden from view whenever there was a temporary exhibition.<ref name="Forgey 1991">{{cite news |last=Forgey |first=Benjamin |date=October 13, 1991 |title=At Home With J.P. Morgan; Expansion Allows More Art to Go on Public View |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=G01 |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|307446533}}}}</ref> Although the 1991 expansion allowed for more temporary exhibitions,<ref name="vt59X">{{Cite news |last=Barker |first=Olivia |date=July 18, 1998 |title=Cooling Off in the Shade of J.P. Morgan's Library |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-cooling-off-in-the-shad/146443838/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |work=The Journal News |pages=23 |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502000525/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-cooling-off-in-the-shad/146443838/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the museum could host only one exhibition at once, and it often could not display its permanent collection.<ref name="Gibson 2006" /><ref name="Vogel 2005" /> After the 2006 expansion, it could host multiple exhibitions at once.<ref name="Gibson 2006" /><ref name="Vogel 2005" />

== Buildings<span class="anchor" id="Architecture"></span><span class="anchor" id="Design"></span> ==

=== Main building ===
The main building (also known as the McKim Building) was constructed between 1902 and 1906 as the original structure in the complex. It was designed in the [[Classical Revival architecture|Classical Revival style]] by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White.<ref name="NY1900" /><ref name="nycland" /><ref name="AIA">{{cite aia5|page=281}}</ref> The original building occupies a lot of {{Convert|117|by|50|ft|abbr=}}<ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" /><ref name="wsj19060623" /> and was intended to be built in a similar scale to contemporary [[New York Public Library]] branches.<ref name="NY1900" /> The center of the original structure contains an extension measuring {{convert|73.5|ft}} long, giving the structure a "T" shape;<ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" /> this small wing was intended to connect to a similar structure along 37th Street.<ref name="nyt19070616" /> The original library building is placed behind a solid-bronze fence with hand-twisted bars.<ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" />

====Facade====
[[File:Morgan Library McKim Building Edward Clark Potter lions.jpg|thumb|[[Edward Clark Potter]]'s lionesses flank the main entrance|alt=]]
The building has a facade of [[Tennessee marble]],<ref name="TL p. 67" /><ref name="nyt-2022-06-10" /> behind which is an air gap and an interior brick wall.<ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" /> McKim took his inspiration from the [[Villa Giulia]], particularly the attic of its [[Nymphaeum]].<ref name="Roth p. 289" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 3" /><ref name="Wilson p. 219" /> Further inspiration came from the 16th-century [[Villa Medici]] in Rome.<ref name="NY1900" /><ref name="Wilson p. 219" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Heinz D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5lsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |title=American History Awards 1917–1991: From Colonial Settlements to the Civil Rights Movements |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-11-097214-6 |page=157 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213845/https://books.google.com/books?id=g5lsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |url-status=live}}</ref> The exterior walls are made of dry masonry, which allowed the marble blocks to be set evenly, thus requiring a minimal amount of mortar.<ref name="wsj19060623" /><ref name="AIA" /><ref name="NYCL-0239">{{cite web |date=May 17, 1966 |title=The Pierpont Morgan Library and Annex |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0239.pdf |access-date=January 1, 2021 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830224236/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0239.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Tinfoil sheeting was placed between the blocks to prevent moisture buildup;<ref name="Roth p. 291" /><ref name="wsj19060623" /> the tinfoil sheeting measures {{Convert|1/64|in}} thick and is laid between the horizontal joints.<ref name="Roth p. 291" /> Charles T. Wills was responsible for the dry masonry construction.<ref name="Roth p. 410" /> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported upon the library's completion, "No other building in Europe or America was ever erected with this care."<ref name="wsj19060623" />

The main entrance is a [[Palladian architecture|Palladian arch]] at the center of the 36th Street facade. It is composed of an arched opening {{convert|14|ft}} wide, flanked by two openings under flat [[lintel]]s, each of which is {{convert|9|ft}} wide.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf9RAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA33 |title=Pencil Points |publisher=Reinhold |year=1922 |page=33 |language=en |access-date=January 1, 2021 |issue=v. 3, pt. 1 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806213828/https://books.google.com/books?id=hf9RAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA33 |url-status=live}}</ref> There are two recessed niches on that facade, one on each side of the entrance.<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 3" /> Surrounding the library is a garden, which covers {{convert|5000|ft2}} and contains artifacts from J. P. Morgan's collection.<ref name="nyt-2022-06-10" /><ref name="The Architect's Newspaper 2022" /> The garden also contains pathways embedded with pebbles, which Sicilian craftsman Orazio Porto laid manually.<ref name="Davidson 2022" />

The central archway contains a [[portico]] with a [[groin vault]]ed ceiling,<ref name="NYCL-0239" /> supported by two [[Ionic order|Ionic]] columns on each side.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 13, 2014 |title=The Building |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521033933/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/2 |archive-date=May 21, 2015 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> A flight of steps, leading to the main entrance, is flanked by two lionesses sculpted by [[Edward Clark Potter]], who would later create the two lions that guard the [[New York Public Library Main Branch]].<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) pp. 3-4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|pp=3–4}}</ref><ref name="Roth p. 292">{{harvnb|Roth|1983|p=292|ps=.}}</ref> Above the entranceway are allegorical [[roundels]] and panels, which was originally given to [[Andrew O'Connor (sculptor)|Andrew O'Connor]]<ref name="Roth p. 292" /><ref name="Wilson p. 221">{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|p=221|ps=.}}</ref> and then reassigned to [[Adolph Alexander Weinman|Adolph Weinman]] after O'Connor could not complete his contract.<ref name="nycland" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) pp. 3-4" /> These panels depict tragic and lyric poetry.<ref name="Wilson p. 221" /> The portico has a geometric mosaic tile floor with marble.<ref name="Roth p. 292" /> Inside the portico is a 16th-century pair of bronze doors,<ref name="The American Architect 1909">{{Cite magazine |date=January 6, 1909 |title=The Library of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. |magazine=The American Architect |volume=95 |issue=1724 |pages=1–2 |id={{ProQuest|124667092}}}}</ref> imported from [[Florence]] and made in the style of [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]]'s doors at the [[Florence Baptistery]].<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL-0239" /><ref name="Catterson 2017">{{cite magazine |last=Catterson |first=Lynn |date=October 15, 2017 |title=From Florence, To London, To New York: Mr. Morgan's Bronze Doors |url=http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/autumn17/catterson-on-from-florence-to-london-to-new-york-mr-morgan-s-bronze-doors |journal=Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide |volume=16 |issue=2 |doi=10.29411/ncaw.2017.16.2.4 |doi-access=free |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116073004/http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/autumn17/catterson-on-from-florence-to-london-to-new-york-mr-morgan-s-bronze-doors |url-status=live}}</ref> Each door contains five carved bronze panels, which depict allegorical scenes.<ref name="Catterson 2017" /> By the 21st century, the doors were opened extremely infrequently.<ref name="nyt-2006-02-12" /> There are six [[Doric order|Doric]] style [[pilaster]]s flanking the main entrance.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL-0239" />

