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ANDREW CARNEGIE, 1909 Typed Letter Signed

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Autographs

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Signed Letter on Personal Stationary from Andrew Carnegie!

ANDREW CARNEGIE, Steel Tycoon and Philanthropist.
Typed Letter Signed by Andrew Carnegie, in black ink, on his personal stationery, fine-laid paper, April 28, 1909, New York, 1 page, 8.9” x 6.9”, Choice Extremely Fine. The letter is signed in the lower right-hand corner, the signature measuring 2.75”. The document is addressed to H.H.D. Peirce, the U.S. Minister to Norway. The letter exhibits very slight creases; the text, however, is not impaired in any way. A nice, light tone with no staining, chipping, or foxing, this letter is extremely well preserved. The content is excellent, and refers to Carnegie’s efforts to help Secretary of State Elihu Root get the Nobel Peace Prize. It also references Carnegie’s interest in world peace. It reads, in part:
“Delighted to hear of the more favorable outlook. We shall have to credit you with the result, if it comes... Shall be delighted to receive your note bearing upon the question of the World’s Peace, which is one I am studying at present, wondering how it can be advanced.” A great slice of history.

Andrew Carnegie was a 19th century steel tycoon who became one of the 20th century’s most famous philanthropists. His life story is one of the most famous rags-to-riches accounts in United States history. Born in Scotland, Carnegie moved to Pennsylvania with his family in 1848 and began working in factories as a teenager. Hard work and a wise investment in a sleeping car company during the 1850s led to Carnegie’s early success in the railroad business as well as the financial world. During the Civil War he invested in oil, worked in transportation for the U.S. War Department and became interested in the iron and steel business. After the war he concentrated on steel, and by 1888 he owned control of the Homestead Steel Works and other manufacturing plants, which he eventually consolidated as the Carnegie Steel Company. With his longtime partner, Henry Clay Frick, Carnegie competed fiercely in business and tried to quash organized labor, in spite of his belief that it was the duty of the wealthy to help society (a belief he outlined in an influential 1889 essay, “The Gospel of Wealth”). In 1901 Carnegie Steel merged with the U.S. Steel Corporation, and Carnegie sold out to J.P. Morgan for $480 million, making Carnegie the richest man in the world. After his retirement he became a philanthropist, donating more than $350 million to further public education, build libraries and lobby for international peace. He also created the Carnegie Corporation of New York, endowing it with $125 million to support benefactions after his death. Although he spent much of his later life on his estate in Scotland, during World War I he returned to the U.S., where he died in 1919 at Shadowbrook, his estate in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

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