Home Arts and Leisure The Carnegie Libraries of New England

The Carnegie Libraries of New England

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Three Carnegie libraries had their cornerstones laid in one day, but those were only a fraction of the tycoon-funded libraries in New England.

Andrew Carnegie donated $75,000 for the three building, all in Worcester, Mass. He then laid all three cornerstones in three hours on March 26, 1913.

Reading, Mass., Carnegie Library

Reading, Mass., Carnegie Library

The Worcester Daily Telegram reported on the ceremonies:

At all three branch libraries Mr. Carnegie made brief extemporaneous remarks, at all of them expressing keen pleasure because the city accepted his offer to build the libraries. He said that he is the city’s debtor, not the city his. He said the donors of the sites in the three locations and the city council in providing for the maintenance for these libraries, are the ones entitled to the greatest praise.

The day was cold and raw, and Mr. and Mrs. Carnegie were unprepared for it, having left New York with the sun shining. Mr. Carnegie found he required rubbers, and stopped off at a store in Quinsigamond to equip himself with them.

Andrew Carnegie

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Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune in steel, then gave away most of it. One of his favorite philanthropies was libraries. He doubled the number of libraries in the United States, giving away 1,681. Of those, 95 were in New England. All but three are still standing. Two, in South Worcester and Rockport, Mass., are now private homes.  One was an Abercrombie & Fitch outlet in Freeport, Maine, until 2021..

Carnegie was born in Dumfermine, Scotland, on Nov. 25, 1835, and immigrated to the United States in 1848.

Before the Civil War, Carnegie worked as a telegraph messenger in Allegheny City, Pa. He then learned a man named Col. James Anderson opened his library of 400 volumes to working boys on Saturday afternoons.

He credited the library with steering him “clear of low fellowship and bad habits,” and opening “precious treasures of knowledge and imagination.”

Fortune smiled on Carnegie, but he didn’t smile much on his workers. In 1892, his managers cut wages and locked out workers at the Homestead, Pa., steel works for 143 days. A bloody conflict resulted and scabs replaced the workers. It didn’t help Carnegie’s reputation for benevolence.

He believed anyone who worked hard could succeed as he did. He also believed in giving to the “industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others.”

Puck magazne cartoon, 1903

Puck magazine cartoon, 1903

Beginning in 1881, Carnegie spent 20 years giving away money.  Much of it went to libraries.

Carnegie Libraries

At first, Carnegie only gave libraries to places where he had a personal connection. He started in 1880 in his hometown in Scotland. Allegheny City, Pa., was the first U.S. city to receive a Carnegie gift for a library.

Until 1898, Carnegie only commissioned the Fairfield, Iowa, library outside of southwestern Pennsylvania in America.

A typical Carnegie Library cost $50,000. Rarely was a request turned down. He refused to endow his libraries, because, as he said, “an endowed institution is liable to become the prey of a clique. The public ceases to take interest.”

Towns had to show they needed a library, provide the building site and pay to staff and maintain the library. Free service had to be provided to all who entered.

After he gave away his first five public libraries, Carnegie created an open shelf policy, which lowered operating costs and encouraged readers to browse. To discourage theft, the circulation desks were made larger than usual and placed near the front door.

The libraries were unique, designed in a variety of styles selected by the town. They were formal, small and simple. Each had a large, welcoming doorway almost always at the top of a staircase, to symbolize the patrons’ elevation by learning. Outside nearly all the libraries had lampposts or lanterns, symbolizing enlightenment.

Variety of Styles

Classical Revival Carnegie Library in South Worcester, Mass.

Classical Revival Carnegie Library in South Worcester, Mass.

They were built in a variety of architectural styles, selected by the town. In New England those styles included Classical Revival, or its offshoot, ‘Carnegie Classical Revival,’ Beaux Arts, Colonial Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne.

Prairie Style Carnegie Library in Vinalhaven, Maine

Prairie Style Carnegie Library in Vinalhaven, Maine

One was built in the Prairie Style on a very non-prairie location: Vinalhaven Island in Maine. John Calvin Stevens, the designer of Maine, designed two, in Houlton and Rumford.

Between 1901 and 1917, Carnegie donated:

  • 43 public libraries in Massachusetts from 35 grants totaling $1,137,500;
  • 18 public libraries in Maine from 18 grants totaling $241,450;
  • 11 public libraries in Connecticut from 8 grants totaling $191,900;
  • Nine public libraries in New Hampshire from nine grants totaling $134,000;
  • Four public libraries in Vermont from four grants of $80,000.

(Take a virtual tour of New England’s public Carnegie Libraries here.)

Rhode Island’s Carnegie Library

The John Hay Carnegie library at Brown University in Providence

The John Hay Carnegie library at Brown University in Providence

Rhode Island has only one Carnegie Library, but it’s a big one: the John Hay Library at Brown University. Carnegie donated $150,000 for the library, half the cost, and asked that it bear Hay’s name. Hay graduated from Brown in 1858, became Abraham Lincoln’s private secretary, U.S. Secretary of State and friend of the tycoon.

Carnegie’s academic libraries were larger and more elaborate than his spare, simple public libraries. The interior of the Williston Memorial Library at Mount Holyoke resembles Westminster Hall in England.

The Carnegie Library at Tufts.

The Carnegie Library at Tufts.

In Massachusetts he also donated libraries to Tufts, Smith, Wellesley and Radcliffe. He gave a library to Norwich University in Vermont and the Hamilton Smith Library (now Hall) at the University of New Hampshire. And he donated Carnegie Hall at the University of Maine.

(Take a virtual tour of New England’s academic Carnegie Libraries here.)

Carnegie died Aug. 11, 1919, in Lenox, Mass., at his Shadow Brook estate, then reported to be the second largest private residence in the United States. By then he had given away 95 percent of his fortune.


This story was updated in 2022.

Images: John Hay Library By Filetime – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93721309. Reading, Mass., Carnegie Library By John Phelan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24513387. Granby Public Library By John Phelan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23974164. Unionville Carnegie Library By Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States – Unionville, ConnecticutUploaded by Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29970923.

 

5 comments

Rosalie March 22, 2016 - 3:28 pm

Carnegie was a fantastic person. But I’m not understanding something here. I live in Derby, CT and have been lifelong resident here. We have a library that was funded in part by Carnegie — The Derby Neck Library. BUT, while it’s a public library now, it was not when I was a child. Luckily for me, there was another library, The Derby Public Library, the same distance from me and that’s where I went. It’s still my preference even though Derby Neck is now public. I know there was a fee to use the Derby Neck Library when I was a child in the 50’s and 60’s. Possibly even later.

So my question is how could they have done that if Carnegie only gave to libraries if they were going to be free???

Paul Lessard March 23, 2016 - 9:27 am

As I remember learning in school, Andrew Carnegie would agree to match a certain amount he promised if the local community could raise an equal share. Wikipedia has a fairly complete list of the Carnegie funded libraries in Maine, with one exception. For some reason the Lithgow Library in Augusta is not included in the list despite the attribution to Carnegie on the library’s individual Wiki listing page. Lithgow is currently being expanded to effectively triple its size. The expansion will maintain the architectural style of the original building.

Here are the two Wikipedia links & one to the library itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithgow_Public_Library
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_Maine

http://www.lithgow.lib.me.us/

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