====Interior====
{{gallery
|height=200 <!--landscape-->
|mode=packed <!--use same height-->
|File:Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2017 17.jpg|Library (east) room
|File:Detail of Rotunda ceiling, Morgan Library & Museum, New York City.jpg|Rotunda (center) room
|File:Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2017 07.jpg|Study (west) room
}}

The interior of the main library building is richly decorated, with a [[polychrome]] rotunda. It leads to three public rooms: Morgan's private study to the west, the librarian's office to the north, and the original library to the east.<ref name="NY1900" /><ref name="TL p. 69" /><ref name="inside" /> Each of the three rooms had dozens of bookcase doors. As a fireproofing measure, almost nothing in the library was made of wood, except for the bookcases' frames and some doors. The bookcases had glass shelves and were covered with steel grilles.<ref name="The American Architect 1909" /> Morgan also had a steel vault where he kept his most valuable manuscripts,<ref name="TL p. 69" /><ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" /><ref name="The Wall Street Journal 1911" /> such as about 600 Renaissance and medieval manuscripts.<ref name="Johnson 2007 z165" /> There were [[asbestos]] shutters that could seal off the building's windows if necessary.<ref name="TL p. 69" /><ref name="New-York Tribune 1906" /> The main building contains {{convert|14,700|ft2}} of space<ref name="Murdock 2011 k395" /> and has displayed over 300 objects since 2010.<ref name="Pogrebin 2010" /><ref name="Murdock 2011 k395" />

The rotunda has a ceiling with murals and plasterwork inspired by [[Raphael]], created by [[H. Siddons Mowbray]].<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="Wilson p. 221" /><ref name="The American Architect 1909" /> On the north side of the ceiling is a half-dome with ten relief panels in a blue-and-white color scheme.<ref name="Walton p. 732">{{harvnb|Walton|1910|ps=.|p=732}}</ref><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 5" /> The [[lunette]] panels on the west, east, and south sides of the ceiling, measuring {{convert|23|ft}} high,<ref name="Walton p. 732" /> allude to material in Morgan's collection.<ref>{{harvnb|Walton|1910|ps=|pp=732–733}}; {{cite web |date=March 13, 2014 |title=The Rotunda |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/3 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122223802/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/3 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is also a dome with roundels and decorative rectangular panels,<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 5">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=5}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Andrews|1957|p=7}}</ref> as well as an octagonal central skylight.<ref name="Walton p. 733">{{harvnb|Walton|1910|ps=.|p=733}}</ref> The rotunda floor is clad with multicolored marble, patterned after the floor of the [[Casina Pio IV|Villa Pia]] in Vatican City,<ref name="Wilson p. 221" /><ref name="NYCL p. 4a">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> and features a [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry]] centerpiece.<ref name="Walton p. 732" /> The walls contain mosaic baseboards and are separated into panels with vertical pilasters, topped by Composite style pilasters.<ref name="NYCL p. 4a" /> When the library opened, the rotunda was furnished with two 15th-century chairs and a bronze bust by [[Benvenuto Cellini]].<ref name="Irwin 1927" /><ref name="The American Architect 1909" /> Following a 2010 renovation, the rotunda has several display cases.<ref name="Sheets 2010 t737" /><ref name="Brake 2010 v340" /> The doorways to the rooms on the east and west are made of white marble, topped by marble [[entablature]]s and flanked by green marble columns.<ref name="NYCL p. 4a" />

Morgan's study is the West Room.<ref name="The American Architect 1909" /> The design of the study reflected Morgan's tastes; as his son-in-law Herbert Satterlee said, "No one could really know Mr. Morgan at all unless he had seen him in the West Room."<ref name="wsj19990305" /><ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Study">{{cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=The Study |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127030016/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/7 |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> The West Room contains low wooden bookshelves as well as a fireplace with a marble [[mantelpiece]].<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref>{{harvnb|Adams|1974|p=19}}</ref> The decorative elements include stained glass panels in the study's windows, as well as a wall covering of red [[damask]].<ref name="Roth p. 291" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|pp=222–223|ps=.}}</ref> The current damask covering replicates a pattern that was displayed at Rome's [[Chigi Palace]].<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Study" /> The coffered ceiling was reportedly purchased in Italian cardinal's palace.<ref name="Roth p. 291" /><ref name="Wilson p. 223" /> The artist [[James Wall Finn]] painted coats-of-arms onto the ceiling based on Italian bookplates from Morgan's collection.<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref name="Wilson p. 223" /> Finn's work was designed in such an authentic manner that it was frequently mistaken as part of the ceiling's original design.<ref name="Wilson p. 223" /> By 2010, the room displayed some of the objects that Morgan collected.<ref name="Brake 2010 v340" />

