“The Personal Librarian\u201d by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a fictionalized biography of a real person, set in the years 1905 to 1948.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belle da Costa Greene was the personal librarian for the financier J.P. Morgan. But she was born Belle Marion Greener. Why did she change her name? Because members of her family, though light-skinned, were Black, and in America, that meant they had extremely limited prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Belle\u2019s narrative, it\u2019s her mother\u2019s decision to have the family pass as white. She knows that\u2019s the only way her children can be open to opportunities in life. Mama explains away their olive skin by inventing a Portuguese name and background. Belle\u2019s father, however, is an activist in the Black community. He reviles his wife\u2019s decision and can no longer stay with the family. Belle says she misses her father, but understands her mother\u2019s reasoning: \u201cI accepted my mother\u2019s decision as if it were my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to pass as white, Belle tells us, \u201cI know I must do nothing to draw any kind of extra attention. … Be cautious, never do anything to stand out.\u201d She can\u2019t even be honest with her white friend Gertrude: \u201cGertrude doesn\u2019t need to assess every single moment of every single day against societal standards to ensure her behavior passes muster. She has no need to analyze her words, her walk, her manner, but I do. Even with Gertrude, I must act with care, particularly given the heightened scrutiny in this university town, which operates as if it lies in the segregated South rather than in the supposedly more progressive North.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The university is male-only Princeton, which in 1905 university president Woodrow Wilson maintains as a \u201cwhites-only university.\u201d She\u2019s employed at the college library, where Junius Morgan, a nephew of J.P. Morgan, is the associate head librarian. He recommends her to his uncle for a job as curator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She loves her work, cataloging and acquiring rare books: \u201cSince I was a young girl, I\u2019ve been entranced by early books. The sight of them, the smell of them, the wonderful feel of their covers and pages, and the thrill of the places to which they\u2019ve traveled and the barriers they\u2019ve crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Morgan tells her to buy a Bible printed in 1638 that belonged to the English King Charles, she tells us, \u201cI imagine holding the ancient book, opening its crimson velvet cover, turning its thick pages to read the sacred words within, and allowing its history to course through my own hands. And I think about the printer who painstakingly laid out all the letters for the printing and then fashioned its exquisite binding, all in an effort to bring God closer to the king through the Bible\u2019s sacred words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a man scoffs at her, doubting that \u201ca little lady\u201d could have so much responsibility, she answers that Mr. Morgan trusts her: \u201cI am PERSONALLY authorized to make the decisions and purchases all on his behalf. … And being a woman, I know that I must do my job twice as well as any man to be thought half as good. … Lucky for me, that won\u2019t be too difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living a lie may offer opportunity, but it is also a burden that affects every aspect of her life, and she often speculates about race and society. \u201cIs this the moment I brace myself for almost daily, the moment when my secret will be revealed?\u201d \u201cSegregation is really just slavery by another name.\u201d She also knows she\u2019s responsible for her family\u2019s safety: \u201cI will have to be even more careful and even more driven in my success so that our family\u2019s whiteness is unquestionable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belle has an epiphany at a gala when a dark-skinned serving woman guesses her secret and grins at her, \u201ca broad, delighted, PROUD grin … proud that one of her own has wriggled free from the restraints still inflicted upon some, like the chains that bound our ancestors. … I have a new understanding. With the gift of the position I now hold, I am responsible to many more than just Mama and my siblings. … I wish that, in some small way, my achievements will give them hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a trip to Europe, she has a wonderful sense of freedom, \u201cHere, as I walk the streets, I don\u2019t feel the same assessment of my color that I routinely experience, and constantly anticipate, in America. Perhaps London\u2019s citizens don\u2019t have the same need to categorize us by race as they do in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, but black\/white isn\u2019t the only prejudice she observes. She knows that some people must hide their sexual preference, and she is shocked when she encounters anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belle has a disappointing love affair, but the main relationship of her life is with Morgan. \u201cIt\u2019s that intimate conversation with the past that provided the connection between Mr. Morgan and me. Each book in the library contained a world of personalities and stories and history. We shared an insatiable curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an excellent book, skillfully written, thought-provoking and enjoyable. This would be a good selection for book clubs, and it even includes questions for discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The Personal Librarian\u201d by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a fictionalized biography of a real person, set in the years 1905 to 1948. Belle da Costa Greene was the personal librarian for the financier J.P. Morgan. But she was born Belle Marion Greener. Why did she change her name? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,4],"tags":[94],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3469,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions\/3469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theportager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}