Why was Gamble Hall named that?

Did AASU’s Gamble Hall get its name from activities such as laying bets?   No -- the building (home to the department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy and numerous classrooms) was named in honor of Savannah Mayor Thomas Gamble (1868-1945).  Mayor Gamble, one of the founders of Armstrong, was a journalist and historian as well as a politician.  A biography of him written by history student Russell Bazemore in 1988 as a class project is now available via Lane Library’s website as “The Savannah Biographies.”

Mayor Thomas Gamble marches with faculty at Armstrong's first commencement in May 1937.
From 1938 Geechee, p 91.

            The Savannah Biographies project was a History Department effort in the 1980's and 1990’s, led by Professor Roger Warlick.  Dr. Warlick (1930-1998) encouraged students  in his “Historical Methods” courses to do a lot of work with primary, locally available sources, resulting in papers useful to future researchers.  Over 400 biographies were created, and all were bound and have been available to researchers visiting the Lane Library’s special collections Minis Room.   Now, the librarians are having them digitized and posted on the library’s website.  

            In Russell Bazemore’s paper about the mayor, readers can find  comments made by Mr. Gamble such as the following, made in response to a request for his opinion on the revealing bathing suits women in the early 1930’s had started to wear:  “I am not a brave enough man to presume to dictate to the daughters of Eve as to what they should wear on the beach or anywhere else.”  We’re glad he was brave enough to make the many civic contributions to Savannah’s life and history, though!  Read more about this key figure in AASU’s history at http://library.armstrong.edu/savannahbiographies.html.