Introduction:

Hamilton's Carnegie Library opened in 1908 through the philanthropic grant by Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919) who was a Scottish-born American industrialist. Carnegie had spent over $56 million funding 2509 free public libraries during 1879 - 1917, of which 18 were built in New Zealand between 1904 to 1916. 

"It is said that Carnegie had two main reasons for supporting libraries. First, he believed that in America, anyone with access to books and the desire to learn could educate him - or herself and be successful, as he had been. Second, Carnegie, an immigrant, felt America’s newcomers needed to acquire cultural knowledge of the country, which a library would help make possible."  

Source: Carnegie Corporation of New York: Andrew Carnegie's story 

Carnegie was born on 25 November 1835, at Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland and he began his schooling at the town's Free School. After his family  moved in 1848 to Pennsylvania, Carnegie initially worked in a cotton factory, and then became a clerk in a telegraph company. He worked long hours and did not have access to formal education. However, he was able to visit the home library of a local businessman, Colonel James Anderson, who opened his collection of 400 books to 'working boys' to borrow for free and exchange each Saturday afternoon. This experience opened up the world of literature to Carnegie and provided opportunities for his self-education.

After embarking on a business career in iron and steel industries, Carnegie met philanthropist Enoch Pratt. Carnegie was given a tour of The Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland which had opened in 1886. Inspired, Carnegie incorporated Pratt's library as a model in his own programme for building free libraries. In 1887, Carnegie married Louise Whitfield who supported his philanthropy. 

 When he retired aged 65 in 1901, Carnegie sold his steel business for US$480 million and continued to support charitable and educational purposes. He established the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911, which continued to operate following his death in 1919 with his wife (Louise) and daughter (Margaret) as Trust members. Carnegie outlined his views on social subjects, and the responsibilities which great wealth involved, in his books entitled Triumphant Democracy (1886),The Gospel of Wealth (1889), The Empire of Business (1902), and Problems of To-day (1908).   

We'll explore:

1.  Hamilton's Carnegie Library - from its official opening through to its design and layout

2.  Backstory to the Hamilton Borough Council applying for and receiving funding for the library's building from Carnegie

3.  Andrew Carnegie & philosophy of 'free public libraries'

4.  Carnegie's 18 libraries in NZ

1. HAmilton's CArnegie Library

1.1 Official opening

Hamilton's Carnegie Library was officially opened on 17 February 1908. The library's building was constructed with the funding granted by Andrew Carnegie.  Councils were required to self-fund the collections, staffing and annual running costs, and provide free admission to the library.

1.2 Location

Newspapers, including the Thames Star (24 Sept 1906). reported a series of  discussions by the Council over choosing the location for the library, which became heated at times. Eventually, a site on Victoria Street opposite Garden Place was selected. 

1.3 Architectural design

The building was designed by local firm Rigby and Warren who described their neo-classical design as Otium cum Dignitate. The exterior was built of brick and stone. As with other standalone Carnegie Libraries, its layout plan consisted of  a central hall flanked by reading, library and social rooms. 

During a visit to Hamilton in 1909, a newspaper correspondent commented in the Nelson Evening Mail (28 Aug 1909):

" A Carnegie Library, a handsome structure in brick, alongside the Courthouse, is the first building to attract our visitorial inspection. Built on similar lines to Mr Carnegie's gifts to other towns in the Dominion, it would grace any city, and is an inspiration to  Colonials to aim for something higher in their architecture than the wooden barns, which have done such utilitarian service in the past."  

1.4 Revolving entrance door

A novel feature was the library's entranceway which was a revolving door. Librarians reported members of the public frequently getting their hands caught in it—“We would hear the crunch”—and dogs becoming trapped, “howling piteously until released”.

Source: Kerry, Rodgers (2005), "Carnegie Libraries", New Zealand Geographic ( Issue 076, Nov - Dec). 

1.5  Reading & Newspapers Rooms

1.6  Lending Department

1.7  Issues desk

1.8  Reference Room

1.9  The Children's Room 

1.10 Library's services, 1909

In a newspaper article in the Star (11 October 1909), the following account was given of the library's operations:

"The library committee consists of six, three representing the library subscribers and three the Council, one of the latter to act as chairman on all occasions. Reading in the building is free, but if books are taken away a fee of 2s 6d per quarter is levied, each subscriber to have the right to take home two books at a time. The sum of £2000 was granted for this library by Mr Carnegie, and the institution is maintained by a grant annually of £100 from  the Council, by subscriptions, and the Government subsidy, while a ball is organised in aid of the funds every year. The annual outlay on new books is about £60, and a salary is paid to the librarian."  

