Carnegie's libraries
The main attraction of Carnegie’s philanthropic endeavors was the creation of free libraries across the country, the idea of creating free libraries for Americans to check out books from can be traced back to his younger days when a man names Colonel Anderson started a free library in Pittsburgh that would loan out books for young boys in the neighborhood on Saturday 1. This library was primarily geared towards “working boys” these book rentals had a large influence on the upbringing of Carnegie, as he used these books to learn more about the history of America, and to take a break from the toils of manual labor 2. Further, as seen by the Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie viewed the wealthy’s role in society as stewards to lower classes of Americans, providing them with guidance on how to act in “proper society” 3. The library provided the perfect outlet to teach people how to properly act in society, allowing citizens to check out material and learn and engage with the community and world around them. The library also is very individualistic in nature, as the private citizen must make a choice to educate him/herself, making the library a perfect self-help charity, instead of providing aid for those who weren’t willing to help themselves and instead lead to vice being promoted throughout society; libraries give the power to the individual allowing them to self-improve.
Carnegie’s model for the creation of libraries were based off of two models of philanthropy, pointed out by George S. Bobinski in his book Carnegie Libraries. The two models for donations were the “retail” period and “wholesale” period, in the retail period Carnegie gave two million dollars to start libraries around the Pittsburg area, this period lasted from 1886 to 1896 4. In the “wholesale” period Carnegie gave forty million dollars to start libraries across the United States this donation period lasted from 1889 to 1919 5. The distribution of money seemed to be all over all place according to Bobinski, who detailed all of the prices for libraries being built in the wholesale period and what he found, was that their prices and sizes were inconsistent, there seemed to be no “cookie cutter” model for the Carnegie library, instead local autonomy was given to communities 6. However, some communities resented Carnegie’s financial gifts to them, as pointed out by Bobinski, the labor union of Indianapolis didn’t approve of Carnegie’s money being used to build a library 7. This tension was felt by other cities, who viewed Carnegie’s libraries as being monuments to himself ( and his wealth) and his superiority over others. in their town 8. Carnegie didn’t take into account the problems that local government would have with his libraries, this was seen as towns had to figure bonds and building permits themselves, without the help of a central charity to turn to.
Carnegie’s library system is an essential part of his philanthropic efforts, and real good was seen from it, the education of mass America without the discrimination of classes was beneficial to society as a whole. However, some took his donations as a stain on the community, Carnegie’s past as a shrewd businessman hurt his reputation as a compassionate philanthropist ( even if the judgment was unjustified). But, there is no denying the impact that Carnegie had on the creation of education outlets for Americans to become more engaged with their community and learn more about the world around them.
1 Carnegie, Andrew, and Andrew Carnegie. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie: With the Essay the Gospel of Wealth. Compass Circle, 2018 pg. 36
2 Carnegie, Andrew, and Andrew Carnegie. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie: With the Essay the Gospel of Wealth. Compass Circle, 2018 pg. 35
3 Carnegie, Andrew, and Andrew Carnegie. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie: With the Essay the Gospel of Wealth. Compass Circle, 2018 pg. 22
4 Bobinski, G. S. (1969). Carnegie libraries. American Library Association . pg. 13
5 Bobinski, G. S. (1969). Carnegie libraries. American Library Association . pg. 15
6 Bobinski, G. S. (1969). Carnegie libraries. American Library Association . pg. 36
7 Bobinski, G. S. (1969). Carnegie libraries. American Library Association . pg. 96
8 Bobinski, G. S. (1969). Carnegie libraries. American Library Association . pg.98
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