The Carnegie Libraries are a string of libraries located in small, rural towns across America. Andrew Carnegie, born in 1835 in Scotland, was a wealthy steel magnate who gave millions of dollars each year to various charities early in this century.

Carnegie felt that the wealthy had a moral obligation to contribute to their community and give away their fortunes.

One such charity that he established, provided donations specifically to construct public libraries to foster education and culture in America's western frontier. In 1881, he began to act upon this idea and he and the Corporation spent over $56 million on the building of 2,509 libraries.

Petaluma's library was built with a grant from this fund.