In the fall of 2024 the Morgan Library & Museum will open the first major museum exhibition on Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950), the institution’s first librarian and director, daughter of Harvard’s first Black graduate, and a legendary figure in the world of rare books and manuscripts. Co-curators Philip S. Palmer and Erica Ciallela present on the role of archives and archival research in telling the story of this remarkable woman’s life. They discuss their work in making two major archival collections related to Belle Greene more widely accessible as well as serendipitous finds and surprises from their research.

Jim Moske, former managing archivist of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of the recently published book Deaths of Artists, digs into the archives of the Met and explores two strange scrapbooks comprised of century-old clippings of obituaries for artists, famous and forgotten (and some Centurion), and the eccentric curator who created them. Hosted by Catherine Talese.

Renowned author Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) was a Centurion from 1964 to 1994, and the first African-American member elected in the twentieth century. The Century Association Archives Foundation acquired copies of over 400 pages of Century-related material from his personal papers, held by the Library of Congress. Ellison scholar Paul Devlin discusses what can be learned about Ellison, the Century in those years, and Ellison as a Centurion from this rich archive of letters and club ephemera.

Twelfth Night, a colorful celebration filled with elaborate regalia, ritual, and revelry, is one of the Century’s long-standing traditions, and perhaps its most richly documented in the Archives. Fashion and dress historian Bethany Gingrich (Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art) speaks about the brief history of masquerade balls, Gilded Age “Fancy Dress,” and the costumes from the Century’s own celebrations of yore.