Amelia Gayle Gorgas (June 1, 1826 – January 3, 1913) was librarian and postmaster of the University of Alabama 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-born Confederate general Josiah Gorgas and the mother of Surgeon General William C. Gorgas. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1977.
Contents
Early life and education
Amelia Gayle was born June 1, 1826, at Greensboro, Alabama. Her parents were Gov. John and Sarah Ann Haynsworth Gayle.
She was educated by governesses and at Columbia female institute, Columbia, Tennessee, graduating in 1842, with highest honors. She spent four years of her girlhood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, while her father was governor of the State, afterwards removed to Mobile, Alabama where she grew to adulthood and spent the years of her father's term in congress in Washington, D.C.
Career
While in Washington, she enjoyed the unusual privilege of association with the celebrities of the time. Among her most prominent friends was John C. Calhoun. She was frequently a visitor at the White House and was, through the courtesy of Mr. Calhoun, one of the two women on the platform during the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument.