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

StateNumber of
public
grants
[1]
Number of
public
libraries
[1]
Number of
academic
libraries
[2]
Earliest
grant
[3]
Latest
grant
[3]
Total amount
(US$)
Alabama14145Feb 13, 1901May 15, 1916$289,840.00
Arizona44Jul 4, 1899Sep 14, 1917$64,000.00
Arkansas44Mar 24, 1906Sep 20, 1915$138,600.00
California1211422Jul 7, 1899Sep 14, 1917$2,836,987.00
Colorado2735[A]1Dec 21, 1899Feb 3, 1917$779,943.00
Connecticut811Aug 16, 1901Sep 25, 1914$191,900.00
District of Columbia141Mar 16, 1899Mar 16, 1899$732,000.00
Florida10104Dec 30, 1901Feb 3, 1917$254,500.00
Georgia20245Oct 3, 1898Jun 11, 1914$613,756.00
Idaho1010Feb 12, 1903Mar 11, 1914$137,500.00
Illinois1051065Aug 8, 1900Sep 29, 1915$1,751,200.00
Indiana1561652Jan 15, 1901Mar 11, 1918$2,588,664.38
Iowa991017Jan 15, 1892Nov 7, 1917$1,705,706.00
Kansas58597Jan 3, 1900Nov 9, 1916$1,070,496.00
Kentucky15234Oct 30, 1899Apr 13, 1914$896,800.00
Louisiana49Oct 17, 1901Apr 8, 1907$380,000.00
Maine18[B]182Jan 15, 1901Feb 15, 1912$311,450.00
Maryland114Nov 10, 1906Nov 10, 1906$500,000.00
Massachusetts35435Mar 8, 1901Feb 3, 1917$1,651,346.00
Michigan5361Feb 6, 1901Apr 16, 1918$1,655,950.00
Minnesota5765[C]1Oct 7, 1899Nov 7, 1917$998,975.00[D]
Mississippi10112Dec 2, 1904Nov 22, 1923$235,000.00
Missouri26332Oct 28, 1899May 2, 1921$1,555,143.84
Montana1717Jun 21, 1901Oct 29, 1918$226,700.00
Nebraska6869Dec 20, 1899Sep 14, 1917$706,288.00
Nevada11Mar 14, 1902Mar 14, 1902$15,000.00
New Hampshire991Mar 14, 1902Dec 13, 1907$154,000.00
New Jersey30[E]36[E]Jan 18, 1900Apr 3, 1917$1,066,935.03
New Mexico33Mar 14, 1902Jan 23, 1911$32,000.00
New York
(New York City alone)
41
(1)
106
(66)
3
(—)
Dec 8, 1899Dec 22, 1922$6,697,149.00
North Carolina9106Mar 12, 1901Sep 14, 1917$294,313.71
North Dakota883Mar 6, 1901Jan 28, 1916$201,100.00
Ohio79[F]106[F]7Jun 30, 1899May 2, 1921$3,239,928.64
Oklahoma24241Oct 27, 1899Mar 31, 1916$494,500.00
Oregon25311Feb 21, 1901Jan 6, 1915$498,000.00
Pennsylvania
(Allegheny County)
(Philadelphia alone)
27
(12)
(1)
59
(19)
(25)
9
(2)
(1)
1886May 3, 1917$5,610,587.00[G]
Rhode Island1Mar 30, 1905Mar 30, 1905$150,000.00
South Carolina14144Jan 13, 1903May 15, 1916$189,700.00
South Dakota25252Jan 24, 1901May 3, 1917$311,000.00
Tennessee10137Dec 27, 1900Jan 11, 1917$605,500.00
Texas30321Apr 30, 1898Apr 19, 1915$664,500.00
Utah2323Mar 9, 1901Sep 26, 1919$255,470.00
Vermont441Jul 25, 1901Mar 18, 1911$105,000.00
Virginia234Mar 8, 1901Dec 14, 1921$253,000.00
Washington3344[H]Jan 6, 1901Nov 9, 1916$1,046,000.00
West Virginia331Dec 30, 1901Apr 8, 1907$101,500.00
Wisconsin60632Feb 13, 1901Sep 29, 1915$1,149,511.50
Wyoming1616Dec 27, 1899Apr 3, 1917$257,500.00
Hawaii11Nov 29, 1909Nov 29, 1909$100,000.00
Puerto Rico11October 4, 1901October 4, 1901$100,000.00
Totals1,4191,6871091886Nov 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

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.