Céad míle fáilte!("a hundred thousand welcomes") - we address you as the residents of Skibo, Andrew and Louise Carnegie would have greeted their guests! We are exceedingly happy to bring to you our very first e-newsletter!

Published by the Carnegie Birthplace Museum staff, this e-letter will appear in your inbox three times a year (spring, summer and autumn). It is designed to bring you stories about our collections, events and visitors.

As this is our first newsletter ever, we have decided to dedicate its cover page to social media. Whilst the e-newsletter neatly summarises all our doings, you may be interested in getting more up-to-date information about us - so why not follow us on either Facebook, Flickr or Twitter!

We hope you enjoy this newsletter and see you soon at the museum!

Best wishes from,

Lorna, Beth, Norma, Ronnie, Jonathan and Kirke

First Social Media Season

ANDREW CARNEGIE BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM E-NEWSLETTER

ISSUE NO. 1

SPRING 2013

As you may know, Andrew Carnegie’s first career success came whilst working as a telegraph operator at O’Reilly Telegraph Company (he was one of the first people in America who was able to decipher the telegraph messages by ear). Communication and communication technologies have thus a central place in Andrew Carnegie’s life and now communication is also becoming an everyday part of his birthplace museum.

Although our social media sites were set up at the end of last year, our first official social media season only started at the beginning of March 2013. Our sites are usually updated once a week (on Mondays) and we are aiming to cover a variety of topics, so that there would be something of interest for everyone! You can find us on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carnegiemuseum

Twitter: @carnegiemuseum

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carnegiemuseum/ (our own site)and http://www.flickr.com/photos/fifemuseumsforum/

All these sites are designed to share information about our events and collections, provide unique close-up images of various items in our care and show that we are a living museum, filled with fantastic staff, exciting exhibits, and thrilling stories.

Next to reading what we have to say, we are also inviting you to contribute to our sites as well!

CollectionsIn 2012, parts of our collections travelled both near and far - some of our trowels and mallets were loaned to Dunfermline library for a temporary exhibition.

The 9ft. long flag that once flew above Skibo castle was part of an exhibition at the Museum of American Finance in New York. The exhibition was titled Andrew Carnegie: Forging Philanthropy and ran from April to October. You can learn more about the exhibition highlights here: http://www.moaf.org/exhibits/andrew-carnegie/index

During 2012, we also photographed our collection of presentation and freedom caskets (54 in total) and some other related items. We are hoping to publish a printed catalogue about these objects and their history later this year with the help of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. It will be a colourful publication that will offer an exciting, alternative way of looking at Carnegie’s benefactions (through decorative art and social history).

Whilst conducting the research about the caskets our museum intern was in touch with various organisations across the UK, which had recognised Carnegie’s benefactions. One of her most exciting encounters was with the Ironmongers Company in London. TheCompany’s Archivist was of

great help in

researching the casket presented to Andrew in 1903 and she also published a brief piece about our casket in their newsletter. In 1913 Carnegie was presented with the mallet he used to lay the foundation stone of the Peace Palace. The mallet travelled back to Hague in 2012 and will

stay there for the centenary exhibition held in the City Hall of the Hague later this year. During the centenary celebrations a symposium will be held in September, entitled Celebrating Peace Philanthropy and Furthering Peace Education - In the Footsteps of Andrew Carnegie.

DUNFERMLINE SON’S HERITAGE: HOME AND AWAY

One of the caskets being photographed for the printed catalogue

Some of our exhibits have travelled to Hague until October. On picture: close-up of the mallet head

YOU ARE MAKING OUR DAY!

“We need more people like-minded and driven - well done, Andrew”

— A Visitor from Glasgow

“It was wonderful to learn more about Carnegie. I received a Carnegie scholarship to do my Doctorate in Oxford, and to write my first book. Many thanks to the Trust and this really inspirational man”

— A Visitor from Edinburgh

The flag from Skibo castle displayed at the Museum of American Finance from April to October 2012.

HERE ARE SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS THAT MADE US SMILE

Looking back and looking forward: events & activities winter 2012 - summer 2013 As Andrew Carnegie said, “your always busy man accomplishes little; the great doer is he who has plenty of leisure”.

Our museum is thus looking to engage with the local community and always offer something to experience and explore! In the 2012 season we organised some of our usual events, such as the Children’s Art competition and Young Photographer competition. In addition, we had a fun-packed 1950s day during Festival of Museums in May (see the photo above). In December, although closed for the season, the museum hosted an exciting event - the Thomson Cooper Dragons Den. Five pupils had a chance to present their business ideas, but there was only one winner, who scooped the sensational £10,000 prize!