1.11  Photos of the Library's exterior, 1908 - 1959

1.12 Library shifts to Council building on Worley St,      1960

 In 1960, the library shifted to the larger Municipal Council Administration Building on Worley Street. The Carnegie Library's site was sold to the Bank of New Zealand and the building demolished. 

2.  Backstory

2.1 Carnegie's conditions for granting funding

Carnegie gave funding only for the capital cost of the building, although sometimes he provided an additional grant for furnishings, as in the case of Hokitika whose library was completed in June 1908.

The granting of funds was conditional on the following:  "A council had to certify that the proposed library site was debt-free and guarantee to provide an annual sum towards upkeep of the library. Generally this sum was 10 per cent of whatever grant was agreed to. Further, in order to sustain the library as a “free public library”, Carnegie required a council to adopt the dedicated rate allowed by New Zealand law. If he judged this sum insufficient for the library’s upkeep, he asked the council to agree to an annual top-up..."  

Of the 25 NZ town, borough and district councils that approached Carnegie for library grants, 18 received funding, including Hamilton.

Source: Kerry, Rodgers (2005), "Carnegie Libraries, New Zealand Geographic,  Issue 076, Nov - Dec. 

2.2  LIBRARY LEVY UNDER NZ'S PUBLIC LIBRARY ACT 1869

 In New Zealand, under the Public Library Act 1869, the management of any public library was vested in the local council.  The Act stated that a council could  levy a rate called "The Library Rate" up to one penny in the pound upon the annual value of the property rateable, to support a public library on the condition that admission to the library was free.  The annual levy to cover the cost of renting a building or maintaining a building if built and/owned  by the Council,  purchasing and repairing resources (books, magazines and maps) and appointing staffing.   

2.3 HAMILTON'S APPLICATION TO CARNEGIE, AUG 1905

The Hamilton Borough Council was required to write to Carnegie stating its needs, specifying the population it served and explain its present circumstances.

Hamilton's first library was the Hamilton Institute, which began operating in 1870 with books donated by the Auckland Provincial Council. Membership was by subscription.  At the  annual meeting held on 7 July 1873, it was reported that the collection had grown to 224 books, plus an assortment of newspapers, periodicals and daily journals. The reading room and library was open daily from 10am to 9pm, and books were issued and exchanged on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, at 3.30 pm and at 8 p.m. However,  the library and reading room burnt down in July 1874.  After the fire, it was discovered that the secretary and the funds had disappeared. At that stage there were 72 subscribing members out of a local population of 666. The salvaged books were stored in the Courthouse until the Hamilton Borough agreed in 1883 to fund a Public Library. 

Sources: Papers Past: Waikato Times: 9 July 1872, 12 July 1873; 30 May 1874  and 22 June 1875. 

The Hamilton Borough Council's first Public Library had opened on 10 October 1884 in the former toll house of the Union Bridge (now Victoria Bridge) that crossed the Waikato River between Memorial Drive and Victoria Street.  

A new larger library building was built just south of Grantham/Victoria St intersection, which opened 22 April 1899. With a growth in population, the Council decided to approach Carnegie for funding for a larger library. 

The Hamilton Library Committee wrote to Carnegie in August 1905  requesting a donation of  £2000.  A reply was received from Carnegie's private secretary on 16 November 1905, stating: 

"Judging from the photograph you send, the Library building is something better than a "shed." It would have saved time, if in saying that the Council were prepared to contribute an annual sum to the Library for maintenance purposes, you had stated what such annual sum would be. The small sum of £30 a year mentioned before is, of course, only a fraction of the amount necessary. Of course you understand that any library to which Mr Carnegie contributes must be entirely free, both as to the reading in the library and borrowing for home use. Should like to have a copy of your last annual report with full particulars of the history and finances of the Library. What did the present Library building cost and from what source was the money drawn to build it?"

Source:  Papers Past: 'Hamilton Public Library'. Waikato Times, Vol LVII, Issue 6870, 17 Nov 1905, p.2 

2.4 CARNEGIE'S FUNDING stipuLation FOR HAMILTON

Hamilton Borough Council had to commit to an annual grant raised from levying "The Library Rate" before Carnegie would agree to contributing to Hamilton’s new library. As the Council currently allocated £30 annually to the existing library, it would be required to allocate £100 a year, if Carnegie was to advance £2000.  Hence, the Library Committee contemplated charging subscriptions to raise £70 to make up the shortfall. This was conveyed in a letter to Carnegie in December 1905, who responded by saying  that it was as an unalterable condition of any donations from him that the library shall be free of charges to all users - both for reading in the library and borrowing for reading at home.   

