TSLA Workshop Series: Researcher Chronicles Love and War in Sumner County Town of Gallatin

It started with a love letter, more than 100 years old, that Judith Morgan found tucked in the pages of a book recovered from a Gallatin mansion that had been demolished decades earlier.

Morgan began doing some research and discovered that the woman who received the letter and the man who had sent it eventually married – but only after a courtship that lasted more than 20 years.

Morgan, a retired state employee, kept digging until she had discovered details about the lives of the mysterious couple, their families and their town's place in some of the country's most significant historical events.

Those details emerged in Morgan's book, "The Lost World of Langley Hall," which is the subject of an upcoming free workshop sponsored by the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).

Langley Hall on Coles Ferry Road, circa 1960. Looking Back at Tennessee, TSLA

At the workshop, Morgan will discuss how her chance discovery of the letter launched a research project chronicling the lives of the Trousdale and Allen families from 1853 through 1952. While delving into the lives of those two prominent Gallatin families, Morgan learned details about other town residents who played prominent roles in the wars and other major national events of the era.

At the workshop, titled "Researching and Writing 'The Lost World of Langley Hall,'" Morgan will also discuss how she used resources at the State Library and Archives to assist in her research.

The workshop will be held Feb. 15 from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the auditorium at the State Library and Archives building. The building is located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, directly west of the State Capitol building in downtown Nashville.

Although the workshop is free and open to the public, reservations are required due to limited seating availability in the auditorium. To make a reservation, call: (615) 741-2764 or e-mail: workshop.tsla@tn.gov.

Parking is available in front, beside and behind the State Library and Archives building.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.