In the new book “Becoming Belle da Costa Greene: A Visionary Librarian through Her Letters” (Florence: I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies , 2024), Deborah Parker chronicles the making and empowerment of a female connoisseur, curator, and library director in a world where such positions were held by men. Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950) was Pierpont Morgan’s personal librarian (1908–1913) and the first Director of the Morgan Library (1924–1948). She was also the daughter of two mixed-race parents and passed for white.

A talk in conjunction with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Connecticut premiere of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s “The Ordering of Moses” (in concert on Sunday, February 9, at 3pm in Woolsey Hall). The talk will include Nathaniel Gumbs, Director of Chapel Music at Yale University; Jason Max Ferdinand, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Maryland, College Park; and Perry So, Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Zoom webinar registration link: https://bit.ly/3WjFjCk

All are welcome to a special one-day display of highlights of Beinecke Library collections related to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Freedom Movement on view for the holiday in the courtyard level reading room. The 2025 display will be on Sunday, January 19.