Development of educational institutions in Indian Territory and
Oklahoma Territory coincided with the public library movement
across the United States. In late-nineteenth- and early-
twentieth-century Oklahoma, as the population of the Twin
Territories increased and towns grew larger, middle-class
institutions began to appear. Credit for establishing the
territories' libraries generally goes to the local Women's
Clubs, whose activities almost always included setting up local
reading rooms and collecting books to furnish those facilities
with material to lend. The library movement was aided after 1900
by a grants program established by famed steel magnate Andrew
Carnegie. Retiring from the steel industry in 1900 at age sixty-
five, Carnegie devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy. In
total, his Carnegie Corporation (trustee for much of his
enormous fortune) provided more than $41 million for 1,689 free
public library buildings in 1,419 communities around the United
States. One condition of every Carnegie gr