Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum

About

The Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum is a biographical museum in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, dedicated to the life of Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, "one of the great Scots of the 19th century.". The museum is operated by the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust and is housed in a category B listed building. The museum site includes the original 18th-century weavers cottage in which Andrew Carnegie was born and a memorial hall added by James Shearer in 1928. Carnegie's wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, purchased the cottage in 1895 from William Templeman using a legacy bequeathed to her from her grandfather. Upon the creation of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust in 1903 the cottage was looked after by the trust and opened to visitors in 1908.

History: Andrew Carnegie was born in the cottage at 2 Moodie Street in 1835. William Carnegie, his father, was a weaver, using a hand loom to produce woven goods, but from 1840, hand looms were steadily replaced by large looms in factories, and weavers were expected to work there. The Carnegie family were advocates of liberalism, political activism and self-education, and this reputation meant that William struggled...