A very wealthy entrepreneur, Andrew Carnegie is mainly known for his wealth and leadership during the late 19th and early 20th centuries - but many people may not be aware of some of his very influential writings. After immigrating to the United States with his parents from Scotland, his family was not always wealthy. In fact, he started out as a normal factory worker in a bobbin factory. It wasn't long before he worked his way up in the company and then rose up the ranks in a telegraph company. After learning how to operate a business, he build Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company. Later, he would merge this large company with several others to form U.S. Steel. With this venture, he made a fortune and later in life, he concentrated more on philanthropy and helping those less fortunate than he was. He founded many different corporations, museums, universities, and more and also gave away mountains of money to libraries, schools, and universities - both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Of course, on top of his massive wealth and business savvy sense, Andrew Carnegie was also a brilliant writer that penned many essays, articles, contributions, and even wrote several novels. He was a frequent contributor over labor issues to many well known publications, helping businessmen and women all over the world understand their workers and help to provide a better working environment for everyone. His novels include: "The Gospel Of Wealth", "Triumphant Democracy", "Round The World", "The Empire Of Business", "The Secret Of Business Is The Management Of Men", "James Watt", "An American Four-In-Hand In Britain", and "Problems Of Today". His literary works became so well known around the world that they inspired both writers and business men, world leaders and poverty stricken peoples, and anyone that they touched.
His writings were so important to business and the world in general, that his own personal papers reside at the Library of Congress where they can be viewed by those wishing to read them in the Manuscript Division. Of course, most of his writings are public domain today, and can easily be found over the internet. The written work he did helped to inspire so many business people all over the world and helped to change relationships between both workers and their managers. His way of viewing the workplace, especially industrial areas, aided in so many different organizations being founded to help continue his work, his beliefs on business, and his giving nature.
Some of the different organizations that he founded included the Carnegie Foundation For The Advancement Of Teaching, which was created to be an independent research center that would help those in any teaching area. The organization's primary activities include writing and research over every different level of education to help promote higher education and a higher standard for education for every child all over the world. One of the main things that the Carnegie Foundation For The Advancement Of Teaching helped to create was federal aid for higher education as well as Pell Grants, to help those lower income students that could not afford to go to college otherwise. Without these grants and financial aid, millions of college students and graduates would never have risen to the areas that they are now. Many people don't even realize that Andrew Carnegie and this organization were the driving force behind what financial aid is now for college.
Another organization that he founded that touches many peoples lives is the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace. This think tank is based in Washington DC and is not associated with any political party, yet continues to help promote international engagement by the U.S. into peaceful cooperation between nations all around the world. Andrew Carnegie believed that war could easily be eliminated by stronger international laws and better international organizations. In 1907, he wrote: "I am drawn more to this cause than to any,". In fact, on his 75th birthday, he announced the establishment of this organization with a $10 million dollar gift and charged the trustees of the organization to help fund the abolition of international war and gave them the widest discretion as to their measures and policy that they should adopt when needed.
One of his best known organizations is the Carnegie Corporation Of New York, which was founded in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to help "promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding". This organization is one of the most influential American organizations and they have contributed so much to the world, including: a massive expansion of higher education and even adult education, advancement of research on early childhood learning and development, major promotion of educational and public broadcasting, advancement of women and minorities in higher education, helping to raise public understanding of both education and health needs of children and young adults, and to help further the investigation of risks of superpower confrontation, ethnic and civil strife, as well as nuclear war. Along with all of these influences upon education, international relations, this organization also helped to establish several other institutions, including the Carnegie libraries, the National Research Council, the Russian Research Center at Harvard, the Children's Television Workshop (including Sesame Street), and so much more.
In fact, his constant contributions to libraries, schools, and universities as well as his literary works prompted the United Kingdom to create the Carnegie Medal for the best children's literature. There are also many different schools and universities named after him, including Carnegie College in Dunfermline. And, believe it or not, he even has both a dinosaur and a cactus named after him, the Diplodocus Carnegiei (he sponsored the expedition that discovered it's remains) and the Saguaro Cactus's scientific name, Carnegiea.
Without his massive contributions to teaching, literature, and his commitment to education in general all over the world, many of the great institutions and organizations we know today would not exist.
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