The Carnegie Institute and Library of Pittsburgh/Chapter 1

by Elizabeth Moorhead Vermorcken

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE AND
LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH

BY ELIZABETH MOORHEAD VERMORCKEN

A little less than a hundred years ago Hazlitt published his "Inquiry Whether the Fine Arts are Promoted by Academies and Institutions," in which he declares very emphatically, with all the critic's scorn of British Philistinism, that the arts are not dependent upon "encouraging circumstances" or any artificial props, but flourish best in obscurity. "Art is not science," he says, "nor is the progress made in the one ever like the progress made in the other." Taste and genius cannot be constrained by arbitrary means; moreover, artistic appreciation is the prerogative of the few, and the diffusion of taste is not the same thing as the improvement of taste. In other words, it is a mistake to make a good thing too common.

This conservative point of view, by no means obsolete, has its interest in connection with the establishment, in a city hitherto distinguished chiefly for its industries, of an institution designed for the promotion of both science and the fine arts—an institution which is broadly inclusive and democratic, aiming to make the best things as common as possible, based upon the principles that art and industrial education should go hand in hand, that science necessarily underlies all artistic expression, and that the artist, most susceptible of beings, is the product of his environment, and can develop his highest powers only where he is generally understood and appreciated. Art, according to this theory, springs from and is dependent upon popular sympathy.

Though too early to hazard any predictions as to the creative work that may result from the foundation of the Carnegie Library and Institute, it is safe to say that this institution has already become a definite shaping influence, a vital educational and social force among the people in general.

As some confusion exists, even in Pittsburgh, in regard to the terms Library and Institute, it is well to make it clear at the start that there are two separate organizations, controlled by two Boards of Trustees, though they occupy the same building (with the exception of one department of the Institute: the Technical Schools) and are of course closely related in their purpose and work.

As long ago as 1881 Andrew Carnegie planned to found a great free library; and this, with branches, was his first

CARRIAGE ENTRANCE

gift to the city of Pittsburgh. The Central Library Building was opened and dedicated with appropriate ceremony on November 5, 1895. It included within its walls a Music Hall, and an Art Gallery and small scientific Museum. But with the rapid growth of the city these departments all assumed greater importance, and the original building was speedily overtaxed. So, to meet the need of the people, Mr. Carnegie gave additional sums to enlarge the building, and liberally endowed the departments which now make up the Institute.

As it stands to-day, the entire institution is known as the Carnegie Library and Institute of Pittsburgh, and, except the Technical Schools, occupies the Central Library Building. This was completed in its present enlarged form and rededicated in April, 1907. There are the Library proper, which, with its outlying branches, is governed by a Board of Trustees of eighteen members and maintained by the city of Pittsburgh; the Music Hall, which is self-supporting; and the Institute, which comprises:

1. The Department of Fine Arts.
2. The Department of Museum.
3. The Department of Technical Schools, housed in special buildings.
4. Carnegie Library School.^[1]

These departments of the Institute are governed by a Board of Trustees of thirty-six members, and are maintained by Mr. Carnegie's endowment. The sum total of his gift up to the present time, including endowments and the cost of buildings, approximates $18,000,000.^[2]

The Central Library Building stands in the geographical center of the city, at the entrance of Schenley Park. Rolling hills, ravines, and meadows form an effective background to this massive pile of gray stone, which, having been destined to accommodate four distinct departments, naturally presented a problem to its architects. They have solved it by a practical adaptation of the Italian Renaissance. Its size and cost and the splendor of the materials used were so fully discussed by the press at the time of dedication last April that any detailed description here would be superfluous, and it is enough to say that the building covers an area of four acres, with sixteen acres of floor space exclusive of basements and power-house. The

FOUNDER'S ROOM

whole interior is light, well ventilated, and commodious, with the beauty that consists of perfect adaptation to use. It gives a sense of unrestricted space, and not the least among its attractions are the green vistas of the park from nearly every window.

