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April 13, 2009
Memory Stream Dipping into Philadelphia's illustrated past
Philadelphia Inquirer, April 13, 2009
Today marks the first day of National Library Week, and here in Philadelphia we are fortunate enough to have 54 public libraries throughout the city. For many of those, we can thank businessman Andrew Carnegie.
Carnegie was born in Scotland and came with his family to the United States in 1848. Carnegie accumulated great wealth during his successful business career. When he sold Carnegie Steel and associated companies in 1901 in a deal that created U.S. Steel Corp., Carnegie was one of the richest people in the world. He spent the remainder of his life giving his money away.
As a boy, Carnegie benefited from the generosity of a man who made his personal library available to working youths. In return, Carnegie used his fortune to fund more than 2,500 libraries in the United States and other countries, including 59 in Pennsylvania. Carnegie funded his first library in the United States in 1889 in Braddock, Allegheny County.
A number of branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia are Carnegie libraries, including Chestnut Hill, Cobbs Creek, Thomas Holme, Germantown (now a senior center), Nicetown and Passyunk.
Posted by tumulty at April 13, 2009 8:47 AM
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