Gorgas Library; a library dedicated to Amelia Gayle Gorgas

Item

Legacies Classification
Memorial Structure
Memorial Type
Named Building
Memorial Context
Lost Cause
Jim Crow
Memorialized Subject
Gorgas, Amelia Gayle
Title
Gorgas Library; a library dedicated to Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Background and Context
Constructed in 1939, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library was dedicated to librarian, postmistress, and wife to the 8th president of the University of Alabama (General Josiah Gorgas), being the first building on the university's campus to be named after a woman. Built on the site of the original library (the Rotunda) that was burned alongside most of campus during the Civil War, Gorgas Library continues to be a hallmark of the University of Alabama with a history entangled with slavery and its legacies. Gorgas herself was the daughter of enslavers and wife to a Confederate officer. She would go on to be active in the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The library still serves its original purpose, but was expanded with additional stories and a rear addition in the 1960s to accommodate the University's growing enrollment and the evolution of technology. A notable cosmetic change to the library includes the relocation of the Tiffany window, donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Lost Cause efforts depicting a Confederate soldier as a knight; placed in Gorgas Library from its construction until it was removed in 1993. In 2023, renovations began on the library with new electrical and pump rooms added to the rear of the building. Today, an estimated 900,000 students and faculty use Gorgas Library yearly. Traditions within the campus community happen on the steps of the library, including the Elephant Stomp (a show of the marching band) before home football games.
Physical Description
Located on the site of the original campus library (the Rotunda) that was burned during the Civil War, Gorgas Library sits on the north end of the university's quadrangle, facing the President's Mansion. Built to match the style of surrounding buildings, the Classical Revival style is evident in its eight Ionic columns emphasizing its entryway at the top of a grand staircase leading to a spacious lobby. Built of stone and red brick, the construction followed the so-called Greater University plan, and it became the largest building on campus at the time of its construction.
Creator/Participating Person(s)
Martin, Hugh
Birmingham architectural firm Miller, Martin, and Lewis
Davis and Speake Associates of Birmingham
Date created, installed or dedicated
1939
Date Modified
1960
2023
Historical Period
1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism
1945-1976: Era of Civil Rights Movement and resistance to Civil Rights Movement
2000-Present: Confederate Memorialization in the Era of Universities Studying Slavery and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Funded by
The Public Works Administration
University of Alabama; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Location: Institution, City, State
University of Alabama; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Learn More About this Subject
Robert Oliver Mellown, The University of Alabama: A Guide to the Campus and its Architecture (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2013).

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