The 'free of charges' stipulation for Hamilton was not always required to be observed at other Carnegie Libraries. With regards to Cambridge which was offered a grant in 1908, Carnegie had stated that "free" meant that "all persons over 14 years of age residing in the borough should be able to take out one book free per week, with those paying a subscription able to borrow a further two books".  (Source: Kerry, Rodgers, "Carnegie Libraries", New Zealand Geographic. Issue 076, Nov - Dec 2005).   

2.5 Carnegie granted £2000 to Hamilton

The Waikato Times reported (19 May 1906):

PROMISE OF £2000. 

The Mayor of Hamilton (Mr J. S. Boud) has received the following letter from Mr Andrew Carnegie, 2 Etst, 91 Street, New York, dated April 23rd, 1906 : 

J. S. Bond, Mayor, Hamilton, New Zealand. 

Dear Sir.-Responding to your appeal on behalf of Hamilton, Mr Carnegie will be glad to give £2000 sterling to erect a free public library building for Hamilton, if the Free Public Libraries Act be adopted and the maximum assessment under it levied, producing £IOO per year, as stated by you. A site must also be given for the building, the cost not being a burden upon the penny rate. 

Respectfully yours, (signed) J AS. BERTRAM. Secretary.

Source: Papers Past: 'Public Library for Hamilton', Waikato Times, Vol LVII, Issue 7014, 19 May 1906, p. 2

3. Andrew Carnegie & philosophy of 'Free Public     Libraries'

Carnegie's childhood:

Andrew Carnegie was born on 25 November 1835, at Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. His father was a handloom weaver and his mother had a "sweetie shop". Carnegie began his schooling at the Free School in Dunfermline, which was gifted to the town by the philanthropist Adam Rolland of Gask.  Experiencing financial hardships, the family decided to move to the United States in 1848.  (Source: Wikipedia: Andrew Carnegie)

Working life:

A summary of Carnegie's working life, after arriving in Pennsylvania in 1848 until his retirement in 1901 when he sold his business, is given in the following Obituary. Carnegie had died aged eighty-three years on 11 August 1919.

"His first work was as weaver's assistant in a cotton mill, then he became telegraph boy (1S51), and later entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway as telegraph operator, advancing until he became superintendent of the Pittsburg Division. He joined Mr. Woodruff, inventor of the sleeping car, in organising the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, gaining through it the nucleus of his fortune; careful investmments in oil lands increased his mean's. During the Civil War he was superintendent of military railways and telegraph lines in the East. In I862, he founded the Union Mills, Pittsburg, for the manufacture of steel rails. He also acquired the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, and in 1875 all the concerns he was interested in amalgamated under the title of "Carnegie Brothers and Co." In 1883, the Homestead Steel Works were acquired, and, along with several other works, were formed into one concern under the title "The Carnegie Steel Company, Ltd," capital (paid up) five million sterling. In 1892, the Frick Coke Company was amalgamated with it, and the company's capital raised to twelve millions, to be still further raised to twenty-eight millions in 1900; while in 1901 the whole of the Carnegie enterprise was taken over by "The American Steel Trust".

Source: Obituary: Mr Andrew Carnegie. Waikato Times, Vol.91, Issue 14135, 13 August 1919, p.5

Marriage to Louise, 1887:

In 1887, Carnegie had married Louise Whitfield (1857 - 1846) who signed a prenuptial agreement whereby it was agreed the bulk of Carnegie's estate was to be devoted to charitable and educational purposes. In return, Louise received stocks and bonds which gave her an annual income of $20,000 (US$350,000 today).  

 Source:  Carnegie Corporation of New York: Andrew Carnegie's story 

CARNEGIE'S PHILANTHROPY:

When Carnegie retired at sixty-five years in 1901, he sold his company, the Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, for US$480 million to the American Steel Trust. He allocated the majority of his finances for charitable purposes and established the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911, which continued to operate following his death in 1919. 

The Taranaki Daily News reported in its Obituary for Carnegie, that after the Carnegie enterprise had been sold,

"Mr. Carnegie endeavoured to use the money he had made for the benefit of his fellow men, and he became what might be described as a professional philanthropist. He spent throughout the world a sum of ten millions on libraries alone. To the Scottish Universities he gave two millions for the payment of student fees, and a similar sum was given to provide pensions for teachers in American universities and colleges. One of the latest of his foundations was "The Hero Fund," for providing for the families of those who performed any heroic deed. He took a great interest in schemes to substitute arbitration for war, and erected the Palace of Peace at The Hague, at a cost of £300,000. He made numerous other benefactions, but was hardly able to spent his income in spite of every effort to make good use of it."

