Carnegie Library Grant Information and History  

Andrew Carnegie's decision to support library construction developed out of his own experience.

Carnegie then retired and devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy.. Carnegie had two main reasons for donating money to the founding of libraries. First, he believed that libraries added to the meritocratic nature of America. Anyone with the right inclination and desire could educate himself. Second, Carnegie believed that immigrants like himself needed to acquire cultural knowledge of America which the library allowed immigrants to do.

Many soon found that a request for a Carnegie grant was as simple as writing a letter to Andrew Carnegie, New York, New York. Carnegie soon began to receive many requests for library buildings from community leaders or acquaintances and he often responded with a generous gift. As the inquiries increased in number, however, the replies more frequently came from James Bertram (1872-1934), Andrew Carnegie’s Secretary, and after 1911 Secretary of the Carnegie Corporation, managed the applications and influenced library designs. Bertram devised a questionnaire designed to elicit information about the town's population, its existing library if any, and its finances

The program hadn't begun that way. The recipients of the earliest Carnegie libraries didn't ask -- the libraries were bestowed upon them unsolicited. Carnegie's gifts to his native town in Scotland and to several Pennsylvania towns were planned, built, endowed and dedicated by him between the years 1881 and 1896. Carnegie opened his first public library in his hometown, Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1883.

Carnegie erected his first public library in the United States in his adopted hometown, Allegheny City. Braddock's library had opened a year earlier, in 1889, but not as a publicly supported library. Braddock's was fully funded by the Carnegie Steel Co. and governed by its officials -- giving both the Braddock and Allegheny libraries bragging rights to firsts. Homestead's library followed in 1898, Carnegie's in 1901 and Duquesne's in 1904 (was demolished in 1968).

Carnegie divided his donations to libraries into the "retail" and "wholesale" periods.

During the retail period, 1886 to 1896, he gave $1,860,869 for 14 endowed buildings in six communities in the United States. These buildings were actually community centers, containing recreational facilities such as swimming pools as well as libraries.

In the years after 1896, known as the wholesale period, Carnegie no longer supported urban multipurpose buildings. Instead he gave $39,172,981 to smaller communities that had limited access to cultural institutions.

His gifts provided 1,689 public and university library buildings in 1,412 United States communities between 1889 and 1923 - and others in 669 in United Kingdom, 156 in Canada, and other in the Caribbean, Fiji, Australia, nd New Zealand with a total of 2,509 being built between 1883 and 1929.

Another source states that in total, Andrew Carnegie, or the Carnegie Corporation which succeeded his personal giving in 1911, donated a total of $56,162,622.97 to free public library buildings worldwide, with $2,556,660 granted for library construction in Canada for 125 libraries. Over half his grants were for less than $10,000.

Although most of the towns receiving gifts were in the Midwest, in total 46 states benefited from Carnegie’s plan.

To put matters into perspective, it should be realized that the 1910 grant of $10,000 could be considered to be worth about $650,000 today. Using modern building standards, an appropriate library for a municipality of 10,000 people should contain a minimum of 6,000 square feet and would cost approximately $600,000. The Carnegie grants were a very generous provision for library buildings, by any measure.

Very few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them paid for by Carnegie.

Carnegie earned the nickname Patron Saint of Libraries.

Andrew Carnegie stopped making gifts for library construction following a report made 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 concluded that to be really effective, the libraries needed trained personnel. Buildings had been provided, but now it was time to staff them with professionals who would stimulate active, efficient libraries in their communities. Libraries already promised continued to be built until 1923, but after 1919 all financial support was turned to library education.

When Andrew Carnegie died on August 11, 1919, at his Shadowbrook estate in Lenox, Massachusetts at the age of 83, as a result of bronchial pneumonia; he had given nearly one-fourth of his life to causes in which he believed. His gifts to various charities totaled nearly $350 million, almost 90 percent of his fortune.

Andrew Carnegie began his philanthropy to public libraries at a time when they desperately needed help. Even with tax levies, many communities could not afford to build their own library. Most libraries were collections of books located in highly unusual places: wooden shacks, millinery shops, offices, stables, and churches. One town even had their "library" in a rest room, where the matron doubled as a librarian.

It was during his "wholesale" period of giving that Carnegie helped communities like these obtain libraries. A town in any English-speaking nation desiring a grant began by writing a letter of request to Carnegie’s secretary, James Bertram, who then sent them a Schedule of Questions (see above)...

Carnegie's philosophy for library giving indicated that small rather than large communities should acquire the grants. However, towns with a population less than 2000 were generally considered too small for proper maintenance of a library. The amount of money donated related to the size of the population at the time of the most recent census. Bertram asked for detailed census information from any community about which he was uncertain. The standard award was calculated at approximately $2 per capita, but Bertram could be persuaded to ignore this guideline if sufficient and convincing argument was given.

Though Carnegie readily granted money, he also placed several conditions on his gifts. Municipalities had to own the site on which the library would be built, which often meant spending taxpayer money. The property also had to be large enough that the library could be expanded if demand rose. Bertram required that the city pass a resolution to verify that the land acquisition had been completed and that the tax had been voted. After 1907 he required that all building plans be submitted for approval.

