Amelia Gayle Gorgas (June 1, 1826 – January 3, 1913) was librarian and

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

for 25 years until her retirement at the age of eighty in 1907. She expanded the library from 6,000 to 20,000 volumes. The primary library at the university is named after her. A native of Greensboro, Alabama, Amelia was the daughter of Alabama governor John Gayle, the wife of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

-born Confederate general

Josiah Gorgas Josiah Gorgas (July 1, 1818 – May 15, 1883) was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama. As chief of ordnance during the American Civil War, Gorgas managed to keep the Confederate ...

and the mother of Surgeon General William C. Gorgas. She was inducted into the

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...

in 1977.

References

External links

Alabama's Women Hall of Fame

University of Alabama Gorgas Library

Josiah and Amelia Gorgas Family papers, University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama
People from Greensboro, Alabama 1826 births 1913 deaths University of Alabama people American librarians American women librarians {{library-bio-stub