Coke oven smokestacks loom as members of a boys’ reading club pose in an what is likely a factory slum along the Monongahela where workers lived to be near their jobs at the Jones & Laughlin Steel Mill in Hazelwood.
Six years earlier, steel titan Andrew Carnegie, himself a self-educated working boy who found inspiration in a neighbor’s generous book lending, began using his vast fortune to construct a series of libraries in the Pittsburgh region, with the mission of providing everyone with free access to books. Library outreach programs—such as home libraries and reading clubs—with small staffs and a slew of volunteers, aimed to reach those across the city, particularly children, who were unable to visit the library branches.
This image by the Chautauqua Photographic Company (active 1897–1911), is one of many photographs made to document Carnegie Library’s outreach programs, later published in the Carnegie Institute annual reports during the early 1900s.
Pittsburgh Quarterly’s creative director from 2008 through 2017, Jennifer came to Pittsburgh from another steel town — Bethlehem, Pa. She attended Carnegie Mellon University for graphic design, fell in love with the city, graduated and stayed. She also performs across the country, singing and traveling with the Pittsburgh-based Boilermaker Jazz Band. Jennifer lives in Deutschtown on the North Side with her husband and daughter.
