Mississippi University for Women’s Fant Memorial Library and the Department of History, Political Science, and Geography (HPG) will celebrate Women’s History Month by honoring the lifelong work of Dr. Martha Swain, a renowned southern women’s historian.
The event will take place Friday, March 31 from 1-2:30 p.m. in the Fant Memorial Library located on the MUW campus.
Amanda Clay Powers, dean of library services, and Dr. Erin Kempker, associate professor of history and chair of HPG, will present their remarks at the event on “New Directions for the MUW Special Collections: Collecting Mississippi Women’s History” and “An Extraordinary Example: What is Possible in the Life of a Teacher-Scholar” respectively with a reception to follow. Archivist Derek Webb also will speak about the new space for archives and special collections being built.
Swain, who lives in Starkville, is a graduate of Starkville High School and Mississippi State College, now Mississippi State University. She holds a master’s and doctorate in history from Vanderbilt University. She worked as faculty member at Texas Woman’s University for 21 years. She is a past president of the Southern Association for Women Historians.
Over the years, Swain has written a number of books, chapters and journal articles about southern women’s history. Some of her notable books on the New Deal include “Pat Harrison: The New Deal; Years” and “Ellen Woodward: New Deal Advocate for Women.” She is also the co-author of “Lucy Somerville Howorth: New Deal Lawyer, Politician and Feminist from the South.” Additionally, she co-edited the two-volume collection on “Mississippi Women: Their Histories, Their Lives.”
Swain has recently donated much of her personal women’s history collection to Fant Library, which will be included in the library’s special collections.
“Dr. Swain was part of a generation of women in the 1970s and the 1980s who worked to make history a place for women — both as scholars and as subjects of history,” said Kempker. “Dr. Swain was in the vanguard of women’s historians who sought to expand the discipline of history’s lens and consider more than male actors when considering public policy, like the New Deal.”
Kempker added, “I use selections from her two volume edited collection on Mississippi Women every time I teach HIS 326: Women in American History at The W. The collection of books and materials that she has donated to The W reflect her interest in southern women’s history and her own part in creating the field of southern women’s history.”
Given the historic mission and legacy of The W, Kempker said Swain’s collection will add to the research potential of any student interested in understanding southern women’s experience in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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