To the north or rear of the rotunda is the original librarian's office.<ref name="The American Architect 1909" /><ref name="Brake 2010 v340" /> During the mid-20th century, the room was also used as a directors' office.<ref name="Brake 2010 v340" /> Since 2010, the office has been open to the public as a gallery known as the North Room.<ref name="Akers 2010 a118" /><ref name="Pogrebin 2010" /> The space hosts ancient Roman, Greek, and Near Eastern objects, as well as items such as Egyptian figures and ancient seals.<ref name="Cotter2010" /><ref name="Catton p." /> Bookcases are placed on a mezzanine, while the main level includes display cases.<ref name="Brake 2010 v340" />

The East Room (also the library room) is the largest room in the main building<ref name="Roth p. 291" /> and has triple-tiered bookcases.<ref name="nycland" /><ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 5" /> The bookcases were lined with asbestos and encased in glass;<ref name="TL p. 70" /> the original [[Plexiglas]] was replaced with acrylic in 2010.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Building Work Concludes, Reinstallation of Library Begins |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |date=March 21, 2014 |url=https://www.themorgan.org/McKim/updates/building-work-concludes |access-date=May 1, 2024}}</ref> Some of the bookcases can be moved, providing access to a stairway to the upper tiers and to a secret compartment.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Margolies|first=Jane|date=March 7, 2024|title=Not Just for Scooby-Doo Anymore — the Secret Door Is Having a Moment|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/07/realestate/design-trend-secret-doors.html|access-date=May 3, 2024|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On the east wall of the East Room is a fireplace with a tapestry showing the "Triumph of Avarice".<ref name="Roth p. 291" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 5" /><ref name="Andrews p. 8">{{harvnb|ps=.|Andrews|1957|p=8}}</ref> The fireplace itself dates from the 15th century<ref name="The American Architect 1909" /> and was imported from Italy.<ref name="Wilson p. 222">{{harvnb|Wilson|1983|p=222|ps=.}}</ref> Mowbray designed eighteen lunettes and spandrels atop each wall, modeled after the work of [[Pinturicchio]].<ref name="Walton p. 733" /><ref name="Wilson p. 222" /> The figures in the lunettes alternate between allegorical female muses and notable artists, explorers, or teachers.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 5" /> [[Zodiac symbol]]s are placed on the spandrels, as the signs of the zodiac were particularly important to J. P. Morgan.<ref name="nyt19811230" /><ref name="Walton p. 733" /><ref name="NYCL (1982) pp. 5-6" /> Two additional spandrels contain allegorical motifs that depict changing seasons.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=Library Ceiling |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123201804/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/6 |archive-date=November 23, 2020 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref><ref name="NYCL (1982) pp. 5-6">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982|ps=.|pp=5–6}}</ref>

=== Madison Avenue and 36th Street annex ===
The corner of Madison Avenue and 36th Street contains a two-story Italianate style structure designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, with space for offices, exhibitions, and a research library.<ref name="NY1930" /><ref name="nyt01927-01-30" /> The annex, made of the same Tennessee marble as the original, was completed in 1928.<ref name="Roth p. 410" /><ref name="Strouse 1999" /><ref name="Wilson p. 223" /> It measures {{Convert|90.67|by|60.5|ft|0|abbr=}},<ref name="nyt01927-01-30" /> with a later {{Convert|26|by|30|ft|abbr=|adj=on}} addition.<ref name="nyt19750709" /> The Morris annex is accessed by a {{convert|22|ft|m|-wide|adj=mid}} stair facing 36th Street.<ref name="Pearson p. 104" /> Compared with the main building, the Morris annex is simpler in design.<ref name="nycland" /><ref name="NY1930" /><ref name="AIA" />

The Morris annex included a bookstore until 1991,<ref name="Pearson p. 104" /> when it became a gallery space.<ref name="Gibson 2006" /><ref name="Pearson p. 104" /> After 2006, the gallery space was split up, and the partitions there were removed.<ref name="Budick 2006" /><ref name="Gibson 2006" /> At the center of the Morris annex is the Marble Hall, flanked by the Morgan Stanley Galleries West and East.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" />

=== 231 Madison Avenue ===
[[File:I Morgan Library, New York City, NY, USA (2).jpg|thumb|upright|231 Madison Avenue]]Also part of the library grounds is 231 Madison Avenue, an Italianate brownstone house on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 37th Street, which was the home of Isaac Newton Phelps and later J. P. "Jack" Morgan Jr.<ref name="nyt20010826" /> The house contains the Morgan Shop on its northern side, facing 37th Street, and the Morgan Dining Room on its southern side.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan">{{cite web |date=May 6, 2013 |title=Floor Plan |url=https://themorgandev.devcloud.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/images/visit/map.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=April 4, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=August 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807163857/https://themorgandev.devcloud.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/images/visit/map.pdf}}</ref> The house is set behind a barricade composed of a wrought-iron fence atop a brownstone ledge. The house was originally three stories tall and faced with pink stone, but after R. H. Robertson's renovation of 1888, became four stories tall with a raised basement. An office annex to the east, built in 1957, was originally faced with brick<!-- , but was refaced in steel and glass in the 2006 renovation -->.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 6">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|p=6}}</ref> Before the Morgan acquired it in 1988, it was a headquarters of the Lutheran Church.<ref name="nyt-1989-03-01" /><ref>{{cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=The Morgan House |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122224346/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/12 |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref>

==== Facade ====
The ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' wrote in 1943 that the facade had "a slight suggestion of French Renaissance influence".<ref name="p1282798435" /> The Madison Avenue facade is divided vertically into three [[Bay (architecture)|bays]]. An entrance stoop with a balustrade leads up to a central portico with two [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] columns flanked by rectangular sash windows. The second and third stories each have three rectangular windows, and a cornice runs above the third story. The attic contains small Ionic colonettes and pediments.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 6" />

Along 37th Street, the [[Water table (architecture)|water table]] containing the raised basement is topped by a molding. The original 1853 house to the west and the 1888 extension to the east are divided by a [[Pier (architecture)|pier]]. The original section of the house is three bays wide, with a balcony and pediment on the first floor, and oval windows and an [[oriel window]] on the second. Within the 1888 extension, the first floor contains a projecting three-sided bay and a windowless arch, and the other two stories contain various windows. The cornice above the third floor, as well as the attic, in both the original house and its extension are similar to on Madison Avenue.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 6" />

