List of Carnegie libraries in the United States

The following list of Carnegie libraries in the United States provides detailed information on public Carnegie libraries in each state or other territory in the United States, including the number of Carnegie libraries in that state, and the earliest and latest dates of grant award. Click on the state name to go to a detailed listing of the individual Carnegie libraries in that state (divided into public and academic sections). Note that Alaska and Delaware have no Carnegie libraries, and are thus not included in the table.

Detail table

State Number of
public
grants
[1]
Number of
public
libraries
[1]
Number of
academic
libraries
[2]
Earliest
grant
[3]
Latest
grant
[3]
Total amount
(US$)
Alabama 14 14 5 Feb 13, 1901 May 15, 1916 $289,840.00
Arizona 4 4 Jul 4, 1899 Sep 14, 1917 $64,000.00
Arkansas 4 4 Mar 24, 1906 Sep 20, 1915 $138,600.00
California 121 142 2 Jul 7, 1899 Sep 14, 1917 $2,836,987.00
Colorado 27 35[A] 1 Dec 21, 1899 Feb 3, 1917 $779,943.00
Connecticut 8 11 Aug 16, 1901 Sep 25, 1914 $191,900.00
District of Columbia 1 4 1 Mar 16, 1899 Mar 16, 1899 $732,000.00
Florida 10 10 4 Dec 30, 1901 Feb 3, 1917 $254,500.00
Georgia 20 24 5 Oct 3, 1898 Jun 11, 1914 $613,756.00
Idaho 10 10 Feb 12, 1903 Mar 11, 1914 $137,500.00
Illinois 105 106 5 Aug 8, 1900 Sep 29, 1915 $1,751,200.00
Indiana 156 165 2 Jan 15, 1901 Mar 11, 1918 $2,588,664.38
Iowa 99 101 7 Jan 15, 1892 Nov 7, 1917 $1,705,706.00
Kansas 58 59 7 Jan 3, 1900 Nov 9, 1916 $1,070,496.00
Kentucky 15 23 4 Oct 30, 1899 Apr 13, 1914 $896,800.00
Louisiana 4 9 Oct 17, 1901 Apr 8, 1907 $380,000.00
Maine 18[B] 18 2 Jan 15, 1901 Feb 15, 1912 $311,450.00
Maryland 1 14 Nov 10, 1906 Nov 10, 1906 $500,000.00
Massachusetts 35 43 5 Mar 8, 1901 Feb 3, 1917 $1,651,346.00
Michigan 53 61 Feb 6, 1901 Apr 16, 1918 $1,655,950.00
Minnesota 57 65[C] 1 Oct 7, 1899 Nov 7, 1917 $998,975.00[D]
Mississippi 10 11 2 Dec 2, 1904 Nov 22, 1923 $235,000.00
Missouri 26 33 2 Oct 28, 1899 May 2, 1921 $1,555,143.84
Montana 17 17 Jun 21, 1901 Oct 29, 1918 $226,700.00
Nebraska 68 69 Dec 20, 1899 Sep 14, 1917 $706,288.00
Nevada 1 1 Mar 14, 1902 Mar 14, 1902 $15,000.00
New Hampshire 9 9 1 Mar 14, 1902 Dec 13, 1907 $154,000.00
New Jersey 30[E] 36[E] Jan 18, 1900 Apr 3, 1917 $1,066,935.03
New Mexico 3 3 Mar 14, 1902 Jan 23, 1911 $32,000.00
New York
(New York City alone)
41
(1)
106
(66)
3
(—)
Dec 8, 1899 Dec 22, 1922 $6,697,149.00
North Carolina 9 10 6 Mar 12, 1901 Sep 14, 1917 $294,313.71
North Dakota 8 8 3 Mar 6, 1901 Jan 28, 1916 $201,100.00
Ohio 79[F] 106[F] 7 Jun 30, 1899 May 2, 1921 $3,239,928.64
Oklahoma 24 24 1 Oct 27, 1899 Mar 31, 1916 $494,500.00
Oregon 25 31 1 Feb 21, 1901 Jan 6, 1915 $498,000.00
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County)
(Philadelphia alone)
27
(12)
(1)
59
(19)
(25)
9
(2)
(1)
1886 May 3, 1917 $5,610,587.00[G]
Rhode Island 1 Mar 30, 1905 Mar 30, 1905 $150,000.00
South Carolina 14 14 4 Jan 13, 1903 May 15, 1916 $189,700.00
South Dakota 25 25 2 Jan 24, 1901 May 3, 1917 $311,000.00
Tennessee 10 13 7 Dec 27, 1900 Jan 11, 1917 $605,500.00
Texas 30 32 1 Apr 30, 1898 Apr 19, 1915 $664,500.00
Utah 23 23 Mar 9, 1901 Sep 26, 1919 $255,470.00
Vermont 4 4 1 Jul 25, 1901 Mar 18, 1911 $105,000.00
Virginia 2 3 4 Mar 8, 1901 Dec 14, 1921 $253,000.00
