Carnegie Corporation

• American

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic foundation founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegies to "promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding" and do "real and permanent good in this world". Between 1883 and 1929, the organization funded construction cost for 2,509 public libraries worldwide. - AsNotedIn

Carnegie Libraries

Andrew Carnegie the immigrant is less remembered than Andrew Carnegie the steel industry magnate and philanthropist. Carnegie could fund his philanthropy with profits from the sale of the Carnegie Steel Company in 1901, yet the direction those efforts took came out of his own experience as a poor immigrant. He was self-taught, and was said to attribute his later success to what he learned from the books in a private library. Most libraries in the late nineteenth century were private collections or subscription; neither was an affordable option for many Americans. Carnegie promoted equal access to knowledge, thus to opportunity, through his libraries. Local communities could apply for grant funds to construct the libraries, but they had to match the grant by supplying a location and a percentage of the funds. - HABS

The public library philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie, steel magnate, touched some 1406 communities during the years 1898 to 1919. That philanthropy was based on the sense that the rich had an obligation to use their excess wealth for the betterment of mankind. The public library in the nineteenth century was promoted as a viable means of "moral elevation" and as an agency for alleviating social ills common to the rising urban social order crime, alcoholism, prostitution, etc. Carnegie was also influenced by his business background in the sense that he viewed a city's investment as greater than his. Once a gift was made, it remained the city's responsibility to furnish and maintain the structure. Thus, Carnegie's contribution acted as an impetus to the commitment by a city to establish a free public library. - NRHP