The southern facade of the house faces the rest of the library and is mostly obscured behind the 2006 addition. The westernmost portion of that facade, near Madison Avenue, contains rounded first- and second-story windows. There are also three-sided angled windows at the center of that facade.<ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002|ps=.|pp=6–7}}</ref>

==== Interior ====
Inside the house were 45 rooms.<ref name="p1282798435" /><ref name="nyt-1989-03-01" /><ref name="Klinkenborg a923">{{cite magazine |last=Klinkenborg |first=Verlyn |date=August 8, 1988 |title=The Morgan Mansion |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1988/08/15/the-morgan-mansion |access-date=October 12, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> These spaces included a ballroom and 12 restrooms; in addition, the house had 22 fireplaces.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 4" /> After the museum's 1991 expansion, the house contained offices, conference rooms, meeting areas, and a gift shop.<ref name="Goldberger 1991" /><ref name="Forgey 1991" /> In addition, the ground-floor spaces were converted to lecture spaces.<ref name="Pearson p. 104" /> Following a 2006 renovation, one of the house's first-floor rooms was converted to a dining room, while the shop was relocated to another space.<ref>{{harvnb|Byard|2008|ps=.|pages=65–66}}</ref> Inside the residence's attic is the {{convert|5600|ft2|adj=on}} Thaw Conservation Center,<ref>{{cite web |date=July 30, 2013 |title=Thaw Conservation Center |url=https://www.themorgan.org/thaw-conservation-center |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=January 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105112340/https://www.themorgan.org/thaw-conservation-center |url-status=live}}</ref> which is composed of spaces such as a library, reception area, and conservation rooms.<ref name="AR-2002-10" />

=== Entrance building and other annexes ===
[[File:Interior-Morgan Library-01.jpg|thumb|The interior of the Renzo Piano addition]]
In 2006, three structures were completed to designs by Renzo Piano,<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="20th Century Architecture 12">{{Cite web |title=Renovation and Expansion of the Morgan Library |url=http://architecture-history.org/architects/architects/PIANO/OBJ/2000-2006,%20RENOVATION%20AND%20EXPANSION%20OF%20THE%20MORGAN%20LIBRARY,%20NEW%20YORK.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=20th Century Architecture}}</ref> who worked alongside preservation architect [[Beyer Blinder Belle]].<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="nycland" /> There are four galleries in this section of the museum: the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery, the Morgan Stanley Galleries West and East, and the Engelhard Gallery.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> The facades of the new above-ground buildings contain pinkish steel-and-glass curtain walls<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="Bendov 2017">{{cite book |last=Bendov |first=Pavel |title=New Architecture New York |publisher=Prestel Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-7913-8368-2 |publication-place=New York, NY |page=40 |oclc=976405424}}</ref> and are set back slightly from the museum's other structures.<ref name="Rochon 2006">{{cite news |last=Rochon |first=Lisa |date=May 11, 2006 |title=Cityspace Morgan Library & Museum: Modern Shine on an Old Gem |work=The Globe and Mail |page=R3 |id={{ProQuest|1411689839}}}}</ref> The buildings expanded the Morgan Library's area by {{Convert|75000|ft2||abbr=}},<ref name="Swanson 2005" /><ref name="nyt20070420" /><ref name="Bendov 2017" /> much of which is below ground.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" />

==== Entrance building ====
The primary structure in that grouping is a four-story, steel-and-glass entrance building on Madison Avenue.<ref name="nycland" /> The structure links McKim's library building, the annex, and the Phelps Stokes/Morgan house.<ref name="nyt20070420" /><ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Expansion">{{cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=Expansion Design |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/15 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127044110/https://www.themorgan.org/about/architectural-history/15 |url-status=live}}</ref> The steel structural members are covered in rose-tinted paint as an allusion to the designs of main library and Phelps Stokes/Morgan house.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Expansion" /> Although externally inconspicuous, the building links the interior spaces of the complex.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="AIA" /> Inside the structure, a glass elevator links the different levels.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="Newhouse p. 99">{{harvnb|Newhouse|2006|ps=.|p=99}}</ref>

The entrance building contains the JPMorgan Chase Lobby,<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> a space clad in cherry wood.<ref name="Budick 2006" /><ref name="Newhouse p. 99" /> Stairs lead up to the Morgan Shop and Morgan Dining Room, and there is an admission counter and coat room. The south wall has a corridor to the Morris annex and stairs to the second-floor Engelhard Gallery,<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> the latter of which is a temporary-exhibition space.<ref name="Budick 2006" /> The Sherman Fairchild Reading Room, the museum's research library, is located on the top floor of the Madison Avenue pavilion<ref>{{cite web |date=May 1, 2014 |title=Sherman Fairchild Reading Room |url=https://www.themorgan.org/research/reading-room |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref><ref name="Byard p. 64">{{harvnb|Byard|2008|ps=.|page=64}}</ref> and has balconies and a skylight.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /> At the northeast corner of the entrance building<ref name="Byard p. 64" /> is Gilder Lehrman Hall, an auditorium about {{Convert|65|ft||abbr=}} below street level.<ref name="Newhouse p. 93" /><ref name="Bendov 2017" /> Lehrman Hall has 280 seats.<ref name="nyt-2005-04-28" /><ref>{{cite web |date=May 12, 2010 |title=Gilder Lehrman Hall (At the Morgan Library & Museum) |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/gilder-lehrman-hall-at-the-morgan-library-museum |access-date=August 3, 2023 |website=Time Out New York |archive-date=January 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128125531/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/gilder-lehrman-hall-at-the-morgan-library-museum |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Efn|Other sources give conflicting figures of 260<ref name="Bendov 2017" /> or 299 seats.<ref name="20th Century Architecture 12" />}} New storage rooms were also created by drilling into [[Manhattan schist|Manhattan's bedrock schist]].<ref name="Bendov 2017" /><ref name="nyt-2005-04-28">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 28, 2005 |title=A Better Look at the Morgan Library |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/style/a-better-look-at-the-morgan-library.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=April 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411125155/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/style/a-better-look-at-the-morgan-library.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The underground rooms exten {{Convert|55|ft}} deep and contain much of the Morgan Library's collection.<ref name="Swanson 2006" />

