The Morgan Library was built by the greatest financier of all time more than 100 years ago to house his rare books, manuscripts, prints and antiquities.

“We're standing in main room of Pierpont Morgan's library. It houses about 10,000 printed books,” said John Mcquillen Associate Curator, Morgan Library.

John Pierpont Morgan helped to create General Electric and U.S. Steel.

But his old library now open to the public is not the kind of staid reserved hideaway you would associate with a titan of finance.

Alongside treasures like this Guttenberg bible, there are surprises.

“There are also secret staircases and rooms designed into the building that Morgan requested,” said Mcquillen.

Keeping with that air of mystery, Associate Curator John Mcquillen occasionally creates games for young visitors.

“Recently I hid a copy of harry potter and the chamber of secrets in here. I will also be hiding our copy of Tolkien’s The Hobbit for someone to find, showing that we are still collecting and have modern editions as well,” said Mcquillen.

That sense of mystery and discovery extends to the Morgan's new exhibit on the great poet Walt Whitman, born 200 years ago.

“He wrote poetry using the language that Americans actually spoke. He wrote about America. He loved the city,” said Sal Robinson, Curator and Associate Curator, Morgan Library.

The exhibit highlights his literary classic Leaves of Grass, his love affair with Irish immigrant Peter Doyle and his reputation as a showman.

“He used to tell his friends that this was a real butterfly, that he was good with insects. It is not a real butterfly,” said Robinson.

Whitman's work received rave reviews. Interestingly he wrote many of them himself.

“He had no qualms about saying this is a work of genius,” added Robinson.

There is also an enduring Whitman mystery. During World War Two, the Library of Congress sent a crate of Whitman notebooks including one with that paper butterfly to the Midwest for safekeeping in case Germany or Japan bombed Washington.

“When the crate came back after the war the notebook was missing as was the butterfly,” said

It turned up at Sotheby's auction house in the 90s.

“However, there are still some Whitman notebooks missing that never returned. So, if anyone knows where they are, now is the time,” said Robinson.

There's a book to find in the library and a much wider hunt, for those missing notebooks.

The exhibit Walt Whitman: Bard of Democracy runs all summer. For details go to themorgan.org.