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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.
In 1881, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) built his first library in his birthplace Dunfermline, Scottland. Years laters, Carnegie's philanthropy led to the creation of more libraries. Overall, Carnegie gave millions of dollars to establish more than 1,600 libraries in the United States. 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.
| 1881 | Andrew Carnegie builds his first library in Dunfermline, Scotland. |
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| 1885 | Carnegie creates a public library and meeting place for his workers at the Keystone Bridge Works in Pittsburgh, PA. |
| June 1889 | Carnegie expresses his views on how prosperous individuals should use their resources in an essay entitled “Wealth” published in the North American Review. |
| March 1901 | Carnegie offers a gift of libraries to New York City and Richmond, VA. |
| January 1902 | Akron, OH accepts Carnegie’s offer of a donated library. |
| December 1902 | New York City's first Carnegie library opens. |
| December 1902 | Carnegie increases donation for Jerseyville, IL library. |
| January 1903 | President Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Carnegie attend the dedication of the Washington, DC Carnegie library. |
