Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Swain, Barbara, 1898- |
| Title: | Barbara Swain Papers |
| Dates: | approximately 1926-1965 |
| Quantity: | 1.0 cubic feet (5 boxes) |
| Abstract: | Class materials, presumably from Swain's teaching career at Vassar College. |
Biographical Note
Barbara Swain was the daughter of George Fillmore and Katherine (Wheeler) Swain. She born in Boston, MA in 1898 and studied at the Winsor School in Boston from 1911 to 1916. In 1920, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College with an A.B. degree. At Vassar, she was the News Editor of the Miscellany News. From 1920-1922, she taught English and History at Francis Parker School in Chicago. She earned an A.M. degree in 1924 and Ph.D. in 1932 in Comparative Literature from Columbia University, where she was a research assistant from 1925 to 1926 in the English department. She also studied education at Harvard University and French literature and history at the Sorbonne. Awarded a Vassar Faculty Fellowship for 1958-1959, she attended courses at Columbia and carried on intensive private study of Old, Middle, and Theoretical-Modern English.
In 1926, Barbara Swain became an instructor of English at Vassar College. She was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1931, and Associate Professor in 1937. In 1944, she was awarded the position of full professor. During her Vassar career, she taught a wide range of English language history courses as well as literature subjects from Shakespeare to Contemporary Poetry. One of Swain's major publications was Fools and Folly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Columbia University Press, 1932).
Swain was also active in the local community. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie for 22 years. In addition, she was an active supporter of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, where she provided the funds for the renovation of the the Bardavon balcony as a memorial to her father.
Barbara Swain died 8 October 1984, in Bryn Mawr, PA
TopScope and Content Note
Class materials, presumably from Swain's teaching career at Vassar College.
TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Subject Headings
Subjects:
- Literature--Study and teaching
- English Language--Study and teaching
Organizations:
- Vassar College--Faculty
VCL Categories
- Education
- Vassar College
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Barbara Swain Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown.
Container List
| Folders 1.1 - 1.5 | Wallace Steow |
| Folders 1.6 - 1.7 | Words: Dictionary Stuff |
| Folder 2.1 | Words: Dictionary Stuff |
| Folder 2.2 | Sentence Analyses: Samples 14th Century - 20th Century |
| Folder 2.3 | English 105 |
| Folder 2.4 | Poems |
| Folders 2.5 - 2.6 | Grammar and sentence analysis |
| Folders 2.7 - 2.8 | Basic theory of teaching: Word work |
| Folder 3.1 | Ideas about literature: General/specific pieces |
| Folders 3.2 - 3.3 | Sounds in English |
| Folder 3.4 | Sample Course Plans |
| Folder 3.5 | Poem comparison |
| Folder 4.1 | Chronologies, public events |
| Folders 4.2 - 4.3 | Short prose |
| Folder 4.4 - 4.5 | O.E. and M.E. vocabs and passages |
| Folder 5.1 | Notebook: Class notes 1964 |
| Folder 5.2 | Summers 1964-1965 |
| Folder 5.3 | B.M. Language and Linguistics, 20, 30, 79, 85 |
| Folder 5.4 | B.M. Language and Linguistics, 97-99, A-234 |
| Folders 5.5 - 5.7 | Assorted bibliographic |
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Details
Class materials, presumably from Swain's teaching career at Vassar College.