The Library entrance occupies the western façade, and the frieze above its triple doorway bears the inscription: Free to the People. Bronze doors open into a handsome vaulted hall paneled with Tennessee marble, from which two broad staircases of the same material lead to the second floor. The effect of this entrance is dignified and harmonious. But more significant is the fact that the Library accomplishes its purpose; in a very real sense it is "free to the people." Entering the well-arranged Loan Department, the visitor is impressed with its homelike, cheerful atmosphere, and at once has a pleasant feeling of proprietorship. For everything is made comfortable, easy, accessible; some twelve thousand chosen books are placed within reach upon open shelves; the latest publications, and books which encourage special lines of reading, are displayed in movable racks. For instance, during the annual exhibition there is a well-filled rack labeled "Books which will help you to enjoy the exhibition in the Department of Fine Arts." Periodicals and comfortable chairs make this an alluring resting-place. Throughout the hard times all the reading and reference rooms have been continuously occupied during working hours by unemployed men, who are taking this opportunity for study along the line of their trades and professions.

A very liberal policy was established by the first Librarian, Mr. Edwin H. Anderson, and is carried on by Mr Harrison W. Craver, the present Librarian, with the result that restrictive rules are made as few as possible. Cards are issued when asked for, and books may be taken out immediately upon application for a card. Careless borrowers are supplied with temporary cards when they forget to bring their own, for it is the aim of the Library staff that no one shall go away unsatisfied. Two books of fiction are lent on one card, and practically no limit is placed on non-fiction—an inestimable boon to the student, who may carry off just as many volumes as he can handle.

And it works, this generous system! There are but few losses; the borrower rarely betrays the confidence reposed in him, for something in human nature instinctively responds to the spirit of trust and helpfulness.

A card of permission from the Librarian gives the visitor free access to the book-stack, which is built of

LADIES' SALON, MUSIC HALL

white-enameled terra cotta, and is lighted from three large courts. Ventilated by washed and filtered air, this stack is entirely dust-proof. Its eleven stories are connected by an electric elevator.

The Reference Department on the second floor is always besieged by students and inquirers. Its open shelves are filled with standard books of reference, and its efficient corps is called upon to furnish information of a most comprehensive order, the records for one day showing a list of questions which range from the Eleusinian Mysteries to Bernard Shaw! This department also renders valuable assistance to the women's clubs in Pittsburgh and in the neighboring towns, by preparing reference lists and collecting the best books on their respective topics. Here may be found an excellent collection of mounted photographs of paintings, places, architectural subjects, and so on, which are circulated among schools, clubs, classes, and individuals. Finely illustrated books are left lying open on the tables, on such subjects as European Art Galleries, the English Pre-Raphaelites, and Italian cities; in fact, everything is done to bring the means of a broad culture within the reach of even the casual visitor. The telephone service is one of the most interesting features of the work accomplished in this room. It is no uncommon thing for the Reference Librarian to be called up to give the pronunciation of a word or to find a quotation, and she has even been known to read an entire poem to the inquirer at the other end of the wire.

An especially interesting and characteristic department, which perhaps more than any other illustrates and fulfills local requirements, is that of Technology, developed under Mr. Harrison W. Craver, now Librarian.^[3] This was the first public library in the country to establish such a department, and its value has been so amply demonstrated that several other libraries have followed Pittsburgh's lead. Comprehending the Natural Sciences and Useful Arts, the department is denominated technological because it is the

EAST ENTRANCE, VESTIBULE

Librarians's intention to devote it to applied science rather than to research. At present it contains about fifty thousand volumes, and complete sets of British and American patent records. It does about one-third of all the reference work, bringing the engineer and the mechanic to the Library. Here the telephone again proves itself a useful adjunct, for it enables the busy manufacturer to get expert information in five minutes without leaving his desk.

In the southwest wing of the Library Building on the ground floor is the Children's Department. Its seven rooms are large, well lighted, equipped with low tables, chairs, and shelves especially adapted to little visitors. All the details are planned with a regard for hygiene as well as comfort. There is a study-room containing atlases, globes, and hanging maps, where the children of overcrowded homes may come for a quiet hour to prepare their lessons. Recognizing the supreme importance of early beginnings and the necessity for competent work in this direction, Mr. Carnegie has endowed a Training School for Children's Librarians, which is conducted by the Library and has put into the field seventy trained workers since its organization in 1901.^[4] As it is the only school of its kind in existence, the students come from Europe as well as from all parts of the United States. These librarians have their own attractive study-room, furnished with books on children's literature, child psychology, and the like.

