List of Presidents of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library

No.
Image
President
Term
Term length
Ref(s)
1
-
John Bigelow
May 27, 1895 – December 19, 1911
16 years, 6 months, 22 days
-
2
-
John Lambert Cadwalader
December 19, 1911 – March 11, 1914
2 years, 2 months, 20 days
-
3
–
George L. Rives
May 13, 1914 – August 18, 1917
3 years, 5 months, 4 days
-
4
-
Lewis Cass Ledyard
December 12, 1917 – January 12, 1932
14 years, 1 month, 0 days
-
5
-
Frank Polk
April 13, 1932 – February 7, 1943
10 years, 9 months, 25 days
-
6
-
Morris Hadley
February 8, 1943 – January 8, 1958
14 years, 11 months, 0 days
-
7
–
Gilbert W. Chapman
January 8, 1959 – February 1, 1971
12 years, 1 month, 0 days
-
8
–
Richard W. Couper
February 1, 1971 – July 1, 1981
10 years, 5 months, 0 days
-
9
-
Vartan Gregorian
July 1, 1981 – December 1, 1989
8 years, 5 months, 0 days
-
10
–
Timothy S. Healy
December 1, 1989 – December 30, 1992
3 years, 0 months, 29 days
-
11
–
Paul LeClerc
December 1, 1993 – July 1, 2011
17 years, 7 months, 0 days
-
12
-
Anthony Marx
July 11, 2011 – Present
7 years, 8 months and 11 days
-

Question: Who were the first two presidents of the New York Public Library?
Answer: John Bigelow served as the first president of the New York Public Library, followed by John Lambert Cadwalder.