The maintenance pledges that were another part of the contract could prove a major stumbling block. Carnegie required that the grant recipients agree to pay each year an amount equal to 10 percent of his gift to maintain the building his donation provided. He believed that "the community which is not willing to maintain a Library had better not possess it," but opponents argued that their taxes were already too high and that Carnegie’s rules would raise them even more.

The designs towns wanted for their libraries also caused problems. Until 1908, communities that satisfied the site and maintenance pledges were free to build whatever they saw fit. However, Carnegie and Bertram thought that many of the plans were not practical, because they had expensive exteriors and inefficient interiors. For instance, Bertram discouraged fireplaces, believing that they wasted space and benefited only those closest to the heat.

In 1908 Bertram began exerting more control over designs. For three years he required grant recipients to submit plans before building began.

The problems of library design at the turn of the 20th century had four causes:

1) an “effort to erect a monumental building”;

2) an attempt to conform to an architectural style unsuited from library purposes;

3) the appointment of an architect unfamiliar with library design and function; and

4) the “failure to consult with the librarians” (Wiley, Library Architecture and Construction).

Given that these were common issues in library design, James Bertram, Carnegie’s secretary, authored six editions of Notes on the Erection Library Buildings with Type Plans with sample floor plans and notes about modesty in design, after consultation with library and architectural leaders. It was sent to every community that applied or won a grant, The final version , 1911, of Bertram's "Notes" detailed six layout templates, with recommendations based on the size of the building and lot—but no instructions for designing them. The walls don’t even have depth shown.

It contained minimum standards and six model floor plans that provided the greatest amount of usable space consistent with good taste.

It suggested a basement 9 to 10 feet high and 4 feet below natural grade and a second level 12 to 15 feet high. The most commonly adopted of the plans called for a main floor with an adult reading area on one side, a children’s area on the other, an the librarian’s desk between the two The front door was located in the middle, opposite the librarian. The exterior was left to the discretion of the community, but they were warned to keep the structure plain and dignified. Bertram wanted usable, practical libraries, not elaborate "Greek Temples."

Communities which failed to meet Bertram’s increasingly demanding standards found their designs rejected.

Bertram’s standards combined with the tastes of the times to create many libraries that looked similar. The high ceilings and the second-level public areas suggested by Bertram resulted in spacious interior rooms with splendid natural lighting and ventilation. due to these qualities, the need for a flight of stairs from the street arose. The stairs, in fact, are commonly regarded as the identifying characteristic of a Carnegie library. Some feel that Carnegie felt anybody who wanted to read ought to be willing to climb a few steps. It is true he thought that ambitious young people would be the primary users of these libraries, and that they would presumably not be troubled by a few stairs. Some say the stairs carry a symbolic message, as in "thirteen steps to wisdom." he stairs, however, created problems for older people and those who have difficulty walking.

One matter of design, however, may be indirectly related to Carnegie’s involvement. Although some big-city libraries made extensive use of sandstone, a large majority of the existing Carnegie libraries are brick. This may be explained by the fact that they were intended to be permanent public buildings. However, it may not have escaped the notice of city officials that brick, while more expensive in terms of construction costs, is less expensive than other materials to maintain. The city only had to take care of the building, while Carnegie agreed to pay for materials. None of the libraries are wood, even in communities where the lumber industry was the mainstay of the economy.

Additional money was sometimes sought and granted for reconstruction after disasters such as earthquakes; less frequently granted for library expansion. As the libraries aged, cities began to ask about their rights in regard to building alteration or disposal, or appropriate future building use. At first the response was that the building had been given for a library and any other use would be considered a breach of faith. Later, communities were told that the building was theirs to use, sell, or destroy, but that it was the custom to affix a plaque to a replacement library building identifying its Carnegie history.
The Carnegie Correspondence, containing all inquiries, questionnaires, and subsequent debates, with a testy Bertram and a recalcitrant city hammering out their differences, is available on microfilm. Unfortunately the original correspondence was destroyed. Though difficult to read, the microfilm of the fragile old letters, and of the thin carbon copies of Bertram's replies, provides unique insight into the social history of American communities in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

By 1917, Carnegie had invested $68,333,973 in libraries here and abroad, equivalent to about $966 million today. Of the 1,689 Carnegie libraries built in America, at least 350 have gone on to other uses, writes Theodore Jones in his 1997 book, "Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Public Legacy." Another 259 have been razed or destroyed by fire or other natural disasters -- 100 in the 1960s, 47 in the 1970s, 12 in the 1980s, a downward trend fueled by the historic preservation movement. But that trend, Jones writes, has been reversing since the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. "Public libraries are moving out of their original Carnegie buildings more frequently than ever," he writes. According to 1991 and 1996 surveys, of the 350 or so libraries that have been reused, 60 were still libraries in 1991.

That’s why the Carnegie libraries looked so similar. Many of these communities followed these plans. Built into every one of these six designs was a community center or an auditorium. The library profession has lost sight of the fact that from the beginning Carnegie intended those buildings to be community centers, and indeed they were

Notes of interest:

The state of Indiana received the greatest number of Carnegie library grants of any state. Between the years of 1901 to 1918, Indiana received a total of 156 Carnegie library grants which allowed for the creation of 165 library buildings. Indiana received a total of over $2.6 million from the Carnegie Corporation