The Children's Department co-operates with the public schools in an effort to cultivate a taste for good literature in the young. Since all children, native and foreign-born, learn to read in our schools, it would seem only common justice that the want thus created should be freely and advantageously supplied. The Story Hour has been devised as a step to this end. Conducted by the students of the Training School and members of the department's staff, it attracts groups of eager listeners to the Central Library and all the branches. Two Story Hours are held weekly at each place: one for little children, when suitable legends,

MUSIC HALL FOYER

myths, and folk-tales are related; the other for bigger boys and girls, who are held spellbound by stories from the Iliad and the Odyssey, from Shakespeare, and of King Arthur and Robin Hood. The prime object, of course, is to awaken an interest in literature by kindling the imagination and fostering a healthy liking for romance, and the success of the method is certainly proved by the fact that, after the hour, the children invariably demand "the book with the story."

The following bulletin of “the most popular books" hangs in the Children's Room of the Wylie Avenue Branch, which is situated in one of the poorest districts in the midst of a large foreign and negro element:
The Story of Roland.
Tales of the Alhambra.
Kenilworth.
Ivanhoe.
The Boy's Percy.
Story of King Arthur and his Knights, etc.

That these children voluntarily choose such books is surely a satisfactory indication of the value of the Story Hour, opening as it does a door out of their cramped lives into a new world of beauty and imagination. Bible stories are also enthusiastically received. One child recently put in a request at this Branch for "the book about Morris in the grass trunk that was drowned in the water'—which sorely taxed the Librarian's ingenuity until by a sudden inspiration she remembered Moses and the bulrushes!

The Library system is a great sympathetic plexus, stretching out living filaments into every quarter of the city. A large foreign population and small professional class make active and aggressive measures desirable in Pittsburgh. The Library must go out to the people; it cannot wait for them to come to it. Special distribution is also necessitated by the topography of the town, which is divided not only by three rivers, but by numberless hills, bluffs, and deep gullies. So, to reach these separate districts, the Library includes one hundred and seventy-seven agencies, consisting of branch libraries, deposit stations, school stations, summer playground stations,.home libraries, and reading clubs.^[5] Most of these agencies are under the supervision of the Children's Department, being designed for the special benefit of the young.

Home libraries are sent out once a week in small cases directly into the homes of the poor. A visitor from the Library distributes the books in each case, and spends an hour among the children who assemble for the occasion at the home of one of their number. This work has an indefinable scope, for it accomplishes much more than the mere carrying of books into the slums; the visitor soon acquires personal influence in the neighborhood, and is often able to be of practical service.

Reading clubs do a somewhat similar work among the gangs of idle boys who hang about street corners, ready for any mischief. Several school boards and mission houses, the Newsboys' Home, and other institutions have provided rooms for such clubs, which are organized and directed by a Library visitor.

Work so inclusive and far-reaching as this requires special preparation, and Mr. Carnegie's Training School fills a definite need in qualifying the right young women to cope with the complex conditions of child life in our great cities.

The western projection of the main façade, fronting Forbes Street, forms the entrance to the Music Hall. The doorway is flanked by bronze statues of Shakespeare and Bach. The vestibule, of dark Siena marble, is stately and impressive; the foyer departs from the restraint that characterizes the rest of the building, being almost barbaric in its richness and glitter. With lofty columns of green Tinos marble, lavish gold incrustations, and a variously colored inlaid floor, it is sumptuous and striking after the manner of the foyer of the Paris Opera-House. The Music Hall itself was untouched during the alteration of the building, and remains as it was at the time of the first dedication in 1895, a well proportioned and harmonious auditorium, all in white and gold and soft dull red, entirely gratifying to the eye.

The Music Hall is controlled by a committee appointed by the Library Board,^[6] and is practically self-sustaining, being in constant demand for concerts, lectures, and meetings of all kinds. Mr. Carnegie, however, has provided an emergency fund for its operation in case of a deficit.

Here the Pittsburgh Orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Emil Paur, gives its concerts during the winter;^[7] and here, every Saturday night and Sunday afternoon from October until June, large crowds come to hear the free organ recitals given by Mr. Charles Heinroth, the city organist. His musical lectures carry out the educational purpose which animates every activity in the building.

Unlike the Library and Music Hall, the departments of the Institute are operated solely by Mr. Carnegie’s endowment.

