Scope and Content Note
The papers of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) include family records, correspondence, letterbooks, reports, memoranda, financial records, scrapbooks, speeches, articles, and books, and printed matter and related material. The papers span the years 1803-1935, with the bulk of the material from 1890 to 1919. The collection is organized in six series: General Correspondence, Speeches and Writings File, Miscellany , Scrapbooks, Carnegie Corporation and Related papers, and Addition.
The collection relates to all aspects of Carnegie's life, but the emphasis is on business and charitable activities. The principal series, General Correspondence, consists of letters to and from Carnegie with attached and related papers. Although the main focus is on steel manufacturing, a considerable portion of the correspondence concerns corporations, investments, and labor issues. Peace, arbitration, anti-imperialism, the Isthmian Canal, education, African Americans, and Scottish-American matters are other subjects prominently represented, and there are numerous files on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute of Washington, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
An extensive Carnegie Corporation file contains correspondence, letterbooks, financial papers, and reports and memoranda concerning the philanthropic activities of the corporation. Letterbooks relating to philanthropies prior to the establishment of the corporation are included in this file.
Drafts and printed copies of Carnegie's writings and addresses are contained in a Speeches and Writings File.
Carnegie corresponded with a great many of the leading figures of his time, both in this country and abroad. They include John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron Acton; Arthur James Balfour, Earl of Balfour; John Barrett; James P. Bertram; William Jennings Bryan; James Bryce, Viscount Bryce; Nicholas Murray Butler; Joseph Hodges Choate; Samuel Harden Church; Samuel Langhorne Clemens; Grover Cleveland; W. Evans Darby; Frank Nelson Doubleday; Theodore W. Dwight; Charles William Eliot; Robert Erskine Ely; Paul-Henri-Benjamin Balluet, baron d'Estournelle de Constant; Robert A. Franks; Henry Clay Frick; Richard Watson Gilder; Daniel Coit Gilman; W. E. Gladstone; Edward Grey, Viscount Grey of Fallodon; Edward Everett Hale; William Vernon Harcourt; John Hay; Abram S. Hewitt; Francis Mairs Huntington-Wilson; Robert Green Ingersoll; Robert Underwood Johnson; Philander C. Knox; George Lauder, Sr.; George Lauder, Jr.; David Lloyd George; Henry Cabot Lodge; Francis T. F. Lovejoy; Seth Low; and Frederick H. Lynch.
Still other correspondents are Theodore Marburg; S. S. McClure; Nelson Appleton Miles; Thomas N. Miller; J. Pierpont Morgan; John Morley; Simon Newcomb; Walter Hines Page; Alton Brooks Parker; George Foster Peabody; Henry Phipps; Henry S. Pritchett; Whitelaw Reid; John D. Rockefeller; Theodore Roosevelt; Elihu Root; John Ross; Carl Schurz; Charles M. Schwab; James Brown Scott; William H. Short; Goldwin Smith; James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk; Herbert Spencer; Hermann Speck von Sternberg; Oscar S. Straus; James Moore Swank; William H. Taft; Charles L. Taylor; J. Edgar Thomson; Charlemagne Tower; Joseph P. Tumulty; Booker T. Washington; Andrew Dickson White; Henry White; Horace White; Woodrow Wilson; and Robert Simpson Woodward.
Dates
- Creation: 1803-1935
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1890-1919
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Access and Restrictions
The Carnegie Papers are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Copyright Status
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Andrew Carnegie in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
Biographical Note
Biographical Note
- 1835, Nov. 25
- Born, Dunfermline, Scotland
- 1848
- Family immigrated to United States
- Worked as bobbin-boy in Pennsylvania cotton factory
- 1849
- Messenger boy, then telegraph operator, Pittsburgh, Pa.
- 1853
- Appointed private telegrapher and secretary to Thomas A. Scott of Pennsylvania Railroad
- 1853 - 1865
- Held various positions with the Pennsylvania Railroad, finally succeeding Thomas A. Scott as superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division
- 1861
- Assisted Thomas A. Scott in organizing military transportation and telegraphy
- 1865
- Resigned from Pennsylvania Railroad
- Organized Keystone Bridge Co.
- 1865 - 1873
- Engaged in bridge building, bond selling, and oil dealing on worldwide basis
- 1873
- Began concentration on steel manufacturing with the opening of the J. Edgar Thompson Steel Co.
- 1882
- Henry Clay Frick's coke industries joined to Carnegie Brothers & Co.
- 1883
- Began contributions to magazines, notably North American Review and Nineteenth Century
- 1886
- Published Triumphant Democracy
- 1887
- Married Louise Whitfield (died 1946)
- 1889
- Published "Wealth" (later renamed "Gospel of Wealth") in North American Review
- 1892
- Broke with Henry Clay Frick
- 1901
- Carnegie Co. sold to J. P. Morgan
- 1911
- Carnegie Corp. of New York organized to carry out Carnegie's philanthropies
- 1919, Aug. 11
- Died, "Shadowbrook," Massachusetts
Extent
67,400 items
304 containers
72 linear feet
Abstract
Industrialist and philanthropist. Correspondence, reports, memoranda, speeches, articles, book files, financial papers, printed materials, and other papers relating to Carnegie's steel manufacturing and other business and philanthropic activities.
