Summary Information
Ernest Swift Papers
1936-1964
Mss 676
0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Speeches by Ernest Swift, a Wisconsin conservation advocate who was director of the Wisconsin Conservation Department and executive director of the National Wildlife Federation.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00676 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Wisconsin conservation advocate and writer Ernest Fremont Swift was born in Tracy, Minnesota, on September 15, 1897. In 1913 Swift's father purchased a farm near Hayward, Wisconsin, but the family only lived there in the summer, and Swift graduated from Tracy High School in 1916. In 1917 he joined the U.S. Army. After his release in 1919 Swift returned to the family farm. In a vain attempt to keep the farm financially solvent Swift turned to guiding and work in the lumber camps. Then in 1926 he took an examination for conservation warden and was assigned to game law enforcement and fire protection duties. In 1928 his understanding of the nature of the conservation field was expanded as a result of his acquaintance with Aldo Leopold. During this period he carried out various scientific studies and became a strong advocate of proper management of Wisconsin's deer herd. In 1930 he was the first conservation warden in the state to receive the Haskel Noyes award.
In 1935 Swift moved to Madison as assistant to the game manager in the state Conservation Department. Later that year he was promoted to deputy director of the department. In 1942 he was promoted to the position of assistant director and in 1947 he became director of the Conservation Department. Throughout his career Swift was a strong advocate of conservation causes and many of his positions were controversial both among the population at large and with the Conservation Commission. In 1954 Swift resigned to go to Washington, D.C., as assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. From 1955 to 1960 he was executive director of the National Wildlife Federation. After his retirement he returned to Rice Lake, Wisconsin, although he continued to serve the federation as a consultant. He died on July 24, 1968.
Scope and Content Note
The Ernest Swift Papers consist almost entirely of speeches, talks, papers, reports and other writings by Swift on a variety of topics related to conservation. The speeches are chronologically arranged and cover the period 1936-1941 when Swift was deputy director of the Conservation Department and 1947-1964 when he was director of the department and head of the National Wildlife Federation. Other material in the collection includes miscellaneous correspondence, miscellaneous biographical material (including a True magazine article based on an arrest he made of a Chicago gangster in the 1920s), indexes and lists of the speeches, and a small file of Wisconsin-related conservation speeches by others.
Related Material
Researchers interested in Swift's activities as an official of the Wisconsin Conservation Department will want to consult the extensive files of that agency held by the State Archives at the Historical Society. The Historical Society Archives also holds a lengthy, transcribed oral history interview with Swift (Tapes 346A and 381A) conducted in 1964, and in the Library is a copy of his Glory Trail: The Great American Migration and Its Impact on Natural Resources. The Walter Scott Papers, also held by the Archives, include a few additional Swift speeches and a few post-retirement letters.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Ernest F. Swift, Rice Lake, Wisconsin, 1964, 1968. Accession Number: M64-347, M68-255
Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1986.
Contents List
|
Box
1
Folder
1
|
Biographical information, undated
|
|
|
Speeches
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
2
|
1936-1941, and Index
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
3-7
|
1947-1964
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
1-2
|
Undated
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
3
|
Speech listing, undated
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
4
|
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1955-1959, undated
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
5
|
Wisconsin-related speeches by others, undated
|
|
|
