Dollar and Carnegie’s library legacy lives on in Falkirk

Historian Ian Scott looks back on the legacies left by the philanthropists
Andrew Carnegie opened the library, which he part funded, in 1902Andrew Carnegie opened the library, which he part funded, in 1902
Andrew Carnegie opened the library, which he part funded, in 1902

When the lockdown came back in March, among the earliest casualties were our local libraries which have now been closed for the longest period in their history.

In the case of Falkirk’s Hope Street building this is nearly 120 years. We are right to be concerned about the impact of school closures on our children’s education but we should not ignore the impact of the loss of our libraries which still play a major role in informing, educating and entertaining people of all ages.

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Of course, our libraries are very different places from the ones I remember as a child; no computers back then and not much talking either!

The librarian, Mrs Brown, commanded silence with a withering stare and the place had all the atmosphere of a Trappist monastery. But it was a treasure trove of information which changed the lives of thousands for the better.

Back in the 1830s Falkirk had several small libraries linked to churches and other organisations as well as a ‘‘subscription library’’ which was often referred to as the public library. Some had over a 1000 books but their use was limited to members or subscribers.

In 1880 the YMCA opened a new building in Newmarket Street and six years later Falkirk philanthropist Robert Dollar, then prospering in Michigan, offering $5000 to stock a library provided it was freely available to ‘‘all classes and denominations’’.

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The Dollar Free Library was the result with many books of an ‘‘improving’’ nature aimed at helping to encourage people to behave themselves!

It was a great success and the records show that in its first nine months of operation it issued well over 20,000 books to 1200 readers. Though it survived for nearly 20 years it was never able to match the demand.

Enter the wealthy Andrew Carnegie who offered £2500 towards a new building if the town put up an equal amount.

This was in 1887 the year after the council had taken over the Dollar library.

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His offer was accepted though the public were slow to put their hands in their pockets. In the end Andrew had to cough up nearly £6000!

Maybe the canny bairns thought they had a library already and were reluctant to pay for a new one.

Whatever the reason, the final result was the familiar red sandstone building in Hope Street which was opened by Carnegie himself in 1902.

George Chapman, the man in charge at the YMCA building, was appointed librarian and he served for 40 years followed by Taylor Brown, Mrs Chris Brown already mentioned and Alex Howson taking us right up to the modern era.

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Of course things were very different in those early days. Customers could not browse the shelves but searched through catalogues, identified the books and then consulted the indicator boards to see if they were available. Modern users will recognise the system which is not dissimilar to what happens today give or take a few computers!

This method continued until 1922 when open shelves of books became the normal method of display; the library I was brought up with in the 1950s looked pretty much as it had done before the war.

By the 1980s it was obvious that lack of space was limiting the service and the decision was taken to spend £1.5 million on an extension. Designed to match the old building it was opened in April 1993.

What Robert Dollar and Andrew Carnegie would have made of the huge cost is anybody’s guess but we can be sure that they would have been delighted that their library continued to play such an important part in the life of the community. Hopefully the doors will open again soon.

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