"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free

Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office,

nor wealth receives the slightest consideration."

-Andrew Carnegie , industrialist (1835-1919)

David Nasaw's new book on Andrew Carnegie was just reviewed in the New York Times . Carnegie was instrumental in the history of the Free Library of Philadelphia, donating $1.5 million for brach construction in 1903.