Exploring the Foster family archives at UNA

By Torey Badar
MSNHA graduate student

Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts about the “Sallie Independence Foster Collection, 1835-1889,” at the University of North Alabama Archives & Special Collections, part of Collier Library. Torey Badar is a public-history graduate student at UNA. Information in this post comes from the UNA Archives.

George Washington Foster was born on Nov. 28, 1806, in Nashville. He later became a successful industrialist and planter in the Florence area. His home — now known as Rogers Hall — was built in 1854 at 500 N. Court St. in Florence. It’s one of the oldest buildings on the University of North Alabama campus.

During Foster’s lifetime, he made a great contribution to the Florence community. He donated $10,000 to UNA, which was known as Florence Wesleyan University at the time. This donation largely contributed to the construction of Wesleyan Hall, another building on UNA’s campus which was completed in 1856. Foster had seven children. Two of his children, Watkins and George Washington Jr., served in the Civil War. During their military service, they wrote letters to home describing life in the war. These letters, along with other information about the Foster family, are maintained at UNA’s Archives and Special Collections.

Check back next week for another look at UNA’s Foster family collection.

Photo by Torey Badar

 

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

A Cannon Ball’s Tale

By Greg Gresham North Alabama Civil War Round Table If you’ve ever been in Pope’s Tavern Museum, you might remember seeing an extremely large cannonball, much bigger than anything you

Country music grew in 1970s

By Jessie Johnson MSNHA graduate assistant When you think about the music scene in the Shoals, you do not think of country. You might think of Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge