Carnegie Library PPCs?

I'm kind of surprised no one has put out a thread on this topic yet. Andrew Carnegie was, without doubt, the person who brought libraries into the mainstream across the country. He personally funded more than 1,600 libraries in the U.S. between 1883 and 1929. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...nited_States

That time frame coincides with the golden age of picture postcards and I know there are a number of cards depicting Carnegie Libraries. I've seen some -- however, I don't own a single one. Who out there has some they can share?

A former boss of mine collected library postcards, he had somewhere around 4,500, many of which were Carnegies. For several states he had all the Carnegies, in multiple varieties. He believed his was the third largest collection, the largest belonging to a former director of a large public university in New England who had about 10,000. Both of these gentlemen are now deceased - dont know what happened to the collections.

The Carnegies were instant winners in the postcard business. Every town that got one was happy to promote their new civic edifice, often in some rivalry with other neighboring towns. And then after the first card was depleted, another ppc was done from another angle.

Exterior views are indeed common. The challenge is to find interior views! Here is the Carnegie Library in Brazil, Indiana, opened in 1904, including 2 interior views. It is still in use today.

Wow, still in use as a library! That's unusual. We have three of these in our county that I know of and none are being used as libraries.

There were 125 Carnegie libraries built across Canada as well, with many of them in Ontario. This website depicts some in postcard form. https://www.aulik.info/carnegie-canada-ontario

The Cornish Library in Winnipeg is one of 3 Carnegies in my city and is undergoing an extensive renovation. It's still in use today as a popular historic library.

The Carnegie Library in my hometown of Albia, Iowa opened in 1908. The original library is still in full use to this day. The link I provided here is a list of the Carnegie Libraries in Iowa. https://dsps.lib.uiowa.edu/clip/library/466/
I am sure you can find them for the other states as well.

Click on a state to see the list for that state: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...nited_States

Not my postcard, but here's the Carnegie library in my hometown, Visalia, California. It opened in 1904 and was demolished in 1936, when it was replaced by the WPA building that I frequented when I was a kid.

Thank you for including the wikipedia link, Erilaz.It seems Carnegie Libaries were built in four of the cities of the two California counties I collect. Looks like I'll be hunting for these. I've seen a few copies, un-used.

Ukiah and Willits, in Mendocino County are both still standing, but used for another purpose.

Eureka and Ferndale in Humboldt county are both still standing, Eureka was restored by the Humboldt Arts Council and is now the Morris Craves Museum of Art.

Ferndale is the only Carnegie Grant Library in northwestern California still functioning as a library!

The architecture design of half a level underground and a flight of stairs to the main floor makes ADA compliance problematic these days without ramps or elevators - often retrofitted on the back side or through a modern addition to the building.

You mean like the one in my OP?




As it happens, I stopped by both of those buildings in August while I was in the area. Unfortunately both were closed due to Covid.

Finally! After what seemed weeks of clicking every Eureka Carnegie Library postcard (of at least two views) on eBay (8 pages of collectable postcards) and hippostcard (6 pages), I found one used in Eureka 1906, on Hip. No luck on Ukiah, Willits or Ferndale as yet.
Did come across an old lead on a Port Kenyon postmarked Ferndale Carnegie pc in a back issue of La Posta, in a mail sale, $20 while browsing Lane county Oregon postmarks. Whole No 84 Vol 14-No 6

Awesome card, Phil! I like the original dome a lot more.

So do I. Eureka put some effort into securing Mr. Carnegie's grant. can't find the page now as dinner time is nigh, page 168 but they used Mad River marble for the front steps, raised some $8,000 for the property.

https://archive.org/details/history...q=John+Vance

Looks like Eureka raised about a dollar per citizen for the Library. Population in 1902 was very close to 8000.

https://population.us/ca/eureka/

I finally have a couple additions to my Carnegie Library collection! And the first one is another view of the beautiful domed library in Eureka.



The other is an undivided back three-pic card from Clinton, MA. The Carnegie library shown is still in use as a library, however its facade has had some alteration.

Picked up two more libraries! The first is a territorial card of the old Carnegie Library in Honolulu, Completed in 1911, it is the only library that Carnegie funded in Hawaii. This was later renamed the Library of Hawaii and for a time was Hawaii's only library. (Unused)



The other is the flagship Carnegie Library in DC. There were four built in the District, from a single grant. This one now houses the DC Historical Society, which is now on my list to visit next time I get there.