Pittsburgh - Carnegie Library

The main public library in Pittsburgh. It was built in 1895, and was one of the first libraries built by Andrew Carnegie. Note lthe inscription over the columns. It is part of a museum complex in the Oakland district, near the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. This photo was taken in 1967. Recent photos show that the exterior of the buiding has been cleaned since then, and is much lighter in color.

 

Andrew Carnegie (1833-1919) was born in Scotland, and came to the United States with his family at the age of 13. He made a vast fortune in the steel industry, and gave most of it away in the last 30 years of his life. Public libraries may have been his best known philanthropy. He built over 2,500 libraries, 1,700 in the U.S. and most of the rest in Britain, Ireland, and Canada. A city that applied for a Carnegie Library had to meet certain requirements, including providing a site, providing a given sum each year for books and maintenance, free access, and open stacks.

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