The Morgan Library & Museum

Curatorial: The Morgan Library & Museum ("the Morgan") occupies a midtown Manhattan campus comprised of three landmarked buildings that are joined by pavilions constructed of steel-and-glass panels designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano. The Morgan houses one of the world's greatest collections of artistic, literary, musical, and historical works. Included in its holdings are original scores of Mozart and Beethoven, drawings by Rembrandt and Rubens, medieval and Renaissance works, three Gutenberg Bibles, literary manuscripts by Dickens and Twain, and five-thousand-year-old carvings from the countries of ancient Western Asia. The Morgan recorded 246,507 visitors over the fiscal year, primarily for a wide variety of changing exhibitions encompassing works from the Morgan's permanent collection and from other museums and libraries in the U.S. and abroad. Exhibitions during fiscal year 2023 included "Holbein: Capturing Character;" "J. Pierpont Morgan's Library: Building the Bookman's Paradise;" "One Hundred Years of James Joyce's Ulysses; and "She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400-2000 B.C." The Morgan's curators plan the exhibitions, oversee the permanent collection, prepare exhibition and collection-related catalogs, organize symposia, host graduate seminars, and provide research and other services to the scholarly community.The extraordinary group of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts; printed books and bindings; literary, historical, and music manuscripts; drawings and prints; and ancient cylinder seals that J. Pierpont Morgan brought together were among the first important collections of their kind in America and form what is today the core of the Morgan's holdings. (The collection now includes photography and modern and contemporary drawings as well.) In overall quality and importance, these collections are among the finest in the world, distinguished by the high percentage of items that are unique or exceptionally rare. One of only a handful of American institutions devoted to these specialized areas, the Morgan maintains an active acquisitions program and now holds several hundred thousand items in its collection.The Morgan's Drawing Institute is devoted to the interpretation, conservation, and theory of old master and modern drawing with the goal of stimulating new lines of investigation and discourse. The Drawing Institute supports research through annual fellowships; publications; small, focused exhibitions; and an ongoing series of symposia, seminars, and lectures.

Public Programs: In fiscal year 2023, 15,988 people attended a range of virtual and in-person lectures, family programs, college programs, and workshops, many by renowned artists and experts in their field. This active program of lectures and gallery talks focused on the Morgan's collections and exhibitions. An additional 3,084 people viewed world-class performers at concerts presented by the Morgan. Docents gave virtual presentations that reached over 1,099 participants and onsite tours to 6,986 visitors. The Morgan's school programs served 8,029 K-12 students of diverse communities.

Library and Museum Services: The Morgan Library & Museum is one of nineteen independent research libraries in the United States and, as such, makes its collections available to qualified researchers for study on-site in the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room and the Drawing Study Center. An online catalog of the collections is accessible at www.themorgan.org and assists researchers both on-and off-site. Active digitization and publication programs help to extend the reach of the Morgan's scholarly services and support study of the collections.The Morgan has had professional paper and book conservation facilities since the 1950s, when they were among the first such labs in the United States. The Morgan's conservation facilities were dramatically enhanced with the 2002 completion of the Thaw Conservation Center. The Morgan's conservators oversee the preservation of the collections and also undertake surveys and treatment projects of discrete collection areas. The collections consist almost entirely of works on paper and related porous supports (vellum, parchment, papyri), and the conservators have developed special expertise in the conservation, restoration, and repair of such objects. Both a working and teaching facility, the Thaw Center receives requests for assistance from institutions in the United States and abroad. It offers fellowships in conservation techniques and practices.

Museum Publications and Retail: The Morgan maintains an active publications program, producing catalogues related to its exhibitions and items in its permanent collections. These catalogues are made available to the public, along with other exhibition and collection-related merchandise, through the Morgan's on-site retail shop and through the Morgan's website.