Andrew Carnegie’s decision to back up library construction developed outside of their own experience. Born in 1835, he spent his first 12 years on the coastal city of Dunfermline, Scotland. There he listened to men read aloud and discuss books borrowed through the Tradesmen’s Subscription Library that his father, a weaver, had helped create.essaycapitals.com Carnegie began his formal education at age eight, but was required to stop after only 3 years. The rapid industrialization of your textile trade forced small businessmen like Carnegie’s father from business. Subsequently, a family sold their belongings and immigrated to Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Although these new circumstances required the young Carnegie to consult with work, his learning did not end. After having a year in a very textile factory, he was a messenger boy with the local telegraph company. A portion of his fellow messengers introduced him to Col. James Anderson of Allegheny, who every Saturday opened his personal library to the young worker who wished to borrow a novel. Carnegie later said the colonel opened the windows whereby the sunlight of information streamed. In 1853, when the colonel’s representatives aimed to restrict the library’s use, Carnegie wrote a letter towards the editor belonging to the Pittsburgh Dispatch defending the best coming from all working boys to have fun with the pleasures from the library. More important, he resolved that, should he ever be wealthy, he will make similar opportunities provided to other poor workers.
During the next half-century Carnegie accumulated the fortune that could enable him to meet that pledge. Throughout his years to provide a messenger, Carnegie had taught himself the skill of telegraphy. This skill helped him make contacts along with the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he went to work at age 18. Throughout his 12-year railroad association he rose quickly, ultimately becoming superintendent on the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh division. He simultaneously invested in a variety of other businesses, including railroad locomotives, oil, and iron and steel. In 1865, Carnegie left the railroad to manage the Keystone Bridge Company, which had been successfully replacing wooden railroad bridges with iron ones. Because of the 1870s he was paying attention to steel manufacturing, ultimately creating the Carnegie Steel Company. In 1901 he sold that business for $250 million.
Carnegie then retired and devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy. Prior to selling Carnegie Steel he had begun to consider what to do with his immense fortune. In 1889 he wrote a famous essay entitled The Gospel of Wealth, in which he stated that wealthy men should do without extravagance, provide moderately for dependents, and distribute the rest of their riches to benefit the welfare and happiness on the common man–using the consideration to assist solely those would you help themselves. The Very Best Fields for Philanthropy, his second essay, listed seven fields to which the wealthy should donate: universities, libraries, medical centers, public parks, meeting and concert halls, public baths, and churches. He later expanded this list to add gifts that promoted scientific research, the typical spread of knowledge, and then the promotion of world peace. Many of those organizations still this present day: the Carnegie Corporation in New York City, as an example, helps support Sesame Street.
As a result of his background, Carnegie was particularly enthusiastic about public libraries. At some point he stated a library was the absolute best gift for any community, mainly because it gave people a chance to improve themselves. His confidence was depending upon the outcomes of similar gifts from earlier philanthropists. In Baltimore, for instance, a library given by Enoch Pratt was basically used by 37,000 folks a year. Carnegie considered that the relatively small number of public library patrons were more value thus to their community when compared to the masses who chose not to gain benefit from the library.
Carnegie divided his donations to libraries within the retail and wholesale periods. In the retail period, 1886 to 1896, he gave $1,860,869 for 14 endowed buildings in six communities in the us. These buildings were actually community centers, containing recreational facilities which include private pools in addition to libraries. With the years after 1896, called the wholesale period, Carnegie will no longer supported urban multipurpose buildings. Instead he gave $39,172,981 to smaller communities which had limited admittance to cultural institutions. His gifts provided 1,406 towns with buildings devoted exclusively to libraries. Over half his grants were for less than $ten thousand. Although almost all the towns receiving gifts were from the Midwest, overall 46 states benefited from Carnegie’s plan.
Andrew Carnegie stopped making gifts for library construction after having a report meant to him by Dr. Alvin Johnson, an economics professor. In 1916 Dr. Johnson visited 100 of your existing Carnegie libraries and studied their social significance, physical aspects, effectiveness, and financial condition. His final report determined that to get really effective, the libraries needed trained personnel. Buildings ended up provided, however it was time to staff these people with professionals who would stimulate active, efficient libraries into their communities. Libraries already promised continued being built until 1923, but after 1919 all financial support was turned into library education.
When Andrew Carnegie died in 1919 at age 84, he had given nearly one-fourth of his life to causes wherein he believed. His gifts to varied charities totalled nearly $350 million, almost 90 percent of his fortune. Carnegie regarded all education as a technique to better people’s lives, and libraries provided amongst his main tools to help Americans generate a brighter future. Questions for Reading 1 1. How did progress and industrialization affect Carnegie, both as he was young, and in the future? 2. How much formal education did Carnegie have? What factors led to his affinity for books and reading? 3. What did Carnegie believe wealthy people have to do using their money? Why did he imagine that? Do you really agree? 4. How did supporting libraries match Carnegie’s past along with his beliefs? Reading 1 was compiled from George S. Bobinski, Carnegie Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association, 1969); Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, reprint (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1920 1986); Barry Sears, In the Trail of Carnegie Libraries, Antiques and Collecting (February 1994); Gerald R. Shields, Recycling Buildings for Libraries, Public Libraries (March/April 1994).