This letter from Andrew Carnegie to Heram Hitchcock, written in the winter of 1889, is representative of three major strands of American History: 1) the immigrant, or children of, chasing a better life and making good; 2) the rise of industrial America and the acquisition of immense wealth by a few individuals; 3) the use of that huge wealth for philanthropic purposes.

Andrew Carnegie is one of the most iconic figures in America’s industrial and capitalist ascent. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835, at the age of 13 he came to America with his father following lean times in their native land. After settling into Alegheny in Pennsylvania the young Carnegie set off on a meteoric rise – from bobbin factory to telegraph operator via telegram delivery boy – that saw him running the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company by the age of 25. He survived the Civil War by paying an Irish immigrant to go as his substitute and, realising the importance of steel and railroads, invested his money in these businesses and soon was a dominant steel magnate. In 1901 by virtue of personal brilliance, extraordinary confidence, astute deals – notwithstanding suspicions of insider trading, cronyism and low wages for workers – he sold his steel business for a quarter of a billion dollars. It is a near classic example of the rags to riches stories so beloved of American dreamers.

This letter from Carnegie to Heram Hitchcock deals with the building of a concert hall – now known as Carnegie Hall – in New York. Carnegie is keen for the building to be finished by the following winter and discusses other financial and planning matters. We get a sense of Carnegie’s impatience to get things done with his threat to give up the project if it doesn’t start soon and also that he is a planner with his declaration that the capital and real estate are already in place.

The construction of Carnegie Hall is a typical example of these men who created vast fortunes lavishing their wealth on projects for the public good. As well as the arts, higher education was a massive beneficiary of super-rich largesse: Stanford and his university Rockerfeller and Spelman College, and so forth. These men of fortune felt a need to give something back to the society they had so benefited from and this culture of philanthropy in America continues to this day. Some say they undertook such philanthropy to assuage their guilty consciences.

However, these industrialists were also dubbed ‘Robber Barons’, an interesting term given its allusions to both thievery and the aristocracy. Thievery because of their exploitation of the economic environment at the cost of workers and competition and an aristocracy due to the dynasties created and continued. Though for some, the organisation and drive of these men were the catalysts for America’s great industrial leap forward and men who laid the foundations of American prosperity.

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