Andrew Carnegie was once a member of this organization and a major donor to its library, which is magnificent. It has a photo of him. He’s one of many guests seated at a dinner party that took place there a long time ago. I joked with Victoria Dengel, who is the executive director of The General Society, that when I die I want to be in that photo, like Jack Nicholson in the last scene in “The Shining.” I want to sit at Carnegie’s table with a big smile on my face.
Many more photos were taken over the years; generations of people gathering for dinner and conversation. Dengel pointed to a very special one. “No one comes to this place without meeting my parents,” she said, pointing them out.