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Swett-Tracy Family Papers and Photographs
BANC MSS 91/206 cz
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Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Swett-Tracy family papers and photographs
Creator:
Swett (Family : Swett, John, 1830-1913)
Creator:
Tracy (Family : Tracy, Frederick Palmer, 1815-1860)
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 91/206 cz
Physical Description:
18 linear feet
(9 cartons, 2 boxes, 8 oversize boxes)
Physical Description:
450 photographs
Date (inclusive): approximately 1698-1943
Date (bulk): bulk 1836-1937
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection open for research.
Collection is arranged into sub-groups by family member.
John Swett was an only child born July 31, 1830 in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, to Lucretia French (1804-1896) and Ebenezer
Swett (d. 1843). The couple were Congregationalists and were married in 1829. After Ebenezer's death, Lucretia married William
Berry in 1844. John Swett died August 22, 1913 in Alhambra Valley, near Martinez, California. During his life he was a close
friend of Sierra Club co-founder John Muir. In 1863 he was instrumental in founding the California Educational Society, which
would become the California Teachers Association, the largest teachers' union in the state of California. Running in 1863,
during the Civil War, as a National Union Party (Republican) candidate he was elected California State Superintendent of Public
Instruction and served until 1867.
He married Mary Louise (Tracy) Swett, also an educator, on May 8, 1862 in Sonoma, and they had 6 children: Emelie Tracy Young
Swett (1863-1892); William Russell Swett (1868-1868); Frank Tracy Swett (1869-1969); Walter Harper Swett (1871-1872); Helen
Swett (1875-1938); and John French Swett (1879-1945).
Helen Swett married Gregorio Artieda y Paris on 29 August 1912, in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. She lived
in Contra Costa, California, United States in 1900 and Oakland, Alameda, California, United States in 1930. She died on 30
April 1938, in Alameda, California, United States, at the age of 63. Helen Swett was a social worker and served as President
of the Public Welfare League of Alameda County. She held the position of field worker in the department of sociology at Mills
College under Dr. Mary Roberts Coolidge.
Mary Louise Swett was the daughter of Frederick Palmer Tracy, one of the founders of the Republican Party in California. Tracy
was born in Scotland, Windham County, Connecticut in 1815 to Cyrus and Hannah Mason Tracy. He married Emily Stone around 1837.
He moved his family to San Francisco in the early 1850s and established himself as an attorney. Tracy died in Lowville, Lewis
County, New York and is buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.
Emily Scott was born in 1815 to Obadiah Stone and Waity Stone, of Thompson, Connecticut. She died in January 1892 in St Helena,
California and is buried with her husband Frederick Palmer Tracy at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California. Emily
married Frederick P. Tracy on January 10, 1837 and together they had five children: Frederick Augustus Eugene, born July 18,
1838, and died February 23, 1839; Mary Louisa, born December 8, 1839, married John Swett, Esq., of San Francisco, California;
Frederick William, born February 9, 1842, died in San Francisco; Grace Emeline, born Mar 2, 1844, and died March 25, 1857,
in San Francisco; and Thomas Garnier, born August 23, 1845.
Swett-Tracy family papers (BANC MSS 91/206 cz), The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Collection processed by Lara Michels and Malayna Chang (Bancroft student processing assistant) in 2023.
John Swett papers (BANC MSS C-B 352), The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Tracy family papers (BANC MSS Z-Z 107), The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Helen Swett letters to her fiancé, Charles E. Schwartz : and other papers (BANC MSS C-B 353), The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley.
The papers and photographs of the Swett and Tracy families, including materials on John Swett, Mary Tracy Swett, and their
children (especially Helen and Frank Swett) as well as materials on the family of Frederick Palmer Tracy and Emily Scott Tracy
(Mary Swett's parents). Much of the materials is related to John Swett, Helen Swett, and Frederick Palmer Tracy. Among the
materials relating to Frederick Palmer Tracy is correspondence relating to his role in the early California Republican Party
during the 1850s and 1860s and a range of materials relating to his Tracy family ancestors in colonial Connecticut. Prominent
among the Swett family materials are the work-related subject files of Helen Swett, a social worker in the East Bay and an
activist for a range of progressive causes in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Swett, John, 1830-1913
Swett, Mary Louisa Tracy, 1839-1919
Artieda, Helen Swett
Swett, Frank Tracy, 1869-1969
Parkhurst, Emily Tracy Y. Swett, 1863-1892
Berry, Lucretia French Swett, 1804-1896
Swett, Ebenezer
Tracy, Frederick Palmer, 1815-1860
Tracy, Emily Scott, 1815-1892
Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Tracy, Cyrus M. ((Cyrus Mason)), 1824-1891
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892
Stanton, Henry B. ((Henry Brewster)), 1805-1887
Pierce, Franklin, 1804-1869
Curtis, George William, 1824-1892
Gwin, William McKendree, 1805-1885
Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893
Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872
Nicolay, John G. ((John George)), 1832-1901
Alameda County Birth Control League
Swett (Family : Swett, John, 1830-1913) -- Archives
Tracy (Family : Tracy, Frederick Palmer, 1815-1860) -- Archives
Swett (Family : Swett, John, 1830-1913) -- Photographs
Tracy (Family : Tracy, Frederick Palmer, 1815-1860) -- Photographs
Community Chest of Oakland (Calif.)
East Bay Housewives League
California Cooperative Council
Public Welfare League of Alameda County
Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968
Massachusetts and California Company
Republican Party (Calif.)
Republican National Convention (2nd : 1860 : Chicago, Ill.)
Education -- California
Public schools -- California -- History
Birth control -- History -- Alameda County (Calif.)
Social service -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
Prohibition -- Alameda County (Calif.)
Political parties -- California
California -- Politics and government -- 1850-1950
Cooperative societies -- California
Women in cooperative societies
Families -- San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
Martinez (Contra Costa County, Calif.)
Alameda County (Calif.)
Family papers
Photographs