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Carnegie Honors a Hero Just One Year Before Establishing the Carnegie Hero Fund

CARNEGIE, ANDREW. (1835-1919). Scottish-born, American industrialist and philanthropist. SP. (“Andrew Carnegie”). 1p. Folio. N.p., N.d [circa 1903]. Inscribed to the young American singer Earl Gulick (1889-?). A handsome black-and-white bust photograph of the great philanthropist inscribed on the lower mount, “To my young Hero Earl Gulick with best wishes…” A Scottish immigrant and self-made man, Andrew Carnegie was considerably wealthy by age 40. However, in his 1889 article entitled Wealth, Carnegie set forth his philosophy that a wealthy individual has an obligation to use it for “the improvement of mankind,” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). It was to this altruistic pursuit that Carnegie devoted himself and his fortune beginning in 1901 when he sold his company, Carnegie Steel, to J.P. Morgan for $250,000,000. Among Carnegie’s notable charities were the Carnegie Institute of Washington, founded in 1902, which funded scientific research; the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the largest of all his foundations, founded in 1911 to promote “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding among the people of the United States,” and the Carnegie Hero Fund, founded in 1904, (ibid.). Following a deadly disaster at a coal mine in Harwick, Pennsylvania, Carnegie established the fund to recognize ordinary people who performed extraordinary acts. Our photograph is directly related to Carnegie’s desire to recognize heroism and is accompanied by several newspaper articles detailing Carnegie’s honoring of Gulick for his rescue of a drowning man. The ceremony took place on January 20, 1903 – more than a year before the creation of the Hero Fund – at Carnegie Hall. After Carnegie spoke, “he handed Earl Gulick, fourteen years of age and a noted soprano of this city, the gold medal of the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps for bravery in rescuing from death by drowning last August in Rutledge Channel, Freeport, L.I. James Lawless, a man thirty years of age. The presentation took place at the sixth anniversary of the West Side Branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Carnegie Hall was packed, and though an excellent program had been arranged for the entertainment of the guests, the great event of the evening was the speech of Mr. Carnegie, who spoke in the happiest vein… As the blushing boy took the medal from Mr. Carnegie the audience enthusiastically cheered and applauded, the ladies waving their handerchiefs [sic] and clapping their hands with as much vim as the sterner sex. It took some time for the outburst to spend itself, and until the close Mr. Carnegie and Master Gulick bowed their acknowledgements,” (“Annual Report of the U.S. Volunteer Life Saving Corps for the Department of New York for the year 1903,” Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 15). The United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps was organized in the second half of the 19^th century in order to prevent drowning. It trained members in swimming, first aid and water rescue, supplied them with boats, life preservers and other equipment, and had an affiliation with the YMCA. Gulick, however, was already well-known prior to his heroic exploits. In 1901, an article observed, “One of the best advertised boy choristers of the day is Master Earl Gulick, whose singing won the warmest encomiums from President McKinley and other dignitaries… He has been known for the past few years as the ‘American Nightingale,’ and has honestly won his title. As a lad he was found to have that rare gift, absolute pitch. He very early exhibited keen musical perception and intelligence,” (“Boy Choristers,” St. Nicholas: A Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls, Dean). Gulick sang at such events as the opening of the American Institute of Phrenology and the dedication of the statue Lafayette and Washington erected in Harlem in 1900. Ironically, in 1908, Gulick made headlines again when he was arrested for theft. “Earl Gulick, 19 years old, who was once a famous boy soprano and who toured the country with President McKinley in his second campaign and sang at his funeral in Canton, Ohio, was arrested yesterday charged with assault and robbery,” (“Earl Gulick Arrested,” The New York Times, May 22, 1908). Later, Gulick became the New York representative of the Jean de Reszke Music School of Paris. An interesting item underscoring Andrew Carnegie’s interest in acknowledging bravery, formalized in the establishment of the Carnegie Hero Fund. Darkly signed on the gray matte. A light and small damp stain and a scratch along Carnegie’s jacket do not affect the inscription or signature. An exceptional association piece in very good condition. Framed.

Item #16745

Price: $3,500