The eastern projection of the building corresponds with the Music Hall entrance, with statues on either side of the doorway representing respectively Galileo and Michelangelo. Passing through the vaulted vestibule, we find ourselves in a beautiful hall three stories in height, and open to a glass roof. It is paneled in mellow-tinted Hauteville marble and decorated with John W. Alexander’s famous mural paintings. Those which form the frieze of the

ENTRANCE TO MUSIC HALL

first floor depict the industries of Pittsburgh—muscular, half-nude figures at work in the smoke and glare of the furnace. At the head of the staircase on the second floor is a great figurative representation of the city as a mailed knight rising triumphant out of vaporous clouds of smoke and steam. The series is not yet complete.^[8]

The chief activity of the Department of Fine Arts, of which Mr. John W. Beatty is Director, is the annual exhibition of paintings held in the months of May and June. As this is the only competitive international exhibition presented in the country, it seems hardly an undue assumption to call it the American Salon. The scheme of administration raises the exhibition above local standards and gives it prestige in Europe. There are Foreign Advisory Committees in London, Paris, Munich, and The Hague, which pass judgment upon the works of foreign artists. The Jury of Award, meeting in Pittsburgh, is elected by vote of the exhibitors; it consequently expresses as nearly as possible the opinions and verdict of the competing artists themselves. That any suspicion of provincialism or partisanship in the final judgment may be avoided, it is required that two members of the Jury be residents of Europe. While in Pittsburgh the Jury are guests of the Institute, by which all traveling and hotel expenses are defrayed.

Three medals, carrying with them respectively awards of $1,500, $1,000, and $500, are offered yearly, without regard to the painters' nationality. The prizes of the late exhibition, in 1908, were conferred upon Thomas W. Dewing, of New York, Henri Eugène Le Sidaner, of Paris, and Emil Carlsen, of New York.

This system naturally brings here some of the best work of European painters. Pittsburgh cannot lay claim to any distinctive art atmosphere as yet, but once a year it has its moment of exotic bloom, which gives it a part in the universal flowering and leaves a lingering fragrance for the duller months.

A permanent collection of noteworthy paintings may be seen in the galleries on the second floor. No attempt has been made to secure examples of old masters, which would necessarily be second-rate; the collection is frankly modern, representative of the best effort of our own time. Where all are good it would seem invidious to discriminate, but a few of the better-known works may be indicated, such as Dagnan-Bouveret's much-discussed "Disciples at Emmaus," the gift of Mr. H. C. Frick; Winslow Homer’s vigorous and dramatic "The Wreck;" that subtle study of a temperament, Whistler’s portrait of Sarasate; and Lucien Simon’s "Evening in a Studio," a vivid group, astonishingly brilliant in execution. Puvis de Chavannes and Raffaelli are represented by characteristic canvases; there is a poetic picture by Aman-Jean, quiet and discreet in tone, with dreaming, almost morbid, figures; and the Glasgow School is seen at its best in work by E. A. Walton, John Lavery, and Alexander Roche. But the strength of the collection is in American art, as such names as Inness, Tryon, Gari Melchers, Twachtman, Schofield, Redfield, Benson, and Alexander abundantly prove.

Photographs of all these paintings are circulated in the public schools, and serve to direct the attention of the children and their parents to the Institute and its exhibitions.

There is a Hall of Bronzes, containing reproductions of those in the Museum at Naples, also an interesting collection of original drawings by American artists, but the Halls of Sculpture and Architecture are the distinguishing feature of this department. In these sections it has been Mr. Beatty’s purpose to produce an impression of beauty which shall make an instant appeal to the imagination, and in this he has certainly succeeded. The Hall of Sculpture, two stories in height and roofed with glass, has the proportions of a Greek temple, with columns of Pentelic marble and green-tinted walls. There is a pervading sense of stability and repose in this beautiful room. Around the ceiling, at the exact height of the original, runs the Parthenon frieze. The collection of casts, though small, is so well chosen that it gives a chronological view of the development of sculpture, beginning with Assyrian and Persian bas-reliefs and seated figures from Egyptian tombs—mysterious immobile forms surveying the hall as if they had solved the secret of the ages—and continuing through the glories of Greek art, including the metopes of the Parthenon and its eastern pediment. It is planned to complete the historic development of sculpture by extending the exhibits through the Renaissance period.

In the Hall of Architecture Mr. Beatty has cared less to convey bare archæological information than to create enduring and inspiring images. The average exhibition of architectural casts consists of dry fragments, interesting only to the expert; here we have a harmonious whole that gives delight to the veriest tyro.

