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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Andrew Carnegie’s story is the classic rags-to-riches tale. Born a poor immigrant, Carnegie built himself up to become a steel tycoon and one of the most famous and wealthy industrialists of his day. Carnegie is famous not only for building the American steel industry, but also for his philanthropy. During the last years of his life, Carnegie gave away 90 percent of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities, many of which still bear his name. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| July 1892 | Homestead Steel Strike occurs at the Carnegie Steel Mill between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Carnegie Steel Company. |
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| 1901 | At age 65, Andrew Carnegie decides to give generously to national universities, libraries across the country, and the Carnegie Institute. |
| November 1901 | Andrew Carnegie returns to New York from Europe with books and souvenirs for his new library. |
| June 1903 | Andrew Carnegie presents $600,000 to Booker T. Washington for the Tuskegee Institute. |
| February 1903 | Andrew Carnegie donates $10,000 to the city of Willmar for the establishment of a free public library. |
| November 7, 1904 | Andrew Carnegie reveals his "gift to the world," the Hague Arbitration Palace with a donation of $1,500,000 to build it. |
| February 1908 | Andrew Carnegie delivers an address before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh called "The Negro in America" where he praises and defends African Americans against work place stereotypes. |
| August 11, 1919 | Andrew Carnegie dies after three days with bronchial pneumonia. He leaves behind $30,000,000 after already donating over $350,000,000 with over $53,000,000 to libraries. |