Washington 33 44[H] Jan 6, 1901 Nov 9, 1916 $1,046,000.00
West Virginia 3 3 1 Dec 30, 1901 Apr 8, 1907 $101,500.00
Wisconsin 60 63 2 Feb 13, 1901 Sep 29, 1915 $1,149,511.50
Wyoming 16 16 Dec 27, 1899 Apr 3, 1917 $257,500.00
Hawaii 1 1 Nov 29, 1909 Nov 29, 1909 $100,000.00
Puerto Rico 1 1 October 4, 1901 October 4, 1901 $100,000.00
Totals 1,419 1,687 109 1886 Nov 22, 1923 $45,865,440.10
  • A: ^ Owing to confusion from Old Colorado City's incorporation into Colorado Springs, Jones counts a library twice and reports this figure as 36.
  • B: ^ Bobinski and Miller do not list Gardiner as having received a full grant because its grant was to complete an unfinished building (noted in Anderson and Miller); Anderson and Jones include it.
  • C: ^ Jones erroneously reports this number as 64, while Bobinski reports the number of grants at 58. However, all four references list 65 libraries in their gazetteers; Anderson, Jones, and Miller list 57 grants.
  • D: ^ No reference tallies this number correctly for the public libraries. The amount is reported as $962,475 by Anderson, who for unknown reasons omits Walker from his list. Bobinski and Miller list Walker, but sum to $969,375. However, their gazetteers sum to $968,975 which, when added to $30,000 grant for the academic library in Saint Paul, confirms the above figure.
  • E: ^ Bobinski and Miller do not list Orange's library in summary tables, but note in their full listings that the community received a small grant toward the purchase of a branch library.
  • F: ^ Bobinski and Miller summarize 105 Ohio libraries, though Miller's summary details 107. Jones, who investigated the branch libraries of Cleveland and Cincinnati, arrives at 106, the most authoritative number.
  • G: ^ This figure includes the cost of the central library in Pittsburgh, which Miller does not include.
  • H: ^ Bobinski and Miller claim there are just 43 libraries in Washington but detail 44 in their summary tables, which matches the other references.

Map

Alternately, click on the state in the map below to go to the list of Carnegie libraries in that state.

Notes

  1. ^ a b At various times, references disagree on these numbers with each other. In these cases, an attempt has been made to note the discrepancy and report the correct number. In general, Anderson's and Miller's works were relied on most.
  2. ^ Miller, pp. 38–40
  3. ^ a b These dates were compiled from the microfilm records of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, archived at Columbia University, New York City.

References

  • Anderson, Florence (1963). Carnegie Corporation Library Program 1911–1961. New York: Carnegie Corporation. OCLC 1282382.
  • Bobinski, George S. (1969). Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development. Chicago: American Library Association. ISBN 0-8389-0022-4.
  • Jones, Theodore (1997). Carnegie Libraries Across America. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-14422-3.
  • Miller, Durand R. (1943). Carnegie Grants for Library Buildings, 1890–1917. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York. OCLC 2603611.

Note: The above references, while all authoritative, are not entirely mutually consistent. Some details of this list may have been drawn from one of the references without support from the others. Reader discretion is advised.