1902 Detail

January 28, 1902 - A ten million dollar gift from Andrew Carnegie leads to the formation of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.

It should come as no surprise that the men who'd become rich in the industrial revolution of the United States prior to the turn of the 20th century were some of the most famous folk of the time, or that they would ply their fortunes into founding institutions of various natures to foster the arts and sciences. What is somewhat of a surprise is that some of these men have become so synonymous with their institutions that they'd begun to become less known as people. One such famous at the time and less so today than his institutions might be Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was one of the richest men on earth in 1902, and had started his donations into the charities of institutions in 1895. He had been giving to education, i.e. Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, first $20,000 for their library (1900) and later over $600,000 (1906), and Carnegie Institute (Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After his retirement in 1901, Carnegie began to focus more on his philanthropic endeavors. On January 28, 1902, Andrew Carnegie funded the Carnegie Institution of Washington, which would focus on scientific research. It is now known as the Carnegie Institution of Science.

His initial idea had been to found a national university in Washington, D.C., but thought it might harm already well established universities. A research institute into scientific topics seemed the better path. Andrew Carnegie promised $10 million dollars to the institution, promising President Theodore Roosevelt to be its benefactor. An additional $2 million (1907) and $10 million (1911) was later pledged by Carnegie into its endowment as the Institution buildings and organizational structure came into place.

"It is proposed to found in the city of Washington, an institution which shall in the broadest and most liberal manner encourage investigation, research, and discovery [and] show the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind," Andrew Carnegie, January 28, 1902.

Who was among its member of the first twenty-seven member board of Trustees? The President of the United States, the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the President of the National Academy of Sciences. The first board meeting was held January 29, 1902.

Portion of Article, "Trustees Are Here," Evening Star

To Arrange for the Carnegie Institution. Conferences with the Founder. He Will Not Indicate Wishes Regarding a Program. First Meeting Today.

The board of trustees of the Carnegie Institution met in the diplomatic room at the State Department this afternoon with a full attendance of members, and practical steps were taken for the organization of the institution. General officers are to be chosen and a plan of administration formulated.

The necessary committee will be appointed to perfect the organization. The proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, with the understanding that a statement of the business transacted would be furnished the press at the adjournment of the meeting. It is generally believed that Dr. Daniel C. Gilman of Maryland, formerly president of Johns Hopkins University, will be chosen as the executive head of the institution.

The corridors of the second floor of the New Willard hummed this morning with the conversation of the almost innumerable callers on Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who presented themselves to pay their respects and to comment on the new scientific institution which is to bear his name. Practically every distinguished guest in the hotel and many from other hotels called on Mr. Carnegie and the assembly included several figures of notable and national importance. To them all, if their versions of the interviews are to be accepted, the Scotch American talked of his gift to the cause of science in only the most general terms. After luncheon Mr. Carnegie and the members of the board of trustees of the new institution went directly to the State Department for the initial meeting of the board and the first material step toward organizing for the administration of the $10,000,000 endowment. ... " Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 29, 1902.

Its first mission was to provide grants to individuals in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and other fields. By 1904, it had switched to providing money to research departments with a focus on exploring new arenas of science, but often leaving their development to others. Its noted achievements include those of Edward Hubble, who discovered that there were other galaxies past the Milky Way, to Charles Richter, who developed the tool to measure earthquakes, to Vannevar Bush, who oversaw the Manhattan Project during World War II from the rotunda and auditorium of the Institution's administrative headquarters.

Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie had moved from Scotland to Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1848 and began working in a cotton mill and messenger boy in a telegraph office. By the age of eighteen, he was working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a secretary/telegraph operator; six years later, in 1859, he was promoted to Superintendeant of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Through insider knowledge and friendships with his boss, Tom Scott, Carnegie began to accumulate wealth. In 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War, Scott, now Assistant Secretary of War, again promoted Carnegie; he was in position as the Superintendent of the Military Railways and the Union Government's telegraph lines in the East just as the Battle of 1st Bull Run was fought, actually riding on the first locomotive that withdrew Union troops from their defeat back to Washington.

In 1864, with the war still raging, Carnegie invested in the Columbia Oil Company of Venango, Pennsylvania. When it reaped $1 million in cash dividends during its first year, Carnegie was beginning to profit handsomely from his efforts. after the Civil War ended Carnegie tranferred his energies to the ironworks industry, using his railroad contacts to gain work for his Keystone Bridge Works and Union Ironworks firms. By 1892, Carnegie Steel was the largest steel company in the world, buying out rivals and extending his empire back into transportation.

By 1901, Andrew Carnegie was ready for retirement. He sold out his firm for $303 million dollars (his share worth $226 million) to the joint venture of John Pierpont Morgan who consolidated various steel companies into United States Steel Corporation on March 2, 1901. That new company was worth $1.4 billion, or four percent of the entire Gross National Product of the United States.

Check out Chronology, A Collection of 50 Short Essays Within the Timeline of American History.

Other Institutions Founded by Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie founded twenty-three different organizations in the various fields of art, education, science, peace, and more from his first, Carnegie Hall, first known as Music Hall, in New York, in 1889 to his last, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York in 1914.

Prior to the founding of the Carnegie Institution (CIS) in Washington, Carnegie had been the benefactor to the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh in 1895/1900, now known as Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Dumfirmline in 1901.

Notable foundings after the CIS were the Carnegie Peace Palace at the Hague, Netherlands in 1903, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at Menlo Park, California in 1905, as well as Carnegie Foundations in the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. He also funded libraries, over three thousand of them in forty-seven states of the United States and other nations.

In total, during the last eighteen years of his life, Andrew Carnegie gave away $350 million, ninety percent of his money and equivalent today to $5.2 billion (2019) to various charities, institutions, and universities.

Photo above: Administration Building of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., 2010. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons CC3.0. Below: Montage (left) Andrew Carnegie, 1905, Davis and Sanford; (right) Carnegie residence in New York City (now the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), 1903, Detroit Publishing Company. Both courtesy Library of Congress. Source: Wikipedia Commons; Carnegie Institution of Science; The Evening Star, January 29, 1902, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress.

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