The Carnegie Institute and This complex of institutions holds an unique posi tion. An English writer has recently denomi nated it as ((the world's greatest and most splendid storehouse of Mr. Car negie's original offer to found a library was made in 1881, but it was not until 1887 that the gift was made possible by legislation. The first offer had been to give $250,000 for this purpose, but in 1:-:7 the amount was in creased to $1,000,000, with the stipulation that the main building should afford accommodations for a museum and a gallery of art, and that branch libraries should be provided, and that the city should obligate itself to provide for the maintenance of the library and its branches. For the maintenance of the museum and the art gallery Mr. Carnegie provided $1,000,000, placing this sum in the care of the trustees of the library and of 18 others, associated with them, 36 trustees in all, who constitute the con trolling body. Of these trustees nine directly represent the government of the municipality. Mr. Carnegie from time to time increased the building and the endowments and later added the technical schools, as a third department, under the same general control. The original main building of the library and institute was greatly enlarged at Mr. Carnegie's suggestion, he agreeing to defray the cost, and the building was rededicated in 1907 with appropriate cere monies in the presence of representatives of the governments and leading institutions of learning both of America and Europe. In all the gifts of Mr. Carnegie to this complex of institutions amount to a total of approximately $30,000,000.
The main building, housing the central li brary, the hall of music, the museum and the art galleries, is three stories in height and covers approximately six acres. Its exterior is of light gray sandstone in a modification of the Italian Renaissance. The entrances are flanked by statues of Shakespeare, Bach, Galileo and Michelangelo. The interior, which is resplen dent with the finest marbles, provides a great hall of music, where throughout the year, ex cept in the heated summer months, free organ recitals are given every Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. The department of fine arts controls the galleries of architecture, sculpture, paintings, and engravings. These gal leries are large and stately and contain already notable collections of art in all its departments, and especially a representative assemblage of the best works of recent American and Euro pean painters. Here is annually held an inter national exhibit of paintings, to which the artists of the world contribute, the only in America.
The museum is a general museum, laying special stress upon the natural sciences and the industrial arts. The staff consists of about 40 persons, a number of whom are engaged in special scientific researches in connection with their other duties. The collections in.the pos session of the museum, either permanently or as loans, at the present moment have an aggre gate value of approximately $2,000,000. The museum possesses one of the largest and most important paleontological collections in the world, including the great collections made in the Western States by the museum itself and the collection of Baron Ernst Bayet of Brussels, purchased for the museum by Mr. Carnegie,
representing the extinct fauna of Europe. The collections of birds contain approximately 80,000 specimens; the mammals are represented by many thousands of specimens, many of them superbly mounted in groups, among which may he mentioned the collection of East African mammals collected by Mr. Childs Frick and parts of the collections made by the late Col. Theodore Roosevelt. One of the largest col lections of South American fresh-water fishes is here, and one of the very largest entomo logical collections in the New World, contain ing the types and cotypes of many thousands of species. The ethnological collections are large and one of the very best assemblages of Indian basketry and an unrivaled collection of Costa Rican antiquities are specially worthy of mention. The ivories and the timepieces col lected by the late H. J. Heinz ornament a room specially set apart for their display, and the exhibit of miniatures, waxes, snuff-boxes, fans and other articles of vertu loaned by Mr. Herbert Dupuy is viewed with endless admira tion by visitors.
The library, which occupies the southwestern portion of the great edifice, is provided with a fireproof stack capable of holding 1,000,000 volumes. It already possesses approximately 400,000 books. The facilities for consultation and reference are unequalled. There are eight branch libraries administered from the main library, situated in different residential sections of the city and beautifully housed, and in addi tion there are a multitude of °exchange centers° through which readers may obtain and return books without journeying to the main building or the branch libraries to do so. The technical schools, latterly known as the °Car• negie Institute of Technology,' have, been out lined under the paragraph dealing with insutur Lions of higher learning.
Libraries.— In addition to the great Car negie library which has been briefly described iu the foregoing account of the Carnegie Insti tute and Library, there are a number of other libraries of importance in the city. The Al legheny library, which was erected by Mr. Carnegie prior to the establishment of the Car negie library in Pittsburgh, Allegheny at that time not being a portion of Pittsburgh, cost the donor over $300,000 for its erection and equip ment, and is also maintained by the city for the benefit of the residents of the Northside. It possesses a large and useful collection of books. There are important collections of books in the library of the University of Pittsburgh, which has recently been enriched by the great collec tion of Americana made by the late William U. Darlington, Esq., whose daughters have transferred it to the university as a gift in memory of their father. The library of the Allegheny Observatory is very large and rich in works upon astronomy, physics, and mathe matics. The libraries of the various theological seminaries are well supplied with books, that of the Western Seminary containing about 40,000 volumes, including one of the most per fect collections of works relating to ecclesias tical music and hymnology in existence, which has recently been acquired.