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Gladys Virginia Swackhamer was born September 17, 1893 in Hagerstown, Maryland, the daughter of Judge Austin H. Swackhamer and Florence Anderson Swackhamer. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Smith College in 1917 and went on to earn her Master of Social Work in 1923 as a member of the first class of the Smith College School for Social Work. She then obtained a Certificate of Proficiency in the German language from the Institut fuer Auslaender at the University of Berlin.
Gladys Swackhammer on parapet of Castil Gandalpho
(with St. Peter's basilica in the background), Rome, 1932
Early in her professional career, Swackhamer practiced social case work in hospitals and clinics in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. After obtaining a position as Secretary and Research Assistant to the editor of the
Upon retirement, Swackhamer continued her life-long involvement in the Unitarian Church and also pursued a variety of community interests, including the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and the Child Guidance Clinic of Santa Barbara. She was a committed pacifist and took great interest in the political issues of her day, frequently writing articulate, well-informed letters to her elected representatives and to the editors of local newspapers. In 1986, under the aegis of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Swackhamer initiated the Austin H. and Florence A. Swackhamer Memorial Prizes, to be awarded annually to three college-bound high school seniors for the best essays on how to promote world peace in the nuclear age. The contest was open to international and United States students, and the essays were to focus on specific themes, determined each year by Swackhamer and the staff of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Swackhamer was listed in
The collection is comprised of biographical material, genealogical records, photographs, correspondence, writings, material pertaining to professional activities, and subject files. Obituaries and condolences for Swackhamer's father, a prominent New Jersey judge, are also included. Personal correspondence is extensive, most notably letters between Swackhamer and her maternal uncle, C.W.G. Anderson, spanning a period of forty years. There is a significant amount of genealogical material as well. Also of potential interest is correspondence with Richard Clemmer, which documents his effort to obtain conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War.
There is also material pertaining to social and political activism in the 1980s, including Swackhamer's letters to editors of newspapers and to her elected representatives on such topics as nuclear disarmament, the environment, homelessness, the plight of migrant farm workers, and governmental waste and mismanagement.
Towards the end of her life Swackhamer began attending writing classes taught by a local author, Robert Downey, resulting in short, descriptive narratives that were autobiographical in nature. She also began recording and interpreting her dreams.
This collection is organized into six series:
The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the papers of Gladys Virginia Swackhamer. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Gladys Virginia Swackhamer Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Roberta Weissglass donated the Gladys Virginia Swackhamer Papers to the Sophia Smith Collection in 1990.
Processed by Burd Schlessinger, 1997.
Resumes, educational records, obituaries, legal documents, genealogical material, travel memorabilia, address books.
Portraits of Gladys Virginia Swackhamer; some of immediate family.
Personal, professional and political correspondence.
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and journal article.
Reports, surveys, studies and journal articles, creative writing pieces, records and interpretation of dreams.