The Giving Game

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

African American History And Culture, American History, Exhibits, Dc, History, Science, Sidedoor, History Of The World, Society & Culture, The Smithsonian, Washington, Natural History, Pop Culture, Smithsonian, Exhibit, Tony Cohn, Zoo, National Museum, Air And Space, National Zoo, Art19, Museum, Postal Museum

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Gilded Age was a time of unparalleled wealth and prosperity in America — but it was also a time of staggering inequality, corruption, and unchecked power. Among its richest figures was Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate who built his fortune on the backs of low-paid workers, only to give it away — earning him the nickname the Godfather of American Philanthropy. He didn’t just fund libraries and universities — he championed a philosophy: that it was the duty of the ultra-wealthy to serve the public good.

But, as it turns out, even philanthropy is a form of power. So, what exactly have wealthy philanthropists done with their power? We explore that question at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, inside Carnegie’s former mansion. There, a board game called Philanthropy invites players to reimagine the connection between money and power — not by amassing wealth, but by giving it away.

Guests:

Christina de León, Associate Curator of Latino Design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Tommy Mishima, artist and co-creator (with Liam Lee) of the installation “Game Room” in Cooper Hewitt's triennial Making Home

David Nasaw, author of the biography Andrew Carnegie

Transcript

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0:00.0	The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.
0:04.7	Andrew Carnegie.
0:10.9	This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.
0:19.6	I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:29.8	Thank you. podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzie Peabody. Check, check-a-de-check. Shall we go?
0:32.4	We're off and away.
0:34.0	I'm in New York this week, visiting the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
0:38.9	And there's one thing that stands out about this museum, besides the fact that it's not on the National Mall in D.C., that is.
0:45.1	And that's the fact that it's actually an old mansion.
0:48.6	As you walk in, you find yourself at the foot of a grand staircase.
0:52.9	Which is so much at the heart of the home and definitely the heart of the museum even
0:59.2	until this day.
1:00.9	Christina de Leon is a curator at Cooper Hewitt, and we are climbing to the top of the staircase,
1:06.2	which is wide enough and tall enough for an elephant to march up.
1:10.3	A Tiffany chandelier hangs in the center.
1:13.0	Whoa!
1:13.8	And the walls are all wood-paneled, carved with intricate designs.
1:18.6	I'm not going to know all the design terms for the, I don't know, the patterns of the wood.
1:24.4	There's these like floral motifs.
1:27.1	There's a reason this building is so ornate.
1:29.3	And that's because it once belonged to Andrew Carnegie, one of the wealthiest Americans
1:34.3	to ever live.
	...

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