There is a perfect illusion. We are suddenly transported, as if by some magic carpet, to France, and stand in the porch before the abbey church of Saint-Gilles, in the Department of Gard—not a fragment, but the entire porch itself, with its heavy doors swung open so that we may mount the worn step and cross its threshold. This beautiful Romanesque façade of the twelfth century, so exactly reproduced, true in color and accurate in detail, has an indescribable effect. Instinctively the beholder is hushed to silence. Indeed, reverence is the dominant emotion aroused by this noble Hall of Architecture, and one almost feels the visible presence of the company of saints and martyrs whose sculptured images look down from the church portals.

Besides the Church of Saint-Gilles the Hall contains many other interesting casts: among them the Lions' Gate from Mycene; the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates; the south end of the Erechtheum; and examples of French and Italian Gothic, French and Italian Renaissance. About one hundred and twenty-five casts are to be added to those already placed, and the Hall will then represent with reasonable completeness the entire history of architecture from the earliest periods to the late French Renaissance. In an important sense the dual character of the exhibition will be maintained: inspiration for the layman and definite technical instruction for the student.

The Department of Museum, under the directorship of Dr. William J. Holland, occupies large rooms and galleries on the first, second, and third floors, and covers an area of some 104,000 square feet of floor space. As this department is too specific for general treatment, a mere enumeration of its different sections must suffice here.

It comprises exhibits in Vertebrate and Invertebrate Zoölogy; Entomology, a complete and very important collection; Botany; Mineralogy, including the valuable collection of Pennsylvania minerals bought from Mr. W. W. Jeffries, of West Chester, Pennsylvania; Palæontology; Comparative Anatomy and Osteology; Archæology and Ethnology; Numismatics; Ceramics; Textiles; Graphic Arts; Transportation, etc. Some of these collections have not yet been installed.

Much important work is done in the field, a special fund being provided by Mr. Carnegie for explorations. Through his generosity and initiative the Section of Palæontology has become one of unusual interest and value. The famous collection of fossils belonging to Baron de Bayet, of Brussels, was purchased for the Museum at a cost of $25,000. In the same gallery may be seen the huge skeleton of the diplodocus, of which replicas have been presented by Mr. Carnegie to England, Germany, and France. This is the largest fossil dinosaur in the world;^[9] it is somewhat composite, the greater portion having been found in Jurassic beds of Sheep Creek, Albany County, Wyoming, by an expedition sent out by the Carnegie Museum in the year 1899. The mastodon, found in 1897 near Waterloo, Indiana, is also a peculiarly perfect specimen.

The section of Archæology is rich in interesting antiquities obtained in Costa Rica by a recent expediton.

Perhaps no department of the Carnegie Institute is doing a greater educational work than this. There is a small lecture-room in which talks on scientific subjects are given and special specimens are exhibited. The Academy of Arts and Sciences is associated with the Museum in giving free lectures. In most of the sections the plan is adopted of having a small exhibition series for the general public, while special collections are kept apart for the use of students. These can always be seen upon request. Many collections—birds, minerals, botanical specimens, etc.—are lent to schools for two weeks at a time. The fine French manikins in the Section of Comparative Anatomy are in constant use by medical and dental students.

Any attempt to describe so comprehensive an institution as Mr. Carnegie's gift to Pittsburgh must necessarily be inadequate and superficial; but it is hoped that the present account may at least suggest something of its profound significance in the heart of this toiling city, whose people are often accused of laying waste their powers in getting and spending.

1. The Carnegie Library School was made a department of the Institute in April 1916.
2. This amount is now approximately $25,000,000.
3. When Mr Craver was appointed Librarian in September 1908, Mr E. H. McClelland succeeded him as Technology Librarian.
4. In April 1916 more than two hundred and fifty trained workers had been sent out by the School.
5. For 1915, on account of reduced appropriation, this figure was only 132.
6. In April 1916 the Music Hall was placed under the control of the Institute.
7. The Orchestra was discontinued at the close of the season of 1909-1910.
8. A description of these mural paintings, written by Mrs Alexander, will be found on page 30. Mr Alexander died on June 1, 1915, before he had had time to complete the panels for the third floor.
9. The skeleton of Apatosaurus Louisæ, recently discovered in Utah, the largest skeleton of a dinosaur in any museum in the world, has recently been placed upon view in the Carnegie Museum.