Astor collection heads to research room at library

New York: The New York Public Library is beginning construction on a new study and research room that will house 1,800 books and three portraits that philanthropist Brooke Astor willed to the library after her death at age 105 in 2007.

Library officials say they will begin construction on the Lenox and Astor Room on the second floor of the main library building next month. The room is named after the library’s two founders, James Lenox and John Jacob Astor. Brooke Astor was married to Vincent Astor, the great- great grandson of John Jacob Astor. The books, collected by Astor’s second husband, Charles Henry Marshall, are special- edition classics of history and literature.