Gladys Jane Swift collection

The collection includes letters written by Gladys Jane Swift to her parents from summer camp (1937 to 1942), throughout her years at Middlebury College (1942-1946), and during her European Festivals Tour in 1953. Some of the European letters were suggested as being “For Radio If Wanted.” The Festival Tour was, in effect, a grand tour of Europe, and as such is interesting from the viewpoint of a young American visiting Europe in the period just following World War II. Gladys Jane Swift’s letters to her parents from summer camp are charming in that they are typical of a young girl away from home, depicting her growth and development over succeeding summers until she is a Junior Counselor. Her nickname in the family is “Barney.” These Camp Vistamont letters cover 1937-1942. Gladys Jane Swift’s letters from Middlebury to Mary and Harley Swift reveal a college girl’s life during the period of the V-12 program and the years when the college was largely made up of women students. Shortness of time to write, active exam schedules, travel plans, her enthusiasm for theatre activities, dances, parties, and all the typical college excitement is apparent in her regular letters to her parents. Notable is a small collection of correspondence between Swift and her mother on the subject of Swift receiving the Henry Hobart Vail prize (Optima Award) – an award to the Junior voted by her classmates to be the “most typical of Middlebury as shown by her character, scholarship and personality.” GJS was a member of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. The letters from the servicemen give insight into their postings and travels during the years of World War II. The letters from Gladys Jane Swift to her parents reflect some postings that her officer father filled during the war as well. He was in the U.S. during his service, and settled after the War in Harrisburg, PA, where Gladys Jane Swift also made her home.