Andrew Carnegiea��s decision to support library construction developed away from his own experience. Born in 1835, he spent his first 12 years inside the coastal town of Dunfermline, Scotland. There he heard men read aloud and discuss books borrowed via the Tradesmena��s Subscription Library that his father, a weaver, had helped create.http://essaycapitals.com/ Carnegie began his formal education at age eight, but had to stop after only three years. The rapid industrialization of your textile trade forced small businessmen like Carnegiea��s father out from business. Consequently, family members 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 failed to end. Following a year in the textile factory, he was a messenger boy for those local telegraph company. A handful 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 book. Carnegie later said the colonel opened the windows where the sunshine of information streamed. In 1853, the moment the colonela��s representatives aimed to restrict the librarya��s use, Carnegie wrote a letter towards the editor within the Pittsburgh Dispatch defending the perfect of working boys to experience the pleasures of your library. More significant, he resolved that, should he be wealthy, he makes similar opportunities available to other poor workers.

Across the next half-century Carnegie accumulated the fortune that may enable him to satisfy that pledge. During his years as the messenger, Carnegie had taught himself the ability of telegraphy. This skill helped him http://lechevaletlarobe.com/?p=15079 make contacts aided by the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he attended work on age 18. Throughout his 12-year railroad association he rose quickly, ultimately becoming superintendent from the Pennsylvaniaa��s Pittsburgh division. He simultaneously invested in a lot of other businesses, including railroad locomotives, oil, and iron and steel. In 1865, Carnegie left the railroad to regulate the Keystone Bridge Company, this was successfully replacing wooden railroad bridges with iron ones. From the 1870s he was centering 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 started 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 help the welfare and happiness of this common man–together with the consideration to help you just those who will help themselves. The Most Beneficial Fields for Philanthropy, his second essay, listed seven fields 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 provide gifts that promoted scientific research, the typical spread of information, and then the promotion of world peace. Many of these organizations still this present day: the Carnegie Corporation in New York, to provide an example, helps support Sesame Street.

Due to his background, Carnegie was particularly serious about public libraries. At one point he stated a library was the best possible gift for one community, considering that it gave people a chance to improve themselves. His confidence was dependant upon the outcomes of similar gifts from earlier philanthropists. In Baltimore, as an example, a library distributed by Enoch Pratt were definitely utilized by 37,000 people in 12 month. Carnegie considered that the relatively few public library patrons were of more value to the community versus the masses who chose to not ever enjoy the library.

Carnegie divided his donations to libraries in 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 states. These buildings were actually community centers, containing recreational facilities that include swimming pools in addition to libraries. Within the years after 1896, called wholesale period, Carnegie not necessarily supported urban multipurpose buildings. Instead he gave $39,172,981 to smaller communities that had limited a chance to access cultural institutions. His gifts provided 1,406 towns with buildings devoted exclusively to libraries. Over half his grants were for under $ten thousand. Although much of the towns receiving gifts were inside the Midwest, in total 46 states benefited from Carnegiea��s plan.

Andrew Carnegie stopped making gifts for library construction right after a report created to him by Dr. Alvin Johnson, an economics professor. In 1916 Dr. Johnson visited 100 of the existing Carnegie libraries and studied their social significance, physical aspects, effectiveness, and financial condition. His final report figured that to get really effective, the libraries needed trained personnel. Buildings appeared to be provided, these days it was time to staff all of them pros who would stimulate active, efficient libraries within their communities. Libraries already promised continued to remain built until 1923, but after 1919 all financial support was turned to library education.

When Andrew Carnegie died in 1919 at age 84, he had given nearly one-fourth of his life to causes during which he believed. His gifts to several charities totalled nearly $350 million, almost 90 percent of his fortune. Carnegie regarded all education as an approach to strengthen peoplea��s lives, and libraries provided considered one of his main tools to aid Americans construct a brighter future. Questions for Reading 1 1. How did progress and industrialization affect Carnegie, both when he was young, and later in life? 2. Just how much formal education did Carnegie have? What factors led to his desire for books and reading? 3. What did Carnegie believe wealthy people have to do with regards to their money? Why did he believe that? Do you really agree? 4. How did supporting libraries match Carnegie’s past and his awesome 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, On your Trail of Carnegie Libraries, Antiques and Collecting (February 1994); Gerald R. Shields, Recycling Buildings for Libraries, Public Libraries (March/April 1994).

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