In December 2020 the employees of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh voted to form a union. This marked an end to the six month campaign lead by the United Steel Workers and it also marked the beginning of a new era in the four museum network.
After the official formation of the United Museum Workers union, many of my friends and colleges said the same thing; “Andrew Carnegie must be rolling in his grave.”
Before diving into research, here is what I knew and assumed about Andrew Carnegie;
Carnegie was one of the richest men alive during his time
He got rich off the exploitation of steel workers
Towards the end of his life he realized how terrible he exploited those workers so he started to donate his money
His donations were the start of many organizations in many cities, including the formation of the Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh
It has always felt a bit weird working in an organization named for a man who did so many terrible things to the people in my city. Without his exploitation and then donation, my job simply wouldn’t exist though. It’s the classic ‘do the ends justify the means?’ conundrum.
My hope is by researching who Andrew Carnegie was and his history with the people of Pittsburgh, I’ll have a framework for making the museums an even better place to work.
Forty-Millionaire Carnegie in his Great Double Role by David P. Demarest, 1892. Retrieved from shec.ashp.cuny.edu
Carnegie, an immigrant from Scotland, made a name for himself in Pittsburgh by working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the 1850’s. During the Civil War Carnegie helped organize munition transportation for the Union.
After the war, Carnegie started to amass wealth through various capitalist means. However, with as much wealth he was getting, he always professed it was better to give away that wealth to others.
“Man must have no idol and the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry! No idol is more debasing than the worship of money! Whatever I engage in I must push inordinately; therefore should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in its character.”
Carnegie continued to make more money through his business practices (such as forming the United States Steel Corporation) but giving large sums to various works in Scotland, the United States, and Canada. One of this most famous accomplishments was enough funding for 3,000 public libraries. During his retirement he was known as “Carnegie the Philanthropist.”
Andrew Carnegie’s Philanthropy by Louis Dalrymple in 1903. Retrieved from Wikipedia.
But the problem was never that he gave away so much of his wealth. Is it moral that one person can gain so much wealth at the expense of those who do the work? To achieve so much profit, for example, he often cut wages to workers. He also would work his workers longer and harder to achieve more than anyone thought possible. This all came to a head in Pittsburgh in 1892.
Carnegie owned a steel plant in Homestead, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The local Union workers were upset that an agreement had not been reached in their contract and started to strike. While Carnegie owned the steel plant, he left Henry Clay Frick in charge of the day to day operations. Days before the contract expired, Carnegie left to visit Scotland.
Carnegie’s absence left Frick to bring thousands of strikebreakers to fight the Union, resulting in a fight that killed 10 and injured hundreds. The Union had such a strong foothold that the Pennsylvania Governor brought in two brigades of state militia to break up the fighting.
While Carnegie wasn’t personally there, many claimed it was his actions that lead to the clash. This was only one occurrence across Carnegie’s many companies.
Strikers shooting at strikebreakers coming by boat. Retrieved from zinnedproject.org
Even with all the terrible things Carnegie did, I have seen the faces of children light up when they realize I work at the Carnegie Science Center. The name Carnegie carries such a different connotation now than it did a century ago. We are leaders in informal, experiential education in the region. The name Carnegie has a weight that most respond positively to.
We have many issues that require our immediate attention, such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Climate Crisis, racial and economic injustice just to name a few. In the short term, it really doesn’t matter what the museums are called while people are dying, sea levels rise, and families are struggling to survive.
But if we can address those issues, the names we carry is something we as a museum, region, and country should consider. It isn’t erasing history to drop the name Carnegie. In the history books you will still find his name. But just because he was generous towards the end of his life doesn’t mean we should allow his name to be glorified for all time.
They have started a slow transition in the South. Schools are changing their names from confederate generals. Here in Pittsburgh they changed the name of a local trail due to it’s racist and misogynistic name. It is a slow process that takes time to be done right.
In the meantime, congrats to the newly formed United Museum Workers and I can’t wait to make our museums an even better place to visit and work!