Morgan Library and Museum

▪ museum and library, New York City, New York, United States

      museum and library located in New York City that displays and collects artistic, literary, and musical works from ancient times to the present day.

      American financier and industrial organizer John Pierpont Morgan (Morgan, John Pierpont), who was also a collector of art, books, and other historic documents, commissioned the Morgan Library, designed by architect Charles F. McKim (McKim, Charles Follen) as an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo, to house his collection. The library, built from 1902 to 1906, was originally founded as a private institution, but in 1924 Morgan's son, J.P. Morgan, Jr., opened the collection to the public as a gift and memorial to his father (who had died 11 years earlier). The library was transformed into a public educational facility and research institution for the scholarly community. The institution has since focused on acquiring and preserving documents and small objects that represent some of the highest achievements in human culture.

      As the Morgan's collections continued to grow, the building housing them physically expanded several times. The original library and study is located at Madison Avenue and 36th Street in New York City. When the building was opened to the public, it was expanded to include the site of Morgan's home. The home of J.P. Morgan, Jr., was added to the museum in 1988, and in 2006 Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano (Piano, Renzo) drastically expanded the museum and library space with a modern addition.

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