"Gone With the Wind" is coming to Fayetteville's historic Holliday-Dorsey-Fife House.

City preservationists have purchased portions of the well-known collection of Patsy Wiggins, which has been on display for years at Historical Jonesboro's downtown depot, with plans to display the period clothing, artifacts and memorabilia in the Holliday House.

"I think it's going to be a tremendous addition to the appeal of the house," said Sherri Anderson, director of the city's Main Street program.

Volunteers in the Holliday House Association have worked for years to preserve the historic house, connected to the family of famous gunslinger Doc Holliday. The city recently bought the house using funds from a bond sale approved by City Council, with plans to put its restoration on a fast track and make the landmark the centerpiece of downtown revitalization efforts.

Another shot in the arm came recently when an anonymous donor gave $100,000 to help furnish the house. Main Street officials used $27,000 from that nest egg to buy the "Gone With the Wind" display.

Displaying memorabilia from the famous book and movie will help local volunteers and officials market the Holliday House as a museum and tourist attraction, Anderson said, but added that there are legitimate connections between the house and "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell.

Early in its existence, the house was used as a dormitory for the Fayetteville Female Academy, attended by Margaret Mitchell's grandmother Annie Fitzgerald, said Anderson. The feisty grandmother was the inspiration for the book's central character, Scarlett O'Hara, she added.

Also, Mitchell's second cousin, Mattie Fitzgerald, provided fodder for development of the supporting character Melanie, Scarlett's sister, she said.

Mitchell also was a distant cousin, by marriage, of the Hollidays, as one member of the Fitzgerald clan married a Holliday.

Mitchell's ties to Fayetteville also included permission, through her will, for use of her name on the city's public library building. The Margaret Mitchell Public Library now provides headquarters space for the Fayette County Historical Society.

"Our interest in this collection is really much more related to Margaret Mitchell than it is to 'Gone With the Wind,' but it is a well-known famous novel and we wanted to include some items that spoke of that," said Anderson.

The entire collection was too large for use in the house, she said, and Wiggins is trying to interest Clayton County in buying the rest.

Currently, the house is open by appointment only, Anderson said. It will be completely closed during some restoration phases, whenever there is a danger to the public or to the house from the reconstruction work.

"We would like to have it open as much as possible during the restoration," she said, "because the work itself will be of interest. But while they're doing some of the structural work it could be unsafe," she added.