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Andrew Carnegie’s decision to guide library construction developed beyond his very own experience. Born in 1835, he spent his first 12 years within the coastal city of Dunfermline, Scotland. There he listened to men read aloud and discuss books borrowed within the Tradesmen’s Subscription Library that his father, a weaver, had helped create.imp source Carnegie began his formal education at age eight, but were forced to stop after only 3 years. The rapid industrialization on the textile trade forced small businessmen like Carnegie’s father out from business. As a result, the family unit 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. From a year inside a textile factory, he was a messenger boy towards the local telegraph company. Several of his fellow messengers introduced him to Col. James Anderson of Allegheny, who every Saturday opened his personal library for any young worker who wished to borrow a guide. Carnegie later said the colonel opened the windows through which the sunshine of knowledge streamed. In 1853, once the colonel’s representatives aimed to restrict the library’s use, Carnegie wrote a letter to the editor with the Pittsburgh Dispatch defending the suitable of the working boys to have the pleasures for the library. More essential, he resolved that, should he ever be wealthy, he makes similar opportunities designed to other poor workers.

Covering the next half-century Carnegie accumulated the fortune that is going to enable him to meet that pledge. During his years being a messenger, Carnegie had taught himself the art of telegraphy. This skill helped him make contacts while using the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he went along to just work at age 18. During his 12-year railroad association he rose quickly, ultimately becoming superintendent of the Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh division. He simultaneously invested in several other businesses, including railroad locomotives, oil, and iron and steel. In 1865, Carnegie left the railroad to control the Keystone Bridge Company, which has been successfully replacing wooden railroad bridges with iron ones. Through 1870s he was being focused on 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. Just before 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, where he stated that wealthy men should live without extravagance, provide moderately because of their dependents, and distribute the remainder of their riches to help the welfare and happiness of your common man–using the consideration to assist only those who would help themselves. The Right Fields for Philanthropy, his second essay, listed seven fields that 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 overall spread of information, as well as the promotion of world peace. Most of these organizations will continue to this present day: the Carnegie Corporation in New York City, as an example, helps support Sesame Street.

On account of his background, Carnegie was particularly excited about public libraries. At some point he stated a library was the best possible gift to have a community, because it gave people the cabability to improve themselves. His confidence was with regards to the outcomes of similar gifts from earlier philanthropists. In Baltimore, for example, a library given by Enoch Pratt was utilised by 37,000 folks 1 year. Carnegie thought that the relatively few public library patrons were more value to the community compared to the masses who chose not to ever gain benefit from the library.

Carnegie divided his donations to libraries inside the retail and wholesale periods. Through the entire retail period, 1886 to 1896, he gave $1,860,869 for 14 endowed buildings in six communities in the states. These buildings were actually community centers, containing recreational facilities for instance pools not to mention libraries. On the years after 1896, termed as a wholesale period, Carnegie not any longer supported urban multipurpose buildings. Instead he gave $39,172,981 to smaller communities that had limited having access to cultural institutions. His gifts provided 1,406 towns with buildings devoted exclusively to libraries. Over half his grants were cheaper than $ten thousand. Although the majority of the towns receiving gifts were inside the Midwest, altogether 46 states took advantage of Carnegie’s plan.

Andrew Carnegie stopped making gifts for library construction carrying out a report developed to him by Dr. Alvin Johnson, an economics professor. In 1916 Dr. Johnson visited 100 belonging to the existing Carnegie libraries and studied their social significance, physical aspects, effectiveness, and financial condition. His final report figured that for being really effective, the libraries needed trained personnel. Buildings were definitely provided, these days the time had come to staff them with experts who would stimulate active, efficient libraries within their communities. Libraries already promised continued for being built until 1923, but after 1919 all financial support was looked to library education.

When Andrew Carnegie died in 1919 at age 84, he had given nearly one-fourth of his life to causes whereby he believed. His gifts to varied charities totalled nearly $350 million, almost 90 % of his fortune. Carnegie regarded all education as a means to maximize people’s lives, and libraries provided one of his main tools to assist Americans produce 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. Simply how much formal education did Carnegie have? What factors led to his curiosity about books and reading? 3. What did Carnegie believe wealthy people have to do with regards to their money? Why did he reckon that? Does a person agree? 4. How did supporting libraries fit with 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, For the Trail of Carnegie Libraries, Antiques and Collecting (February 1994); Gerald R. Shields, Recycling Buildings for Libraries, Public Libraries (March/April 1994).