We started our 2013 season with a temporary exhibition of landscape photographs by local artist Kevin McCollum and had a record high attendance for our Bunny Hunt this Easter! With a whole summer ahead, we are looking to organise some lovely events - starting with a Victorian Fair in June and some hands-on workshops in July and August. We are very excited about the new events programming for this season and are eagerly waiting to see you all during this summer!

December 2012Stakes were high and atmosphere electric during the Dragon’s Den event at the museum!!

January 2013

... started with our ever popular New Year Heritage Walk!

This year 230 guests were welcomed at the museum for after-walk refreshments

March 2013

Our new season started with the opening of a temporary photography exhibition entitled No More Than a Mile.

The exhibition stayed open to the public until April 14

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the tensions rising between the countries around the world, Andrew Carnegie decided to apply his funds, power and influence to help advocate peace. The museum holds various artefacts telling the story of Carnegie’s efforts.

One of the earliest items in our care relating to this story is a presentation casket given to Andrew by the Slavonic Society of Moscow in 1905. The casket is obelisk-shaped and decorated with a Turkish helmet, similarly to diplomatic gifts to Russian Czars (by the Turks and Iranians) in the 16th century, when (life-size) helmets were often given with an aim to foster diplomatic exchanges and trading concessions with the Czar.

Andrew had already set up the Carnegie Foundation the year before to manage the preparations of the construction of the Peace Palace. It is thus only natural that delegates were sent from Moscow to Skibo in order to gain an advocate for Russia. However, having learned about massacres in Russia, Carnegie refused to support Czar Nicholas II quest to “bring peace” (i.e. start a war) in Turkey and Armenia.

Another memento of Carnegie’s efforts is the photograph of president Theodore Roosevelt on safari in Africa. Andrew agreed to pay for Roosevelt’s travels on the condition that he agreed to meet with the King of Prussia (now Germany), Wilhelm II, to discuss the heated relations between these countries! It was an offer that Roosevelt did not refuse.

Turning again to the topic of the Peace Palace, the museum is the guardian of the trowel and mallet presented to Carnegie for laying the foundation stone of the Peace Palace in 1913. Andrew Carnegie financed most of the construction of the Peace Palace with a gift of $1.5 million, on condition that it would not only house the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but also a legal library. During his efforts to help to hold peace, Carnegie thus did not forget the quest closest to his heart - opening libraries, which he regarded as sources of learning and self-development.

It is the greatest pity that all his efforts were eventually unfruitful. The start of the war in 1914 was a huge blow to Carnegie - according to his wife Louise, with these hostilities her husband's heart was broken. Andrew Carnegie lived for another five years, but the last entry in his Autobiography was the day the First World War began.

In FocusAndrew Carnegie and International Peace

Detail of Moscow casket

Plate commemorating Andrew Carnegie’s donation to Peace Palace

CONTRIBUTORS

Lorna Owers, Museum Curator/Manager

Kirke Kook, Museum Intern

ANDREW CARNEGIE

BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM

Moodie Street, Dunfermline, KY12 7PL

T: (+44) 01383 724302E-mail: info@carnegiebirthplace.com

ANDREW CARNEGIE BIRTHPLACE

MUSEUM E-NEWSLETTER

ISSUE no. 1

SPRING 2013

* Ian Dale from Angus Handloom Weavers is giving weaving demonstrations on the loom at the birthplace cottage on the first Friday of every month. Come in and experience how noisy a Victorian workroom actually was!!

* Victorian Fair - we are looking to hold a miniature Victorian Fair at our museum on June 15. Take family photo dressed as a Victorian, make some Victorian toys and watch a Punch & Judy show!

* Carnegie Children’s Art Exhibition can be seen at the museum between 19 June and 18 August.

* As this is the Centenary year of the Peace Palace, we are inviting all our visitors to make a paper Peace Dove! All materials are provided at the museum from mid-April until October 2013

* In July and August we are planning to hold a great workshop of making your own “stained glass” window decoration. We are also holding a hands-on event entitled “Around the World in Eight Objects”. For more information, follow us via social media or look out for our posters around the town.

* + more events to follow in Autumn, including a travelling exhibition about World War I.

EVENTS CALENDAR. APRIL-JUNE 2013

Dress up as a Victorian!

Become a Museum Detective!

Send a message via telegraph!

Everyday fun - following activities can be enjoyed during every visit:

& hunt for the Carnegie bunnies!