“Just a few scraps of nutrition” scrapbook

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: MC-012

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This scrapbook was compiled by Mildred Louise Swift (born 1892 in Wrentham, MA) and chronicles her work as nutritional consultant to the Emergency Feeding Project of Fall River in 1932. The project fed 20,000 people (one-fifth of the population) during the height of the Great Depression by setting up commissaries for food distribution and educating families about nutrition. The scrapbook includes a list of typical food costs in 1932, suggested family food budgets, and a report on the success of the project, which became a pilot for other areas in need. Swift entitled the scrapbook “Just a Few Scraps of Nutrition” and annotated it with her thoughts on the project. The commissary system, under the direction of Capt. Fred A. Gower of the Mallory Lines, succeeded in Fall River until at least 1934. The scrapbook includes handwritten and typescript notes and reports, brochures, forms, news clippings, and notebooks.

Dates

1932

Creator

Swift, Mildred Louise (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English

Conditions Governing Access

no known restrictions

Biographical / Historical

Home Economics Professor Mildred Louise Swift was educated at the Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Russell Sage College, Troy, New York (BS 1927), Cornell University (MS 1930) and Harvard University Graduate School of Education (1931). She began teaching home economics in 1923 at Russell Sage College, where she served as head of the Home Economics Department in the director’s absence. She went on to hold several other appointments as Director of Home Economics between 1924 and 1943 (see resume in control file). In 1943 she accepted the position as chairman of the department of home economics at the University of Nevada at Reno, from which she retired in 1957. Throughout her teaching career she took on a number of consulting jobs as nutritionist, including Director of Emergency Feeding in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1932, during the Great Depression. Swift was also involved with the American Red Cross Volunteer Emergency Service as nutritionist during flood disasters. Swift’s personal papers have been donated to the University of Nevada at Reno.