==== Adjacent structures ====
Gilbert Court, a covered courtyard at the center of the complex,<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 18, 2014 |title=Gilbert Court |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/campus/gilbert-court |access-date=April 4, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |language=en |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303054116/https://www.themorgan.org/about/campus/gilbert-court |url-status=live|postscript=none}}; {{cite book |last1=Dewey |first1=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZThAAAAMAAJ |title=Library Journal |last2=Bowker |first2=R.R. |last3=Pylodet |first3=L. |last4=Cutter |first4=C.A. |last5=Weston |first5=B.E. |last6=Brown |first6=K. |last7=Wessells |first7=H.E. |author8=American Library Association |publisher=R.R. Bowker Company |year=2006 |page=17 |volume=131 |number=6–11 |access-date=April 16, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806214254/https://books.google.com/books?id=hZThAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> surrounds the entrance building on the north, east, and south.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> The courtyard is topped by a {{convert|50|ft|m|-tall|adj=mid}} glass roof.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="Newhouse p. 97" /> On the south wall of the court is the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery,<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> a {{convert|20|x|20|x|20|ft|adj=on}} space inspired by Renaissance chambers that Piano observed in Italy.<ref name="Swanson 2006" /><ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Expansion" /><ref name="Bendov 2017" /> At the court's southeast corner, stairs lead up to the original Morgan Library building, connecting to a vestibule between Morgan's study (the West Library) and the rotunda.<ref name="The Morgan Library & Museum Floor Plan" /> There is also a structure next to 231 Madison Avenue, with ancillary areas and offices,<ref name="20th Century Architecture 12" /> in addition to a loading dock.<ref name="Newhouse p. 97" />

=== Former structures ===
The 2006 annexes replaced all of the additions built after 1928.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /><ref name="Newhouse p. 97" /> These included a glass conservatory called the Garden Court, which was designed by [[Bartholomew Voorsanger]] of Voorsanger & Associates and completed in 1991. The Garden Court had a curved roof measuring {{convert|42|ft}} tall.<ref name="UPI k732"/><ref name="Lipson 1991" /><ref name="Goldberger 1991" /> Under the roof was a vaulted space with plants selected by landscape architect [[Dan Kiley]].<ref name="Goldberger 1991" /><ref name="Pearson p. 98">{{harvnb|Pearson|1992|ps=.|page=99}}</ref> The roof was supported by a {{convert|55|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} [[truss]] and was covered by clear laminated glass to allow the plants to grow.<ref name="Pearson p. 98" /> The space also had metal-and-translucent-glass wall panels and a limestone wall on Madison Avenue.<ref name="Pearson p. 98" /><ref name="Forgey 1991" /> There was a vestibule connecting with the Morris annex to the south.<ref name="Pearson p. 104" />

The post-1928 annexes also included a cloister structure between the main building and the Morris annex, built in 1960.<ref name="Roth p. 410" /> A five-story, {{Convert|26|by|30|ft|abbr=|adj=on}} expansion was built in 1975 and designed by Platt, Wyckoff & Coles, with storage vaults and offices.<ref name="nyt19750709" />

== Operation ==

=== Management ===
[[File:Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2017 34.jpg|thumb|Interior of one of the 2006 annex buildings]]
The Morgan Library & Museum is operated by a [[nonprofit organization]] of the same name, which is dedicated to conserving the artworks in the museum's collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pierpont Morgan Library |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/13-1624146 |access-date=April 29, 2024 |website=GuideStar Profile}}</ref> [[Colin Bailey (museum director)|Colin Bailey]] has been the director of the Morgan Library & Museum since 2015.<ref name="Pobric 2015 p809" /> As a result of a 2024 donation from [[Katharine Rayner]], the director's position is known as the ''Katharine J. Rayner Director'' until 2049.<ref name="Goukassian 2024 g840" /><ref name="Lifestyles Magazine v161" /> The museum is administered by a [[board of trustees]].<ref>{{cite web |date=February 1, 2015 |title=Board of Trustees and Administration |url=https://www.themorgan.org/about/board |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum}}</ref> {{As of|March 2024}}, Robert K. Steel and G. Scott Clemons were the co-presidents of the museum's board of trustees.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 27, 2024 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Announces New Co-Presidents Of the Board of Trustees, G. Scott Clemons and Robert K. Steel |url=https://artdaily.cc/news/167679/The-Morgan-Library---Museum-announces-new-Co-Presidents-of-the-Board-of-Trustees--G--Scott-Clemons-and--Robert-K--Steel |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Artdaily}}</ref>

Until 1981, the president of the museum was a Morgan family member.<ref name="The New York Times 1981 v425">{{cite web |date=March 21, 1981 |title=Head of Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/21/arts/head-of-morgan-library.html |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Previous museum presidents have included Jack Morgan's sons [[Junius Spencer Morgan III]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 21, 1960 |title=Morgan Library Elects New Head |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/11/21/archives/morgan-library-elects-new-head.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and [[Henry Sturgis Morgan]].<ref name="The New York Times 1981 v425" /> Other notable people in the museum's history have included [[Felice Stampfle]], who was appointed the first Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library in 1945.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Roberta |date=January 6, 2001 |title=Felice Stampfle, 88, Curator Of Prints at the Morgan Library |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/06/arts/felice-stampfle-88-curator-of-prints-at-the-morgan-library.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904093134/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/06/arts/felice-stampfle-88-curator-of-prints-at-the-morgan-library.html |archive-date=September 4, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |date=June 29, 2020 |title=The Indomitable Felice Stampfle, the Morgan's First Curator of Drawings and Prints |url=https://www.themorgan.org/blog/indomitable-felice-stampfle-morgans-first-curator-drawings-and-prints |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329145137/https://www.themorgan.org/blog/indomitable-felice-stampfle-morgans-first-curator-drawings-and-prints |archive-date=March 29, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |website=The Morgan Library & Museum |language=en}}</ref> Some of the museum's past staff have donated objects to the collection, such as longtime librarian [[Curt F. Bühler]], who donated illuminated manuscripts upon his death in 1985.<ref name="Russell 1986" />

