Dunfermline's most famous ex-resident on a worldwide basis is businessman Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Born in a small weaving cottage that serves as a museum today, a young Andrew emigrated with his family to the USA in 1848. One of his first jobs was a stint as a telegraph messenger boy and he eventually became the world's richest man after selling his steel empire, a move that netted him a personal cheque for 250 million dollars. That's a mind boggling sum today but must have been totally incomprehensible more than a century ago. In an astonishing act of philanthropy, he gave an estimated 90% of his fortune away over the final years of his life. Carnegie firmly believed in education for the masses and had a passion for libraries. He famously quoted "the man who dies rich, dies disgraced"
When I heard the Carnegie museum was hosting a lecture about the man himself, I ordered a couple of tickets. I ended up going alone on the night as my mum wasn't feeling too well, but that was no problem. The event took place in the main gallery hall - a 1928 extension connected to the original two-room Carnegie home (built circa 1750). I have visited the museum a few times over the decades and it's a very interesting place, chronicling great social change as well as telling the man's life story. A good crowd was in attendance and the birthplace cottage display was open beforehand, along with the gift shop. I had a quick look at the loom installed in the weaving room and browsed the rather cramped living quarters. Mind you, with just two children surviving infancy, the family probably had more space than what was considered average at the time. One abbreviation I learned during my genealogy research was CHLW (cross hand loom weaver) - an occupation often listed on early census records. It was a common set-up during the first half of the 19th century to produce textiles manually on a small scale in a home workshop. This practice declined as factories with mechanised looms began to force the smaller players out of business. The Carnegies sold their weaving equipment and borrowed the rest of the money required for the passage to Pennsylvania, where Andrew's maternal aunts were already living. The long journey began in Charlestown, where the family crossed the River Forth and made their way along the Forth & Clyde Canal to Glasgow. They set sail for New York and their lives would be transformed forever. Tonight's speaker was Sharron McColl - local studies supervisor at the Dunfermline Carnegie Library, an establishment she has worked in for the past 30 years. The lecture painted a good picture of the man, without getting bogged down in business details. There were several moments of humour. Carnegie had once said people should spend the first third of their life being educated, the middle part making money and the final stretch giving it back to the community. Sharron confessed she wasn't quite sure which stage she was currently at. Neither did the talk attempt to sugar-coat Carnegie. He was a ruthless wheeler and dealer who wasn't renowned for paying high wages to his staff. Very much a self-made man, I suppose his attitude was that anyone else had the freedom to go out and attempt to do what he had done.
As always, there was an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the lecture. I fancied hearing a bit more about the library legacy. Carnegie had opened 150 of these facilities in Scotland during his lifetime, (Dunfermline being the first to welcome visitors), around 600 in the UK as a whole and the worldwide total was well over two thousand. I knew a Carnegie trust fund still existed and wondered whether any of the original Scottish libraries to bear his name were still supported by the charity. As I suspected, control of these facilities had long since passed to local authorities but the very founding of the Carnegie libraries was instrumental in the enactment of legislation to compel town and county councils to make this provision for the public. Furthermore, Carnegie had personally bankrolled his libraries over the last 35 years of his life. A remarkable man, with flaws like every other human being. A famous Dunfermline son and thousands of people use the amenities he gifted to his place of birth - not least the award-winning Pittencrieff Park.
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