Organization of the Papers
The collection is arranged in six series:
Additional Guides
In 1964 the Library published Andrew Carnegie, a Register of his Papers in the Library of Congress . A card index to the bound General Correspondence series in the collection is available in the Reading Room of the Manuscript Division.
Catalog Record
Acquisition Information
The papers of Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, were given to the Library of Congress in 1932, 1954, 1959, and 1962 by Louise Whitfield Carnegie, Margaret Carnegie Miller, Florence Anderson, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additions were purchased in 1946 and 1969, and gifts were received in 1981, 1983, and 1996.
Transfers
Some photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
Processing History
The Carnegie Papers were processed in 1984. The collection was revised and expanded in 1985, and the finding was revised in 2009.
Source
- Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919 (Creator, Person)
Subject
- Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron, 1834-1902. (Person)
- Balfour, Arthur James, 1848-1930. (Person)
- Barrett, John, 1866-1938. (Person)
- Bertram, James, 1872-1934. (Person)
- Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925. (Person)
- Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount, 1838-1922. (Person)
- Butler, Nicholas Murray, 1862-1947. (Person)
- Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919. (Person)
- Choate, Joseph Hodges, 1832-1917. (Person)
- Church, Samuel Harden. (Person)
- Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908. (Person)
- Darby, W. Evans (William Evans), 1844-1922. (Person)
- Doubleday, Frank Nelson, 1862-1934. (Person)
- Dwight, Theodore W. (Theodore William), 1822-1892. (Person)
- Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926. (Person)
- Ely, Robert Erskine, 1861- (Person)
- Franks, Robert A., 1861-1935. (Person)
- Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919. (Person)
- Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909. (Person)
- Gilman, Daniel C. (Daniel Coit), 1831-1908. (Person)
- Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898. (Person)
- Hale, Edward Everett, Jr., 1863-1932. (Person)
- Harcourt, William Vernon, Sir, 1827-1904. (Person)
- Hay, John, 1838-1905. (Person)
- Hewitt, Abram S. (Abram Stevens), 1822-1903. (Person)
- Huntington-Wilson, Francis Mairs, 1875-1946. (Person)
- Ingersoll, Robert Green, 1833-1899. (Person)
- Johnson, Robert Underwood, 1853-1937. (Person)
- Knox, Philander C. (Philander Chase), 1853-1921. (Person)
- Lauder, George, Jr. (Person)
- Lauder, George. (Person)
- Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924. (Person)
- Lovejoy, Francis T. F. (Francis Thomas Fletcher), 1854-1932. (Person)
- Low, Seth, 1850-1916. (Person)
- Lynch, Frederick H. (Frederick Henry), 1867-1934. (Person)
- Marburg, Theodore, 1862-1946. (Person)
- McClure, S. S. (Samuel Sidney), 1857-1949. (Person)
- Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925. (Person)
- Miller, Thomas N. (Person)
- Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913. (Person)
- Morley, John, 1838-1923. (Person)
- Newcomb, Simon, 1835-1909. (Person)
- Page, Walter Hines, 1855-1918. (Person)
- Parker, Alton B. (Alton Brooks), 1852-1926. (Person)
- Peabody, George Foster, 1852-1938. (Person)
- Phipps, Henry, 1839-1930. (Person)
- Pritchett, Henry S. (Henry Smith), 1857-1939. (Person)
- Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912. (Person)
- Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937. (Person)
- Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919. (Person)
- Root, Elihu, 1845-1937. (Person)
- Ross, John, of Dunfermline, Scotland. (Person)
- Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906. (Person)
- Schwab, Charles M., 1862-1939. (Person)
- Scott, James Brown, 1866-1943. (Person)
- Short, William H. (William Harrison), 1868-1935. (Person)
- Smith, Goldwin, 1823-1910. (Person)
- Southesk, James Carnegie, Earl of, 1827-1905. (Person)
- Spencer, Herbert, 1820-1903. (Person)
- Sternburg, Hermann Speck von, Freiherr, 1852-1908. (Person)
- Straus, Oscar S. (Oscar Solomon), 1850-1926. (Person)
- Swank, James Moore, 1832-1914. (Person)
- Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930. (Person)
- Taylor, Charles Lewis, 1857-1922. (Person)
- Thomson, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1808-1874. (Person)
- Tower, Charlemagne, 1848-1923. (Person)
- Tumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1879-1954. (Person)
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. (Person)
- Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915. (Person)
- White, Andrew Dickson, 1832-1918. (Person)
- White, Henry, 1850-1927. (Person)
- White, Horace, 1834-1916. (Person)
- Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924. (Person)
- Woodward, Robert Simpson, 1849-1924. (Person)
- Carnegie Corporation of New York. (Organization)
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. (Organization)
- Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (Organization)
- Carnegie Institute. (Organization)
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. (Organization)
- Carnegie Steel Company. (Organization)
- Title
- Andrew Carnegie Papers
- Subtitle
- A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress
- Author
- Prepared by Manuscript Division Staff
- Date
- 2010
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Part of the Manuscript Division Repository
Manuscript Reading Room
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