===Attendance and funding===
{{Anchor|Admission and attendance}}{{As of|2024}}, the museum accommodates 250,000 in-person visitors annually, while its online programming serves seven million additional people each year.<ref name="Tremayne-Pengelly 2023 j811" /> Starting in January 2024, college students have been able to visit for free on the first Sunday of each month.<ref name="Culgan 2023 p604" /> The museum also allows visitors to reserve tickets for free admission on Friday evenings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Culgan |first1=Rossilynne Skena |last2=Halle |first2=Howard |last3=Weaver |first3=Shaye |title=Best Free Museum Days and Discount Hours in NYC |website=Time Out New York |date=January 3, 2024 |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/free-museum-days-in-nyc |access-date=April 26, 2024}}</ref> According to the ''[[Condé Nast Traveler]]'', most visitors are tourists, though local residents also visit the museum whenever there was an event or new exhibition.<ref name="Nast 2013 l265" />

{{Anchor|Funding}}Jack Morgan established a $1.5 million endowment fund for the Pierpont Morgan Library when it was opened to researchers in 1924.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1924" /><ref name="The New York Times 1924 m054" /> The endowment had grown to $53.5 million by the mid-1990s<ref name="nyt-1995-11-09" /> and $105 million by the early 2000s.<ref name="Pierce 2003" /><!-- As of 2024, the endowment fund is $280M. https://www.themorgan.org/opportunities/employment/acquavella-curator-and-department-head-modern-and-contemporary-drawings --> {{As of|2023|alt=In 2023}}, the museum recorded revenue of $23.7 million, expenses of $31.4 million, total [[asset]]s of $386 million, and [[Liability (financial accounting)|liabilities]] of $19.5 million.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 9, 2013 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131624146 |access-date=April 28, 2024 |website=ProPublica}}</ref>

== Reception and commentary ==

=== Collection commentary ===
[[File:Morgan Library & Museum, New York 2017 09.jpg|thumb|Bookshelves in the Morgan Library]]
A correspondent for the [[The Times|London ''Times'']], in 1908, characterized John Pierpont Morgan as "probably the greatest collector of things splendid and beautiful and rare who has ever lived".<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 4, 1908 |title=Mr. Morgan's Great Library; First Authorized Description of One of the Chief Treasure Houses of the World |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/04/104814460.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830224223/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/04/104814460.pdf |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |pages=1, 2}}</ref><ref name="TL p. 69" /> In 1927, after the library became a research institution, one writer for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' called it "a temple of white marble, most fair and proportionate yet with an air of secret exclusiveness".<ref name="Irwin 1927" /> A writer for ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' said in 1961 that the library housed "one of the most important private art collections in the world",<ref name="Pastore 1961" /> and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote in 1966 that the Morgan Library was "a source of aesthetic refreshment and intellectual stimulation in any season".<ref name="Seldis 1966">{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|155520374}} |title=Oasis of Opulence in Manhattan |last=Seldis |first=Henry J. |date=July 17, 1966 |pages=B16 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035}}</ref> Another writer in 1969 described the Morgan as shunning publicity and that the collection of illuminated manuscripts, book bindings, and drawings was "unsurpassed in the Western Hemisphere".<ref name="Pahlmann 1969">{{Cite news |last=Pahlmann |first=William |date=May 20, 1969 |title=Splendors Are Many at Morgan Library |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-star-splendors-are-many-at/146191094/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The Standard-Star |pages=32}}</ref>

A ''[[Newsweek]]'' article from 1970 described the library as having a "regal atmosphere",<ref name="Shirey 1970" /> and a 1974 article from the same magazine called the library a symbol of the "patronage and connoisseurship" of the early 20th century.<ref name="Davis 1974" /> ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' described the library in 1980 as a "treasure trove of early art".<ref name="Callahan 1980" /> A writer for ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' said in 1994 that she felt the library was inviting, despite its formidable appearance.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Humphreys |first=Josephine |date=September 18, 1994 |title=New York: Two Temples to Glorious Books |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/t-magazine/new-york-two-temples-to-glorious-books.html |access-date=April 29, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1998, a reporter for ''[[The Journal News]]'' described the library as "a hushed and shady refuge from the city's sweltering asphalt".<ref name="vt59X" /> During the 2000s, a writer for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' said that, although the Morgan was "a bibliophile's vision of paradise on Earth", it had a lower profile than other New York City museums because of its location.<ref name="Swanson 2005" /> A 21st-century review from the ''Condé Nast Traveler'' said: "The Morgan is like a multi-hyphenate millennial—only instead of actress/model/influencer/whatever leads to early retirement, it's museum/library/landmark/historic site/music venue."<ref name="Nast 2013 l265" /> A ''[[Fodor's]]'' review described the museum as having an "exceptional" collection of artifacts.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 26, 2024 |title=The Morgan Library & Museum Review |url=https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/new-york/new-york-city/things-to-do/sights/reviews/morgan-library-and-museum-138289 |access-date=April 27, 2024 |website=Fodor's Travel}}</ref>

