THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM
MELTON MOWBRAY

Opened in November 1905 as The Carnegie Library it was reopened as The Carnegie Museum by Lord Mowbray in 1977.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) the Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist owned the largest iron and steel business in the USA and retired in 1901 as a multi-millionaire to Skibo Castle, Sutherland (the locus of the recent celebrity wedding of the star Madonna). During his lifetime his benefactions exceeded Ł70m and included many public libraries in the States and Great Britain - including ours at Melton Mowbray.

A book entitled merely "CARNEGIE" (maybe because of the author's bitterness {his great-grandfather worked in what he calls 'the hellish Carnegie Mills' and lived in a Pittsburgh suburb called Carnegie}) by Peter Krass, containing 612pp was published by Wiley at Ł24.50 in November 2002.

The History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries and many other websites give details of this tycoon's lifetime.

In 1902 William Willcox, a Feoffee of the Melton Mowbray Town Estate, wrote to Carnegie and was rewarded by the promise of a gift of Ł2,000 on conditions that the site was given and the then Public Libraries Act would be adopted by the then Urban District Council of the town. Carnegie endowed and built 2,811 free public libraries during his lifetime.
Various sites were considered and ultimately the one owned by Mr. Drake at the junction of Thorpe End and Rosebery Avenue was acquired by the Melton Mowbray Town Estate then handed over to the UDC. The foundation stone at knee height on the right hand pillar of the entrance preserves the fact that it was laid by Mr. Willcox on 21st July 1904 and the bronze plaque on the left hand side proclaims the reopening in 1977. Thereafter the books were transferred to the Wilton Road Library in the town.

A new book "CARNEGIE" by Peter Krass (Wiley in paperback at Ł13.50) was published in December 2003. "This biography reconstructs in full the complicated life of the legendary industrialist, exploring the contradictions in a man who rose from lowly beginnings to build the largest and most profitable steel company in the world and become one of the greatest philantrhopists ever known."

The Museum until the Spring of 2001 housed the town's Tourist Information Bureau and the Twinning Association were grateful for being able to take advantage of an opportunity to exhibit to the general public several cabinets detailing our Twinning activities with Kapelle and Sochaczew.

THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM MELTON MOWBRAY

THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM
MELTON MOWBRAY