Carnegie Library at Alabama A&M College
Caleb Powers, Fall 2024
The Carnegie was originally built in 1906. It is one of the oldest buildings on the campus of Alabama A and M college. The Carnegie Library at Alabama A and M was funded by Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie funded library buildings at fifteen Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist according to Wikipedia. He played a part in the expansion of the steel industry in America which led to his wealth later on in life. He gave away a significant amount of money to charities and institutions during his lifetime which included the Carnegie Library. The other libraries that Andrew Carnegie funded that are historically black colleges and universities are located at Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA, Benedict College in Columbia, SC, Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC, Cheyney State University in PA, Florida A&M in Tallahassee, FL, Fort Valley Normal and Industrial Institute Fort Valley, GA, Howard University in DC, Knoxville College in Knoxville, TN, Livingstone College in NC, Talladega College in AL, Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and Wiley College in TX. In 2002 the building was put on a National Register Listing and hasn’t had many physical changes since then. When it was originally constructed, the building was used as a campus library. According to the postcard from the UAH archives, the building had the capacity for 50,000 volumes, and space for around 236 students and faculty. They built it with two reading rooms, a reference room, a seminar room, and an office for faculty and staff for the library. Later the building was renamed to Carnegie Hall. Because of the history of the building, Alabama A and M college was given a grant to restore the library soon because it was deemed to be in a state of distress because it wasn’t maintained as good as it could have been since its original construction. The building hasn’t had many physical changes since it was built as the photo I took looks almost identical to the picture in the postcard from the UAH archives. The location of the building is set in between Drake Hall and Bibb Graves hall which are off Buchanan Way. These buildings are located only a few minutes from the campus quad at the center of campus. The building itself is a staple of the history that the Alabama A and M college has to offer as the area the building is located hasn’t changed much at all since its original construction in 1906. Alabama A and M college shows that it respects this historic landmark on the campus because of its plans to renovate and maintain the Carnegie Library, now named Carnegie Hall, in order to preserve one of the oldest buildings on campus that was there not long after the college itself was renamed to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College.
Bibliography
"Carnegie Library at Alabama A & M College." Postcard. Scenic South Card Co.
Powers, Caleb. 2024 photograph of Carnegie Library
Nix, Larry T. “More Carnegie HBCU Libraries on Postcards.” Blogspot.com, 2022, libraryhistorybuff.blogspot.com/2022/02/more-carnegie-hbcu-libraries-on.html. Accessed 13 Oct. 2024.
Alabama A&M. Request for Qualifications. www.aamu.edu/research-economic-development/sponsored-programs/_documents/alabama-aamu-carnegie-rfq.pdf. Accessed 13 Oct. 2024.