=== Architectural reception ===

==== Architectural commentary ====
Several publications praised the library after its completion.<ref name="Roth p. 292" /> In 1906, the ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' wrote of McKim, Mead & White: "the new Morgan Library, in Thirty-sixth street, is among their most carefully studied designs."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 30, 1906 |title=Mr. Stanford White |url=https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_037&page=ldpd_7031148_037_00001288&no=6 |url-status=live |journal=The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide |volume=77 |pages=1234 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051433/https://rerecord.library.columbia.edu/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_037&page=ldpd_7031148_037_00001288&no=6 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |via=[[Columbia University|columbia.edu]] |number=1998}}</ref> The library building was described in another publication as "one of the Seven Wonders of the Edwardian World",<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Francis Henry |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2526775 |title=Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron, 1837–1913 |date=1957 |publisher=Pierpont Morgan Library |location=New York |pages=37 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006051429/https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2526775 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> while ''Architectural Review'' called it "icy and exquisite".<ref name="nyt-2006-02-12" /> In a 1932 survey of 50 American architects, eleven ranked the Morgan Library as the United States' best building.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 29, 1932 |title=Empire State Building Ranked Second in U. S.: Fifty Architects Put Lincoln Memorial First in Vote |work=New York Herald Tribune |page=13 |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1125430573}}|postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=April 29, 1932 |title=Architects Pick 'Finest' Buildings; Lincoln Memorial Placed First, Empire State Building Second, Nebraska Capitol Third |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/04/29/archives/architects-pick-finest-buildings-lincoln-memorial-placed-first.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226231328/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/04/29/archives/architects-pick-finest-buildings-lincoln-memorial-placed-first.html |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |access-date=December 26, 2022 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A 1969 news article described the interiors' opulence as "almost indescribable",<ref name="Pahlmann 1969" /> and ''Newsweek'' called Morgan's study as emblematic of "his taste, his power and his vanity".<ref name="Davis 1974" /> Morgan's private study was described by historian Wayne Andrews as "one of the greatest achievements of American interior decoration".<ref name="NYCL (1982) p. 6" /><ref name="Andrews p. 8" /> [[Paul Goldberger]] wrote in 1981 that the main building's facade represented "rigorous, not fanciful, classicism" and the interiors were "very rich and very cold".<ref name="nyt-1981-12-30" />

The annexes received mixed reviews. Architectural historian [[Robert A. M. Stern]] said the 1928 addition "did not frame McKim's jewel box so much as sidle up to it like an unattractive sibling",<ref name="NY1930" /> and ''Washington Post'' reporter Benjamin Forgey said it was "not nearly so exquisite" as the original structure.<ref name="Forgey 1991" /> Conversely, [[Norval White]] and Elliot Willensky thought the 1928 annex "modestly defers to its master".<ref name="AIA" /> Goldberger described the Garden Court in 1991 as having "a sleek, almost brittle quality",<ref name="Goldberger 1991" /> and Forgey described the conservatory as helping create "a definable low-rise historical place in high-rise New York".<ref name="Forgey 1991" />

When the Piano annex opened in 2006, [[Ada Louise Huxtable]] wrote that the museum was "cool in its understated excellence, its laid-back drama, the refinement of its details", as opposed to the old museum, which was "hot" because it was outwardly extravagant.<ref name="wsj-2006-06-082" /> Although ''Newsday'' and the ''Wall Street Journal'' both described the new entrance atrium as inviting,<ref name="Budick 2006" /><ref name="Gibson 2006" /> the ''Architectural Record'' criticized the atrium as not being distinctive.<ref name="Newhouse p. 99" /> The ''[[Financial Times]]'' wrote that the 2006 annex's "luminous steel and glass spaces, was as radically different to the heavy stone and dense ornament of the library as was possible".<ref name="Financial Times d265" /> [[Zachary Woolfe]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote of Lehrman Hall in 2025: "The space is precipitously raked and feels stifling, with flinty acoustics."<ref name=nyt-2025-05-12>{{Cite news|last=Woolfe|first=Zachary|date=2025-05-12|title=The Frick's Gift to New York: A Superb New Concert Hall|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/arts/music/frick-museum-concert-hall.html|access-date=2025-05-15|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==== Landmark designations ====
231 Madison Avenue was designated by the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC) in 1965, being one of the first structures protected under New York City's landmarks law.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /> The Lutheran Church, then the owner of 231 Madison Avenue, had hoped to erect an office structure on the site of the Phelps Stokes/Morgan house<ref>{{Cite news |last=Farrell |first=William E. |date=June 3, 1965 |title=Morgan Mansion Reported in Peril; Rezoning Plan for Madison Avenue Termed a Step Toward Demolition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/03/archives/morgan-mansion-reported-in-peril-rezoning-plan-for-madison-avenue.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429161821/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/06/03/archives/morgan-mansion-reported-in-peril-rezoning-plan-for-madison-avenue.html |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and heavily opposed the house's designation. As a result, in 1974, the landmark status was removed from that house following a [[New York Court of Appeals]] ruling.<ref name="NYCL (2002) p. 5" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=July 16, 1974 |title=Morgan Mansion Loses Status as City Landmark |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/16/archives/morgan-mansion-loses-status-as-city-landmark.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429163359/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/16/archives/morgan-mansion-loses-status-as-city-landmark.html |archive-date=April 29, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After the Morgan acquired 231 Madison Avenue, that house was re-designated as a city landmark in 2002; the Morgan did not oppose the designation.<ref name="Dunlap 2002" />

