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Primary sourceLetter18 April 1905

Andrew Carnegie Papers

Andrew Carnegie · 18 April 1905

Carnegie's personal and business correspondence, including a 1905 letter confirming funding for a university library.

Part of Carnegie's own papers; this letter shows him personally committing funds for a university library.

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Typed letter on cream paper from Andrew Carnegie's office, 2 East 91st Street, New York, dated April 18th, 1905, to Chancellor James R. Day of Syracuse University, confirming $150,000 for the library building, signed by P. Secretary.
Letter from the office of Andrew Carnegie to Chancellor James R. Day, 18 April 1905. James Roscoe Day Papers, Syracuse University Special Collections.

About this source

What it is

This collection, held at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, contains Andrew Carnegie's correspondence, speeches, and business records from 1803 to 1935, including exchanges with Henry Clay Frick about the Homestead lockout. The example shown is a 1905 typed letter from Carnegie's office to Chancellor James R. Day of Syracuse University, confirming $150,000 toward a new library building.

Why it matters

The papers document both sides of Carnegie's public life: the hard business decisions behind his steel empire and the philanthropic giving, especially his famous funding of libraries, that followed. They show how his wealth translated into concrete institutions still in use today.

Look closer

  • Why is this letter typed and signed by a secretary rather than by Carnegie himself?
  • What conditions does Carnegie attach to his gift?
  • What does this letter reveal about how Carnegie managed his philanthropy as a business?

This letter is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Carnegie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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