Carlisle historian Ruth Hodge, representing the African-American community of Carlisle, was actively involved in the discussion about renaming Carlisle High School's West Building. She had several individuals in mind who qualified for the honor, but when requested to pick just one name, she had no difficulty in narrowing the selection to the late Emma Thompson McGowan, a teacher in the Carlisle school system for almost thirty years. Mrs. McGowan's fine reputation as an individual and educator made her name an obvious choice for an educational building; furthermore, her teaching had directly inspired some students to become teachers themselves. Mrs. Hodge knew this. She is a longtime friend of the McGowan family, is married to a former McGowan student, and encouraged Emma's granddaughters to donate their collection of McGowan family papers to the Cumberland County Historical Society. These granddaughters, Betty Curtis, a retired librarian, and Roberta Pennington, a retired teacher, assembled the materials in a series of orderly scrapbooks, for presentation to the Society in the spring of 2004.
This unique and valuable collection consists of Emma McGowan's writings, professional memorabilia such as certificates and official correspondence, and many Thompson and McGowan family photographs. There are several folders of material related to the life and activities of Alfred McGowan. In addition, there is a substantial collection of material associated with Emma's husband, Osborne Howard McGregor McGowan, who was a resident of Carlisle for about five years. This material includes photographs, writings, and a collection of letters written over a period of ten years, to his young adult daughter, Gladys, who was then residing in Carlisle, with her mother.
The information in the Thompson-McGowan collection would be useful to anyone studying African-American history. It documents the success of a group of African-Americans, who emigrated north following emancipation and the end of the Civil War. The Osborne McGowan material, particularly the letters, provides a good source of information about one man's career in the ministry and the details of everyday living for a black American professional during the 1930s and 1940s. Albert McGowan's documents offer a study of a man's long life in small-town America during the span of the 20th Century.
The article that follows is based on information from the collection as well as interviews with Betty Curtis, Ruth Hodge, and Alfred McGowan.
It's All What You Make of It
The public schools are organized to provide an opportunity for individual growth and development to the end that each may live a happy and productive life. That each may realize in life the most that is possible. To establish the idea of individual responsibility in the duties of citizenship. E. T. McGowan
Over one hundred years ago, in 1889, Emma Thompson McGowan (1876- 1966) moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania with her parents, Charles Caleb Thompson (1848-1936) and Laura White Thompson (1958-1952). She was thirteen years old, almost the same age as the students who now attend high school in a building that bears her name. Unless you count ceaseless hard work, there is little in her early circumstances that would have predicted Emma's later position as a quiet and influential teacher and leader in her community.
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