Rome, Georgia, Carnegie Library

Rome, Georgia, Carnegie Library

LIB720890

Northfield, Vermont, Public Library

Northfield, Vermont, Public Library

LIB400501

Devils Lake, North Dakota, Carnegie Library

Devils Lake, North Dakota, Carnegie Library

LIB787430

Wayland, Massachusetts, Public Library, 1919

Wayland, Massachusetts, Public Library, 1919

LIB701490

Morgan Park, Illinois, Public Library, 1915

Morgan Park, Illinois, Public Library, 1915

LIB398424

Titusville, Pennsylvania, Benson Library, Interior, c1910

Titusville, Pennsylvania, Benson Library, Interior, c1910

LIB299836

Library, Westport, Connecticut, 1910

Library, Westport, Connecticut 1910

LIB845867

Interior, Carnegie Library, Oberlin, Ohio, 1909

Interior, Carnegie Library, Oberlin, Ohio, 1909

LIB381277

Harrogate, Tennessee, Carnegie Library, Lincoln Memorial University, 1938

Harrogate, Tennessee, Carnegie Library, Lincoln Memorial University 1938

LIB283039

Public Library, Dedham, Massachusetts

Public Library, Dedham, Massachusetts

LIB397010

Library, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

LIB384579

Reany Memorial Library, Interior, St Johnsville, New York

LIB975761

Library Interior, Arizona Western College, Yuma, Arizona

LIB009719

Library, University of California, Berkeley, California

LIB711800

City Library, Douglas, Arizona, 1908

LIB319146

Lenin Library, Moscow, Russia

LIB014929

Carnegie Library, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, 1922

LIB603332

1904 - June 1: The first public-library building, funded with $21,000 from Andrew Carnegie, is dedicated. A typical Carnegie library, with a large dome and Roman columns, it stands at the northeast corner of   Clark Street and Strongs Avenue until 1968, when it is razed. Only its bronze front-doors and  lamp-posts—added in 1918 with a bequest from Andrew R. Week, a wealthy local lumberman--are salvaged, and are eventually incorporated into the third (1992) public library.

Public Library, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1905

LIB693272

Public Library, Waterville, Maine, 1913

LIB101931

Public Library, Waco, Texas, 1920

LIB145808

Calumet & Hecla Library, Calumet, Michigan

LIB980280

Almost a full decade before Carnegie money found its way to the Copper Country, it was financial support from another capitalist with more local ties that brought the first dedicated library building to the region. That man was Alexander Agassiz, president of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company. Like Carnegie, Agassiz was an immigrant from humble beginnings that by happenstance and hard work was able to take advantage of the industrial transformation of the country to garner himself great power and wealth. As president of the great C&H Empire, Agassiz leveraged his company’s wealth and prestige to keep his workforce as content as possible through an industrial governance known as paternalism.  Towards that goal the company provided its workforce with cheap housing, public baths at its bathhouse,  free healthcare through its hospital, and assisted in the erection of churches on company property. In 1896 the company added yet another fringe benefit to its offerings – a public library. [http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/2014/02/the-calumet-and-hecla-library/]

Public Library, Ashby, Massachusetts

LIB400938

Memorial Library, Bound Brook, New Jersey

LIB653716

Carnegie Library, Lebanon, Indiana

LIB275253

Public Library, Claremont, New Hampshire

LIB540014

Free Library, Preston, Lancashire, England

LIB785537

Public Library, Blair, Nebraska, 1948

LIB607043

Edwin Watts Chubb Library, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

LIB331611

Public Library, Wooster, Ohio

LIB639177

University Library, Iasi (Jassy), Romania, 1924

LIB447917

Public Library, Portsmouth, Ohio, 1906

LIB474211

Public Library, Hammond, Indiana

LIB310512

Public Library, Antigo, Wisconsin, 1910

LIB016804

Howe Memorial Library, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, 1906

LIB619780

Library, Salinas, California, 1908

LIB963619

Library, Richland Center, Wisconsin, 1912

LIB721192

Carnegie Library, McCook, Nebraska

LIB274097