Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Sword, Victor Hugo papers
M2106  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Content Description
  • Biographical Note
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation
  • General

  • Language of Material: English
    Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives
    Title: Victor Hugo Sword papers
    Source: Van Saun, Matthew
    Creator: Sword, Victor Hugo, 1893-
    Identifier/Call Number: M2106
    Physical Description: 1.0 Linear Feet (2 boxes and 1 map folder)
    Date (inclusive): 1920s-1970s
    Language of Material: Primarily in English with some content in Hindi.

    Content Description

    Included are letters related directly to events in India's history, documents and letters from Sword's life in the United States, as well as typed correspondence, handwritten letters, hand drawn maps, sketches, reports, telegrams and more. Some of the letters and documents reference Gandhi, Partition of India, missionary work, WWII, and the American and British forces stationed in India. Also included is official correspondence with US Government representatives such as George Merrell, Secretary of the President of the United States, and Richard W. Byrd, American Vice Consul in India. There are five letters from Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit, an Indian diplomat and politician, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru the aunt of India Gandhi and the grandaunt of Rajiv Gandhi, each of who served as Prime Minister of India. She was the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Biographical Note

    Victor Hugo Sword was a Baptist missionary to Assam, India. He was a representative of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. Born in Sweden in 1893, he immigrated to the United States and eventually became a naturalized US citizen in 1920. He graduated from Bethel Academy in St. Anthony Park, Missesota in 1915, received his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Northern Theological Seminary in 1934, and a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1935. He wed a fellow graduate of Bethel Academy, Cora Estelle Walter (class of 1916) and the two had a daughter, Linnea, in 1928. Sword went on to become the Chairman and one of the founders of Union Christian College in Assam, India, and was a well-known missionary figure in the country. He had direct contact with Gandhi and Nehru as well as many contacts with the American government in India. Sword wrote several books about India, including Baptists in Assam: A Century of Missionary Service 1836-1936, and Gandhi’s Children.

    Conditions Governing Access

    Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

    Conditions Governing Use

    While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    Purchased by Stanford University Libraries in 2015.

    Preferred Citation

    [identification of item], Victor Hugo Sword papers (M2106). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

    General

    Musty odor. Some individual items cleaned by conservation.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Sword, Victor Hugo, 1893-