Dunfermline Public Library

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline. It is only natural that he offered a 5,000 pound donation to his hometown to build what became the Dunfermline Public Library. This first Carnegie Library was a main library when it opened in 1883, but is now considered a branch library. There is homage to the philanthropist throughout the site. You can find a bust of his mother or a portrait of the man himself.

While DPL is a lending library, it is known for its reference services. In particular, they get a lot of family history enquiries from around the world. It is apparently the place to go to for anyone doing Fife research.

My class was shown both the George Reid and the Murison Burns collections. Reid collected early, printed books. This valuable collection holds a medieval Book of Hours (14th C), Aquinas' Summa Theologica (15th C), the works of Euclid (15th C), and a Bassandyne Bible (16th C). The Burns collection struck me as rather odd. Who is Murison Burns? Once I realized that Murison was the collector and Robert Burns was the subject of the collection it made much more sense. Robert Burns was a poet during the time of the French Revolution. He is perhaps thought of as the grandfather of Romantic poetry.

Image source here.