In 1952, the [[Municipal Art Society]] and the [[Society of Architects]]' New York chapter published a list of 20 buildings in the city that should "be preserved at all costs".<ref>{{cite web |date=April 17, 1952 |title=20 Buildings in City on Preservation List |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/17/archives/20-buildings-in-city-on-preservation-list.html |access-date=November 20, 2023 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The main library building on 36th Street was the only 20th-century building on that list.<ref name="nyt-1960-09-06" /><ref name="Pahlmann 1969" /> The LPC designated the exterior of the library's main building as a city landmark in 1966,<ref name="nycland" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 10, 1966 |title=7 Buildings in Manhattan Are Picked as Landmarks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/10/archives/7-buildings-in-manhattan-are-picked-as-landmarks.html |access-date=April 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and that structure was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] the same year.<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |date=September 18, 2007 |title=J. Pierpont Morgan Library |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=391&ResourceType=Building |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010134231/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=391&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=October 10, 2012 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Greenwood |first=Richard |date=July 18, 1975 |title="The Pierpont Morgan Library", National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000544_text |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629031726/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000544_text |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |access-date=August 6, 2023 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 18, 1975 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000544_photos |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629104955/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000544_photos |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |access-date=August 6, 2023 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> In 1982, the main library building's interior was designated a city landmark.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 24, 1982 |title=City Landmarks Panel Adds 6 Sites to Its Roll |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/24/nyregion/city-landmarks-panel-adds-6-sites-to-its-roll.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908171628/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/24/nyregion/city-landmarks-panel-adds-6-sites-to-its-roll.html |archive-date=September 8, 2021 |access-date=January 3, 2021 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After the 1991 renovation made the main building wheelchair-accessible, the LPC gave the library an excellence award.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 7, 1992 |title=The Landmarks Agency Honors Places and People |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/07/realestate/the-landmarks-agency-honors-places-and-people.html |access-date=April 29, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Media===
The Morgan has also occasionally appeared in works of popular culture.<ref name="OKeefe 2020 t319" /> [[E. L. Doctorow]]'s 1975 novel ''[[Ragtime (novel)|Ragtime]]'' and its [[Ragtime (film)|1981 film adaptation]] depicted the library as a symbol of the wealthy.<ref name="Kissel 2006 c935" /> In addition, part of the [[Netflix]] TV series ''[[Dash & Lily]]'' was filmed in the museum.<ref name="OKeefe 2020 t319">{{cite web | last=O'Keefe | first=Meghan | title=How 'Dash & Lily' Snagged the Morgan Library, NYC's Spectacular, Little-Filmed Museum | website=Decider | date=November 11, 2020 | url=https://decider.com/2020/11/11/dash-lily-filming-locations-morgan-library-nyc/ | access-date=May 3, 2024}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City]]
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City]]
* [[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets]]

== References ==
===Informational notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Frederick B. Jr. |title=An introduction to the Pierpont Morgan Library. |publisher=Pierpont Morgan Library |year=1974 |location=New York |author-link=Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr.}}
* {{cite book |last=Andrews |first=Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgNUAAAAMAAJ |title=Mr. Morgan and His Architect |publisher=Pierpont Morgan Library |year=1957}}
* {{cite book |last=Ardizzone |first=Heidi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6iD6R8WPx4C |title=An Illuminated Life: Belle Da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-393-05104-9}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Boyce |first=George K. |date=January 1, 1952 |title=The Pierpont Morgan Library |magazine=The Library Quarterly |volume=22 |issue=1 |id={{ProQuest|1290797719}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Byard |first=Paul Spencer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BAsyC6tA78C&pg=PA64 |title=The Making of the Morgan: From Charles McKim to Renzo Piano |publisher=Morgan Library & Museum |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-87598-149-9}}
* {{cite report |date=November 13, 1966 |title=J. Pierpont Morgan Library |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/2d6371e1-5a77-4bed-86ec-c31bd4642ebe |publisher=[[National Register of Historic Places]], [[National Park Service]] |ref={{harvid|National Park Service|1966}}}}
* {{cite magazine |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2006-10.pdf |title=Renzo Piano alters the character of New York's Morgan Library and Museum with a new entrance and a skylit court |last=Newhouse |first=Victoria |volume=194 |issue=10 |date=Oct 2006 |magazine=Architectural Record |pages=93–99 |id={{ProQuest|222173784}}}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Pearson |first=Clifford A. |date=Jan 1992 |title=Bound Volumes |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1992-01.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=180 |issue=1 |id={{ProQuest|222098805}}}}
* {{cite report |last=Pearson |first=Marjorie |date=February 26, 2002 |title=Phelps Stokes–J. P. Morgan Jr. House |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2114.pdf |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|2002}}}}
* {{cite report |last=Pearson |first=Marjorie |date=March 23, 1982 |title=Pierpont Morgan Library, First Floor |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1119.pdf |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1982}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Roth |first=Leland |title=McKim, Mead & White, Architects |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-06-430136-7 |oclc=9325269 |url=https://archive.org/details/bwb_P8-AIO-646 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Strouse |first=Jean |title=Morgan: American Financier |date=1999 |publisher=Perennial |isbn=0-06-095589-9 |location=New York |oclc=43050112}}
* {{Sfn whitelist|CITEREFTauranac1985}}{{Cite Elegant New York}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Turner |first=J. Rigbie |date=December 1, 1998 |title=Infinite Riches in a Little Room: The Music Collections in the Pierpont Morgan Library (Part 1) |magazine=Notes |volume=55 |issue=2 |id={{ProQuest|1296708413}}}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Walton |first=William |date=1910 |title=The Recent Mural Decorations of H. Siddons Mowbray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwoHc_EttU0C&dq=%22The+Recent+Mural+Decorations+of+H.+Siddons+Mowbray%22&pg=PA724 |magazine=Harper's Monthly Magazine |volume=122 |issue=731}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Richard Guy |title=McKim, Mead & White, Architects |date=1983 |publisher=Rizzoli |isbn=978-0-8478-0491-7 |language=English |oclc=9413129 |url=https://archive.org/details/mckimmeadwhitear0000wils |url-access=registration}}
{{refend}}

===Further reading ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title=The Morgan Library |date=2000 |publisher=Pierpont Morgan Library |isbn=978-0-87598-129-1 |publication-place=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Tonkovich |first=Jennifer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDVEzQEACAAJ |title=Inside the Morgan |publisher=Morgan Library & Museum |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-87598-196-3 |issue=v. 3}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Wikipedia_Audio_-_Morgan Library & Museum.wav|date=November 3, 2018}}
* {{Official website|http://www.themorgan.org/ }}
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-morgan-library-museum?hl=en Virtual tour of the Morgan Library & Museum] provided by [[Google Arts & Culture]]

{{Subject bar|portal1=Architecture|portal2=National Register of Historic Places|portal3=New York City|portal4=United States|commons=Category:Morgan Library & Museum}}
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[[Category:1900s architecture in the United States]]
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