Carnegie Corporation Gives
$15 Million to Libraries
To commemorate the centennial of Andrew Carnegie’s promise to give New York $5.2 million to build branch libraries, the Carnegie Corporation announced June 10 that it was awarding a total of $15 million to 25 urban libraries, most of whom are Carnegie libraries. The money is primarily earmarked for services to immigrant populations.
Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian remarked that the one-time gifts were intended in part to “raise public consciousness and commitment to the cause of learning” and to showcase libraries as repositories of “the DNA of our culture.” He also emphasized that private giving “can never take the place of public support.”
The largest awards went to New York’s three library systems, with the New York Public to receive $2 million, and Brooklyn and Queens Borough getting $1 million apiece. Other recipients, who will each receive $500,000, include the public libraries of Atlanta-Fulton County; Chicago; Indianapolis-Marion County, Indiana; Detroit; Houston; Kansas City, Missouri; Seattle; San Francisco; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Posted June 14, 1999.
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