The Belle Greene and Bernard Berenson Letters Project

From 1909 to 1949 Belle da Costa Greene (1879-1950), the Morgan's inaugural Director, maintained a lively correspondence with the art historian Bernard Berenson (1865–1959). Greene and Berenson were friends, colleagues, and (for a time) romantic partners, and their letters offer unique insight into the worlds of art, rare books, and manuscripts in the early twentieth century. Since Belle Greene burned her personal papers before her death, the over 600 letters that survive today at Villa I Tatti, Berenson’s former home and today the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, comprise the only substantial archive for documenting her extraordinary life.

Join Nic Caldwell, Belle da Costa Greene Fellow, and Philip Palmer, Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, on Facebook Live for a discussion of the Morgan's ongoing project to transcribe and make digitally available this rich trove of Greene's letters.