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Carnegie Corporation of New York |
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Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation
Andrew Carnegie was born in a little Scottish town to Will and Margaret Carnegie. It was 1835. Will wove and sold fine damask linen to support his family until the steam?powered loom was invented. Use of the loom quickly replaced the skill of handweaving fabrics and, by 1848, Will was unable to earn a living in his homeland. The Carnegie family immigrated to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both Will and thirteen year-old Andrew found work in the cotton mills. Andrew earned $1.20 per week. The prosperity of the industry had ravaged the environment, leaving its trademarks of soot and grime across the landscape. A series of job changes transpired for both men. Andrew ventured into new territory - clerking and telegraphing. Will resumed his original, familiar trade - peddling damask cloth. Again, he had little success. Burdened with an ongoing illness, Will was soon confined to bed until he passed away on October 2, 1855, at the age of 51.
Now 20 years old, Andrew assumed the responsibility of supporting the family. He worked as a superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad, bought his way out of the draft into the Union Army, and retired from railroad work in 1865 to begin the Keystone Bridge and Telegraph Companies. Iron bridges replaced wooden ones, and communication traveled along wires from one side of the state to the other.
In 1865, Carnegie entered the steel business, beginning the Carnegie Steel Company. By 1872, the "Iron Age" ended and a whole new era in steel began. America, in the wake of a Civil War, embarked on the threshold of an industrial era in which Andrew Carnegie played a principle role. Whether in the railroad or steel industry or buying shares of competitors' stock, young Carnegie seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
One of the missing pieces to his life, however, he would not have until his mother passed away. Mrs. Carnegie (Margaret) did not approve of Andrew's growing relationship with Louise Whitfield, daughter of a prosperous Pittsburgh merchant. Margaret's influence in both her son's personal and professional life carried considerable weight. When he was nearly 50, Carnegie became seriously ill with typhoid fever. During this time, both Andrew's brother and mother passed away. Fearing the shock of the deaths would create a relapse in Andrew's condition, servants removed Margaret's body, bypassing Andrew's room by lowering her corpse from an upstairs window to a waiting casket below. Once he was out of danger of dying, Andrew was told the tragic news. The loss of his deceased brother and mother was soon overshadowed by the return of his "lost" love, Louise, when they married a few months after Andrew's recovery.
The years to come held, among other things, the publishing of Carnegie's famous essay, "The Gospel of Wealth" in 1889. The essay's first sentence stated the issue it would address: "The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth." He wrote that there were three ways for one to spend wealth: One could leave wealth to family; one could leave wealth to the public in a will; or one could dispose of wealth, for the public good, while still living. By selecting the third option, wealth from a small number of affluent people would be given to the largest number of people and managed during the donor's life. Andrew felt that those people who had accumulated great fortunes were "trustees" until the recipients of their gifts were able to do for themselves. The notion was not to give gifts to merely allow beggars to remain beggars.
To Andrew there were seven specific areas in which a trustee could best serve the masses. In the order of importance, the seven areas of support were: 1. universities; 2. free libraries; 3. founding or expanding hospitals; 4. parks; 5. halls for meetings or concerts; 6. swimming baths; and 7. building churches. Though the essay was well received in America, the reaction was different in Britain. Those people who struggled to provide social and cultural services (specifically, ministers, artists, writers, musicians, orphanages, and private schools) took offense with having been placed low on the list or left off it altogether.
Among the philanthropic and educational institutions he began, Andrew established the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911. The Corporation helped to manage and continue his philanthropic work. Today it still lives by the original mission, " to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." One of the first tasks of the Carnegie Corporation was to assist Andrew with establishing free public libraries in America and English-speaking countries around the world. By 1917, he and the Corporation had spent $56 million on this program. Today, the Carnegie Corporation awards over $60 million in grants yearly.
Andrew Carnegie elevated himself from the slums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to mansions in the United States and a castle in Scotland. He helped transform America from an agricultural society into an industrial leader of the free world. More importantly, his own philanthropic contributions can be seen today around the world in the libraries, hospitals, museums, parks, and educational institutions he helped build and support. Appreciation is felt worldwide for the opportunities he provided: housed in volumes of books on shelves in public libraries; through universities that guide thought and increase people's success; through hospitals that prevent or cure suffering; through the preserved beauty of nature enjoyed by laughing children and relaxing adults. Andrew Carnegie had the vision to see so clearly the truths to perpetuate life for all to benefit. Carnegie lived by the third option in his "Gospel of Wealth" - he gave away over $350 million of his own personal wealth before his death in 1919. Today, the gifts left to benefit generations to come continue to grow through the work of Carnegie Corporation of New York.