UA Museum Highlights Historic Figure Who Wore Multiple Hats

Note to editors/producers: Gorgas House staff will move furniture and set up the new room beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 13. Reporters and photographers are invited to take photos and video during the process. If interested, contact Kim Eaton, UA media relations, at 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu, or, for broadcast media, Shane Dorrill, 205/348-8319 or sdorrill@ur.ua.edu.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Amelia Gorgas had many hats during her time at The University of Alabama. While most campus visitors may recognize her name as one highlighted on the main campus library, the Gorgas House Museum hopes to bring her personality to light with a new display set to open this week.

The back bedroom of the Gorgas House will no longer be a bedroom but a post office, very much like the one Amelia Gorgas ran in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Museum director Lydia Ellington said that particular room was never used as a bedroom during the Dining Hall or Gorgas eras, so they wanted visitors to experience the house as it might have been when Gorgas lived and worked there, from 1886 to 1908.

The reinterpretation was made possible through the donation of two desks — one from a former resident of Capstone Village and one from Tuscaloosa native Dr. David Nelson.

The 19th Century Southern Postmaster’s Desk, donated by Nelson, was used by the postmaster in Columbus, Mississippi, in the 1890s, which is the same time Amelia Gorgas was running the post office for UA out of the Gorgas House.

In addition, she was also the librarian and nurse matron in charge of the infirmary. She was able to handle all three jobs because of her daughters, Jessie and Mamie, who would have likely helped her run the post office, Ellington said.

“We plan to dedicate this space not only to Amelia but to her daughters, as well, and to tell the story of their service to the University,” Ellington said. “The Gorgases, and Amelia in particular, were great favorites of the UA students, and this gives us the space and a great opportunity to delve into Amelia’s story.”

With the help of Hoole Special Collections Library staff, visitors will be able to see copies of letters that Amelia and her daughters wrote and sent through the post office, as well as other letters written by students and faculty that went through the post office.

Ellington said the new exhibit will open to visitors Thursday, May 14.

“So many people only know Amelia Gorgas as the name of the main library on campus, but she was so much more than the librarian,” Ellington said. “Her energetic and engaging personality will be on display with the inclusion of the copies of her letters.

“I hope, with this switch, we can give visitors more of an appreciation for everything she did and the interesting personality that she was,” Ellington said.

“It is also easy for the story of the ‘Gorgas Girls,’ or Amelia’s daughters, to get lost in the story of the Gorgas family as they can be overshadowed by their much lauded elder brother, William,” Ellington added. “Making this switch will hopefully give us ample space to discuss the inhabitants of the house who actually lived here the longest.”

The museum is open 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. General admission is $2.