042. The Completed Library

Cabinetmakers and builders added two tiers of bookcases during the final stages of construction. Instead of a grand room that happened to house books, the East Room of Morgan’s Library was thus transformed into a space whose function was unmistakable. Long study tables and lecterns were custom-made for the room. In 1911 (after McKim had died), Morgan acquired the sixteenth-century German sculpture of a saint, possibly Elizabeth of Schönau. She is depicted—appropriately—with book in hand.