History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries

Organizations Which Have Benefited
from Andrew Carnegie Philanthropy

Official Web Sites for:

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh/
Carnegie Institute

Carnegie Musuem of
Natural History

Carnegie Musuem
of Art

Andy Warhol
(Art) Museum

Carnegie Library
of Pittsburgh

Original (1907) Dinosaur Hall of
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Photograph from 1990s, before expanded Dinosaur Hall built).

Chronology: Andrew Carnegie's Institutions in Pittsburgh --

1890 February 20 - Dedication of Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny (later Allegheny Regional Branch, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh) as nation's first publicly-funded Carnegie Library (third Carnegie Library)
1890 February 24 - Andrew Carnegie forms Carnegie Free Libraries of the City of Pittsburgh (modified 1890 May 26)
1895 November 5 - Dedication of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
1896 March 2 (Deed of Trust) - Andrew Carnegie forms Carnegie Institute: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Art
1900 - Formation of Carnegie Technical Schools, later Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University
1907 - Large expansion of Carnegie Museums (including construction of original Dinosaur Hall)
1967 - Opening of Scaife Gallery expansion of Carnegie Museum of Art
1967 - Carnegie Institute of Technology merges with Mellon Institute to form Carnegie Mellon University
1987 January 1 - Merger of Buhl Planetarium and Carnegie Museums
1991 October 5 - Opening of The Carnegie Science Center
1994 May 15 - Opening of Andy Warhol Museum

Carnegie Institute / Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh -
Carnegie Museum of Natural History

News Regarding Carnegie Institute / Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Walsh, Glenn A. "50th Anniversary: Pittsburgh Native Walks on Moon." Blog-Post.
SpaceWatchtower 2021 July 26.
James Irwin's father was a steamfitter running the power plant at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute, which includes the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Art, the main branch of Carnegie Library, and the Carnegie Music and Lecture Halls. James Irwin wrote in his autobiography, To Rule the Night, that he was enthralled by Carnegie Institute's world-class collection of dinosaur skeletons. He wrote, "Some of my earliest memories are of waiting for Dad in this tremendous place". Later in the autobiography, he wrote how his imagination was stirred by his visits to Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science.

Pitz, Marylynne. " Geovette Washington will lead Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh board."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2021 June 15. First retrieved 2021 June 17.
Attorney Charles H. Dougherty Jr. was elected to chair the Carnegie Science Center advisory board.

O'Driscoll, Bill. "Pittsburgh Museums Reopen But Struggle To Draw Crowds."
WESA-FM 90.5, Pittsburgh 2020 Aug. 12. First retrieved 2020 Aug. 14.
Attendance at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh – easily the city’s largest museum entity – is also steeply down. The museums of art and natural history, The Andy Warhol Museum, and Carnegie Science Center are operating at about 25 percent of normal attendance, said president and CEO Steve Knapp, via email.

O'Driscoll, Bill. "Carnegie Museums Leader Urges Staff To Reconsider Unionizing."
WESA-FM 90.5, Pittsburgh 2020 July 7. First retrieved 2020 July 11.

"Museums Across the US Lay Off Workers as COVID-19 Cases Rise."
ArtForum.com 2020 March 27. First retrieved 2020 March 28.
The Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh—comprising the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum—furloughed staff members whose roles are not essential to operations during the extended closure.
“By responding quickly, with a comprehensive and balanced plan designed to sustain the museums and their missions for the longer term, we feel the four Carnegie Museums, which are such important assets to our community, will be in the best possible position to re-open once this terrible pandemic is passed,” said Bill Hunt, chair of Carnegie Museum’s board of trustees.

Guggenheimer, Paul. "Carnegie Museums furlough workers."
TribLive.com: Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh 2020 March 23. First retrieved 2020 March 28.
This includes The Carnegie Science Center, new home of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium and Observatory.

Druga, Melina. "If Money Could Buy Anything: Carnegie’s Diplodocus." Blog-Post.
MelinaDruga.com 2018 Oct. 10.
Regarding the skeleton of the Diplodocus Carnegii dinosaur ("Dippy the Dino"), discovered by paleontologists of The Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, funded by Andrew Carnegie.

"Carnegie Museums' app lets you wake up to bird sounds."
TribLive.com: Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh 2017 March 15.

Murphy, Kara. "Pittsburgh lives up to new nickname, Kidsburgh."
GoErie.com 2017 Feb. 19.

We got to the city mid-day Friday and headed straight for the four-floor Carnegie Science Center. The center, opened in 1991, is perched over the Ohio River on Pittsburgh's north shore. It is in the process of a $21 million expansion, which will include 14,000 additional feet of exhibit space when it is completed in spring 2018.
The next day we were off to the Children's Museum, also on Pittsburgh's north side...We all went "wow" when we turned a corner and found the "Garage," a former planetarium repurposed into a cavernous room of creative play.
We traveled from the museum to the Duquesne Incline, which the kids had watched go up and down the hill the day before from the windows of the Science Center.
By then, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History was getting ready to open and we squeezed what could have been easily an entire day of learning into two hours. The full-sized dinosaur skeletons were awesome, and the kids enjoyed getting hands-on time as paleontologists at the Bonehunters Quarry.
We also speed-walked through the adjoining Carnegie Museum of Art, with my 5-year-old tugging me forward chanting "this is boring, this is boring."

