Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at Share #890 and its sixth owner, Marguerite Marie LaHalle Cret (1877-1965).

Shareholders have always been the backbone of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Starting with the first group of fifty tradesmen who formed the library in 1731, shareholders have provided crucial financial support each year for our mission to “pour forth benefits for the common good.”

We keep careful track of who has owned each historic share, and our list of 9,800+ shareholders includes signers of the Declaration and Constitution, merchants, doctors, soldiers, scientists, artists, philanthropists, politicians, and much more.

Share #890

This share was first issued to Thomas Clark on July 31, 1815. It passed through several other shareholders before the Library Company’s Board of Directors reissued the share as #1267 on July 5, 1923 and issued it to the Sunday School Times newspaper.

The Directors reissued the share again as #1374 on April 20, 1936, and it was acquired by Marguerite Marie LaHalle Cret (1877-1965).

Cret was French by birth, but emigrated to the U.S. in 1905 a few weeks after marrying her brother’s friend, Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945). Both Marguerite and Paul later became naturalized U.S. citizens in 1927, but they also returned to France each summer and stayed at her family’s country home in Loiret, France.[i]

Unfortunately, Marguerite is difficult to find in the historical record except in relation to her husband. Paul’s architecture and planning work helped to reshape Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Austin, and other cities. Among many other projects, he helped draw up the plans for the “Philadelphia Parkway,” now known as Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and designed the Delaware River Bridge (now the Benjamin Franklin Bridge) and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.[ii]

Image: George M. Brightbill, collector, Benjamin Franklin Bridge postcard (circa 1926). Photolithograph.

Although it was Marguerite who became a Library Company shareholder, Paul also knew the value of a good library. Before Marguerite acquired her Library Company share, Paul spent several years working with Henry and Emily Folger to design and build the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Folger described the final building in 1932 as a tribute to Shakespeare’s work: “The Library was to be the First Folio, illustrated.”[iii]

Marguerite occasionally appeared in the social pages in newspapers in Philadelphia and New York, but even those mentions are usually in connection to her husband. For instance, in 1932, she served as a patroness for the ball held by the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects.[iv]

One Paul Cret biographer described her thus: “Madame Cret, as she was known in Philadelphia, was a most distinguished person in appearance and intellect. Her wide reading in literature and the arts complemented that of her husband, as did her sense of humor.”[v]

At least once, the Crets hosted a dinner party with T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) and essayist Agnes Repplier (1855-1950). Eliot noted in a 1933 letter that after hosting him for dinner at their West Philadelphia home, the Crets took him to Broad Street Station next to City Hall to catch his train.[vi]

It is possible that Marguerite visited the Library Company for its French-language works. Although no circulation records remain from her time as a shareholder, a search in today’s online catalog finds more than 10,000 titles in French. The Crets also added to the collection, gifting a handful of French titles to the Library Company between 1938 and 1941.[vii]

Image: The Crets donated materials to the Library Company several times between 1938 and 1941, including this work: Sébastian de Pontault Beaulieu, Louis XIIII: Les Plans et Profils des Principales Villes et Lieux Considerables du Comte de Flandre (Paris, circa 1690). Gift of Paul Cret.

It’s unclear how involved Marguerite was at the Library Company, but she also no doubt knew at least one other shareholder: Elizabeth Wheatley Sutro Bendiner (1904-1991), whose husband had worked in Paul Cret’s office from 1925 to 1936. Elizabeth Bendiner acquired share #295 in 1939, three years after Marguerite became a shareholder.[viii]

Marguerite maintained her Library Company share for the rest of her life. She owned the share as #1374, but the Directors reissued it again with its original #890 after her death. The share has been owned by twelve people total in its history.

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #890 is currently available. We work hard to match potential shareholders with historic shares that match their interests, and we would love to match you with Marguerite Cret’s share or another option.

You can become a Library Company shareholder with an initial gift of $500. To learn more, visit our website or reach out to our Development Office at [email protected].

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[i] Marguerite Marie Laballe Cret Petition for Naturalization, June 6, 1927, Pennsylvania, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1945. Courtesy of AncestryLibrary.com. Finding Aid for the Paul Philippe Cret Papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/UPENN_RBML_PUSP.MS.COLL.295 (accessed March 23, 2026).

[ii] Finding Aid for the Paul Philippe Cret Papers, University of Pennsylvania.

[iii] “Building History,” Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/visit/our-building-and-grounds/building-history/ (accessed March 23, 2026).

[iv] “Beaux-Arts Ball Patroness List is Announced,” New York Herald Tribune, December 18, 1932.

[v] Theo B. White, ed., Paul Philippe Cret: Architect and Teacher (Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1973), 36.

[vi] Letter from T. S. Eliot to Emily Hale, March 26, 1933. From John Haffenden, ed., The Letters of T. S. Eliot to Emily Hale, https://tseliot.com/the-eliot-hale-letters/letters/l230 (accessed March 23, 2026).

[vii] “Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cret” are listed as donating two French titles in the Bulletin of the Library Company of Philadelphia, June-December 1938. The Library Company’s annual reports for the years ending March 31, 1939 and March 31, 1941 both list “Mrs. Paul P. Cret” or “Mme. Paul Cret” separately than “Paul Cret” in the lists of those who donated books and pamphlets to the Library Company. All of these reports are now part of the Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).

[viii] Finding Aid for Alfred Bendiner Memorial Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/gdcfindingaidpdfs/pp020016/pp020016.pdf (accessed March 23, 2026). Shareholder Elizabeth Bendiner was featured in a previous shareholder spotlight: Dana Dorman, “Shareholder Spotlight: Cadwalader Morris (1741-1795),” Library Company of Philadelphia, https://librarycompany.org/2025/04/21/shareholder-spotlight-cadwalader-morris/ (accessed March 23, 2026).