Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 3, No. 4 | A Footnote To History (low bandwidth)

In Dunfermline, the ancient capital of Scotland and the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie, a modern building will soon go up where plans for the future of education, social welfare and the importance of community in the United Kingdom will be shaped and funded. Ground has been broken for The Carnegie Foundations Centre, which will house four of the nonprofit organizations started by Mr. Carnegie at the beginning of the 20th century, and which have served the citizens of Scotland and England since that time.

Linda Thorell Hills of the United States, the great-granddaughter of Andrew Carnegie, along with Charlie Thomson and Emma Thomson Mills of Scotland, the great-great-grandchildren of Andrew Carnegie, unveiled the cornerstone for the new building at a ceremony on October 3, 2005 during the Scottish celebration of the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy.

The building will house the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the Carnegie Dunfermline and Hero Fund trusts and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, all of which had separate offices around the city of Dunfermline. Besides offering an economy of resources and an efficiency of scale, the four institutions believe the strategic and personal benefits of collaboration will propel their individual institutional missions forward. It was during the joint planning of the third Carnegie Medal awards that the four institutions began talks to join forces and to make their collaboration permanent.

The new centre’s site is on the edge of Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline. This park and its many acres of green were unavailable to the young Andrew Carnegie but for one day a year when it was opened to the public. In 1903, Carnegie bought the estate and gave it as a gift to the townspeople of Dunfermline for recreation and, as he put it, “more sweetness and light.”