Krauss, Margaret J. "In 1940, These Pittsburghers Offered A Million Dollar Reward For Hitler's Capture." Audio File and Transcript.
WESA-FM 90.5 Pittsburgh 2015 May 1.
Samuel Harden Church. President of the Carnegie Institute, and a friend of Andrew Carnegie, "offered a million dollars to anyone 'who will deliver Adolph Hitler, alive, unwounded and unhurt, into the custody of the League of Nations for trial before a high court of justice for his crimes against peace and dignity of the world.'”

* "Boy nicknames dino at Carnegie Museum."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2008 April 5.

* 2007 Sept. 20 - Pittsburgh City Paper:
Old is the new new at the Carnegie's Hall of Architecture turns 100.
BY CHARLES ROSENBLUM

* 2007 Aug. 27 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Editorial
Dino-fright: The Carnegie's new prices will stun some families

* 2007 Aug. 25 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Dino soar: Carnegie museum also raising prices for field trips, groups
By Timothy McNulty

* 2007 Aug. 22 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Museum admission to be dinosaur sized
Carnegie to hike prices when expanded exhibit opens Nov. 21
By Timothy McNulty

* 2007 Aug. 22 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Admission prices will leap when dino hall opens
By Tony LaRussa

* 2007 June 5 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Carnegie exhibit features 'colossal' dino-skeletons
By Allison M. Heinrichs
Carnegie Museum prepares for reopening of enlarged dinosaur skeleton exhibit.

* 2006 Aug. 8 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Dinosaur restore By Jennifer Bails
Work continues on restoration of historic dinosaur skeletons, to be ready for enlarged Dinosaur Hall of The Carnegie Museum of Natural History for next year's centennial of dinosaur exhibit specifically started by Andrew Carnegie.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh - 2002 September 17:
Museum to celebrate important dates of its most famous resident By Bob Batz Jr.
Centennial of Discovery of Carnegie Museum's "type specimen" dinosaur,
Tyrannosaurus Rex,
and 60th anniversary of display at Carnegie Museum.

Discovery of the first major dinosaur skeleton, 1899 July: Diplodocus Carnegii("Dippy")
More information on Dippy and other dinosaurs, from The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

From the Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh - 2002 February 6:
"You Had to Ask:
Regarding the dinosaur outside the Carnegie Museum:
Is it made to scale, or smaller than the actual dinosaur was?"
Regarding Andrew Carnegie's interest in dinosaur skeletons and
the acquisition of Carnegie Institute's first dinosaur skeleton:
Diplodocus Carnegii("Dippy").
By Chris Potter

From the Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh - 2005 June 2:
Weekly Column - "You Had to Ask !"
How were those four statues outside the Carnegie museum chosen?
Question submitted by: Frank Wadsworth, Upper St. Clair
Writer: CHRIS POTTER

* 2006 June 14 - Pittsburgh City Paper:
You Had to Ask

I’ve found old pictures (see below) in which the Carnegie Institute has two towers. When and why were they removed? Why were they there in the first place? Question submitted by: Sheel Mohnot, Squirrel Hill
Writer: CHRIS POTTER

Also see Carnegie Institute Photo Album

Carnegie Museum of Art

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh - 2004 October 8:
Carnegie International timeline of art exhibitions since 1896
Compiled in part by Donald Miller

Carnegie Science Center

Andy Warhol Museum

Original Science Center Building:
The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science

History of Carnegie-Mellon University(CMU): November 15, 1900 -

Located in the Oakland Civic Center section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Previously known as Carnegie Technical Schools(1900-1912)
and Carnegie Institute of Technology/Carnegie Tech(1912-1967):
CMU Centennial
CMU Capsule History: "Yesterday and Today"
CMU Detailed History
CMU Photograph

Carnegie Corporation of New York *** Archives Located at Columbia University

Carnegie Hero Fund Commission

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Link 1 *** Link 2

Carnegie Hall in New York City

Carnegie Observatories operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington

Mount Wilson Observatory,
constructed by the Carnegie Observatories in 1918, now operated by the Mount Wilson Institute

11-inch Brashear Refractor Telescope,
commissoned for the Carnegie Technical Schools[now Carnegie Mellon University] in 1908,
now operated by the Amateur Astronomers' Association of Pittsburgh

Other "Carnegie" organizations

Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries Photo Album
History of Astronomer, Educator, and Optician John A. Brashear
Friend of Andrew Carnegie
History of The Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh
Historic Cable Car Railway Serving Commuters and Tourists since 1877 !
History of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, Pittsburgh
America's Fifth Major Planetarium(1939)
History of The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago
America's First Major Planetarium(1930)
Other History Links
Return to Cover Page of History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries

Disclaimer Statement: This Internet Web page is not affiliated with the
Andrew Carnegie Free Library, Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium and Observatory, The Carnegie Science Center,
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, or The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Institute.

This Internet, World Wide Web Site administered by Glenn A. Walsh.
Unless otherwise indicated, all web pages in this account are © Copyright 2000, Glenn A. Walsh, All Rights Reserved.
Additions and corrections to: gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc

Last modified : Thursday, 29-Jul-2021 18:24:49 EDT.

History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries

Organizations Which Have Benefited
from Andrew Carnegie Philanthropy

New Carnegie Science Center building
(1991)

Original Science Center building:
The Buhl Planetarium &
Institute of Popular Science
(1939)

Carnegie
Music Hall

Carnegie Library
Lecture Hall