# The Best-Paid Woman in NYC

An episode of [The LRB Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/510327102), 25 Jun 2025, 41 min.

Audio: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/LRB7054034732.mp3?updated=1753968242

As J.P. Morgan's personal librarian, entrusted with building his collection, Belle da Costa Greene could ‘spend more money in an afternoon than any other young woman of 26’, as the New York Times put it in 1912. In the latest LRB, Francesca Wade reviews a new biography of Greene and a recent exhibition dedicated to her at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, of which Greene was the first director. Francesca joins Tom on the podcast to talk about Greene's life and work. They discuss her long-term, long-distance relationship with the art historian Bernard Berenson and her reasons for concealing her African American heritage. Find further reading in the LRB: https://lrb.me/wadepod From the LRB Subscribe to the LRB: https://lrb.me/pod Close Readings podcast: https://lrb.me/crlrbpod LRB Audiobooks: https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: https://lrb.me/storelrbpod Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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