Subseries VI.A: Home Trust Company, 1884-1975
- Scope and content:
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Andrew Carnegie established the Home Trust Company in 1901. The role of this financial institution was to invest, keep, and distribute the money Carnegie had set aside for philanthropic activities, as well as distribute money and pensions to relatives, friends, and others as Andrew Carnegie thought appropriate. The Trust, officially a banking firm, never engaged in general banking business. It functioned primarily as the trustee and administrator of trust funds established by Carnegie during his lifetime and then served as the executor of his will.
The company was chartered in New Jersey and had its headquarters in Hoboken. Robert A. Franks, Carnegie's close friend and financial agent from 1883 until Carnegie's death in 1919, was the president of the Company. The other directors were George Lauder, Andrew Carnegie II, Alexander and George King, and Howard Russell Butler.
Carnegie began his list of pensioners in 1881. The list included persons of distinction form all fields -arts, politics, social service, education- who were in need. Other pensioners were figures from his earlier life. It was a private list. In 1901 he gave to the Home Trust Company its first Trust fund to pay these pensions. The initial payment was 1.24 million which grew to 4.25 million by 1914. Other Trusts administered by the Home Trust Company included those set up by George Lauder and Louise W. Carnegie, the railway equipment and other corporate trusts, and trusts for the payment of annuities and Carnegie Hall employee pensions
The Company also served as the source from which Franks, according to Carnegie's instructions, distributed Steel bonds to the trustees of the philanthropic trusts started by Carnegie -Carnegie Institution of Washington, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Carnegie Hero Fund. The last trust to receive such a distribution was the Carnegie Corporation of New York, established in 1911 with the bulk of the bonds in the safe in Hoboken. The remaining bonds were transferred to a bank in Manhattan. (Robert Franks became the Treasurer of CCNY at that time.)
In 1925, CCNY accepted, as part of its legacy, the 965 shares of Home Trust Company stock held in the estate. In 1936 since the Corporation owned most of the Company's common stock, the Corporation's officers undertook the responsibility of running the Company. Until 1962, it continued to administer trusts from which personal pensions and annuities were paid to those on Carnegie's list who survived. In 1962, the Home Trust Company and CCNY entered into an agreement with Hudson Trust Company (later Hudson United Bank) whereby Hudson would administer the business of the Home Trust Company. In 1973 CCNY dissolved the Home Trust Company.
For more information see: Lester, Robert M. Home Trust Company: its history and relation to the Corporation. NY: Printed for the information of the Trustees by the CCNY, June 1, 1943. CCNY Review Series #34 (VIII.A.4. Review Series Box 3).
Note that catalog cards with the location "Carnegie VI.A" are found in the CEIP records, Subsuberies I.A.1, Cataloged correspondence.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent restrictions:
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The Collection is open for research with the following standard embargoes: Series I.A. Board Meeting materials are embargoed fifteen (15) years from date of creation. Series I.E. Staff and Trustee Files are embargoed fifteen (15) years from date of creation. Series III.A Grants, Series III.B. Reports on Grants are embargoed twenty-five (25) years from the date the grant closed.
Please be advised that parts of the collection are housed offsite and we request five (5) days advance notice. For Series III.A. Grants, boxes 1701-2085; Series IV.A CCPDC, Series IV.B CCSTG, IV.C CCAD, Series IV.E TFLPG, Series IV.F TFMNYC, Series IV.G MGSSPI, Series V.A Russell, Series V.B Pifer, Series IV.A Home Trust, Series VIII.C. Grant Books, Series XI.A, Series XI.B and Series XI.C are all offsite.
Unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. Commercial materials are not routinely digitized.
Description for Series III, grants, temporarily moved to separate finding aid: https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_16647888/
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- Permission to publish and quote materials must be obtained in writing from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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