Source: Obituary: Mr Andrew Carnegie. Waikato Times, Vol.91, Issue 14135, 12 August 1919, p.5  

After Carnegie's death, 1919:

Newspapers reported the terms of Carnegie's will after he died of bronchial pneumonia on 11 August 1919 at his estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Carnegie Corporation of New York, and other trusts listed on the Corporation's website, continue to operate today. Carnegie's wife Louise was a member of the Corporation's Board until her death in Manhattan on 24 June 1946, at the age of 89. Their only child, Margaret (born 30 March 1897) was a Board trustee from 1934 to 1973, and a lifetime trustee from 1973 until her death in 1990.

Source:  Carnegie Corporation of New York: Andrew Carnegie's story 

CARNEGIE'S PHILOSOPHY BEHIND FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES:

Carnegie's first experience of a library was in Dunferline where his father (a weaver) had helped to create a local tradesmen's library. His uncle, Scottish political leader George Luade, Sr., introduced him to the poet Robert Burns and historical Scots heroes such as Robert the Bruce, William Wallace and Rob Roy.   

After his family moved to Allegheny in Pennsylvania in 1848, Carnegie began using the free private library of a local businessman Colonel James Anderson. In 1849, Anderson had begun opening his library of 400 books on Saturday afternoons to working boys. Acting as the Librarian, Anderson allowed each person to take home a book for free and exchange it the following week. Carnegie wished that other boys and girls could also experience the same benefits from the "treasures of literature" to similarly develop a love of reading, enhance their quality of life, and instil self-improvement.  Carnegie's own career journey had led  from the Telegraph Office into railroading, oil companies, and iron and steel industries.   

Carnegie wrote in his autobiography:

"With all their pleasures the messenger boys were hard worked. Every other evening they were required to be on duty until the office closed, and on these nights it was seldom that I reached home before eleven o'clock. On the alternating nights we were relieved at six. This did not leave much time for self-improvement, nor did the wants of the family leave any money to spend on books. There came, however, like a blessing from above, a means by which the treasures of literature were unfolded to me... and in this way the windows were opened in the walls of my dungeon through which the light of knowledge streamed in...."  "...Books which it would have been impossible for me to obtain elsewhere were, by his wise generosity, placed within my reach; and to him I owe a taste for literature which I would not exchange for all the millions that were ever amassed by man. Life would be quite intolerable without it. Nothing contributed so much to keep my companions and myself clear of low fellowship and bad habits as the beneficence of the good Colonel." 

" It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library in a community which is willing to support it as a municipal institution. I am sure that the future of those libraries I have been privileged to found will prove the correctness of this opinion. For if one boy in each library district, by having access to one of these libraries, is half as much benefited as I was by having access to Colonel Anderson's four hundred well-worn volumes, I shall consider they have not been established in vain." 

Source:  Colonel Anderson and books. From the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1920.

Monument erected to Colonel James Anderson: 

Carnegie erected  a monument to Colonel James Anderson in front of the Hall and Library in Diamond Square in Allegheny. It bears this inscription:

To Colonel James Anderson, Founder of Free Libraries in Western Pennsylvania. He opened his Library to working boys and upon Saturday afternoons acted as librarian, thus dedicating not only his books but himself to the noble work. This monument is erected in grateful remembrance by Andrew Carnegie, one of the "working boys" to whom were thus opened the precious treasures of knowledge and imagination through which youth may ascend.

Carnegie later wrote:

“This is but a slight tribute and gives only a faint idea of the depth of gratitude which I feel for what he did for me and my companions. It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library in a community. "

Source:  Colonel Anderson and books. From the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1920.

Enoch Pratt and his free library:

After meeting philanthropist Enoch Pratt, Carnegie was given a tour of  The Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland which had opened in 1886. Inspired, Carnegie incorporated Pratt's library as a model in his own programme for building free libraries. 

Carnegie outlined his views on social subjects, and the responsibilities which great wealth involved, in his books entitled Triumphant Democracy (1886), Gospel of Wealth (1900), The Empire of Business (1902) and Problems of To-day (1908).

4. Carnegie's 18 libraries in NZ

Of the twenty-five applications to Carnegie from New Zealand, the following eighteen were successful. (The name of the town/city and date the grant was made are given, as listed in Wikipedia: List of Carnegie libraries in Oceania.)

Find out more:

This DigitalNZ story was updated in March 2025