Evander McIver (E.M.) Sweet, Jr. Papers

Processed by Annie Golden

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University of the Pacific Library

3601 Pacific Ave.

Stockton, CA 95211

Phone: (209) 946-2404

Fax: (209) 946-2942

URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html

Evander McIver (E.M.) Sweet, Jr. Papers

Collection number: MSS 303

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University of the Pacific Library

Stockton, California

Processed by:: Processed by Annie Golden
Date Completed:: August 2004
Encoded by:: Michael Wurtz

Descriptive Summary

Title: Evander McIver (E.M.) Sweet, Jr. papers

Dates: ca. 1885-1975

Bulk Dates: 1894-1947

Collection number: MSS 303

Collector: Sweet, Evander McIver, Jr. 1870-1947

Collection Size: 6 linear feet

Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Dept. of Special Collections

Stockton, California 95211

Abstract: This collection contains family correspondence.

Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

Collection open for research.

Publication Rights

Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred Citation

Evander McIver (E.M.) Sweet, Jr. papers. MSS 303. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Biography / Administrative History

Evander McIver Sweet, Jr. was born in Sexton, Sabine County, Texas on June 3, 1870, the son of a pioneering Methodist Minster. Sweet attended Waxahachie College in Waxahachie, Texas, and Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and graduated in 1894, with an A.B. (classical studies). In 1892 he married Blaxie Sanford and in 1893, while Sweet was a junior, their first of five children was born. After graduation Sweet was the private secretary to United States Senator Horace Chilton (TX) in Washington D.C. from 1895-1897. In 1898 Sweet worked for the War Department, and was transferred in 1901 to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Education. In 1903 Sweet started a new career as a minister for the Indian Mission Conference and was appointed to Muskogee, Tulsa, Lawton, and Ada Districts in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Later he was appointed presiding elder of the Vinita District in the Indian Territory. While in the Indian Territory Sweet and his colleagues were concerned about the sale of liquor on the Indian Reservations. The Five-Civilized Tribes were promised by the Federal Government that liquor would be not be sold to the Indians. However, the United States Supreme Court ruled that sale of liquor to Indians is a police regulation and therefore did not apply to Indians who were citizens in the Indian Territory. In 1904, to prohibit the sale of liquor in the Indian Territory, Sweet organized the Indian Territory Church Federation for Prohibition Statehood, which elected him executive secretary, and was instrumental in writing prohibition into the Oklahoma Constitution.

In 1915, Sweet was hired as an Inspector for the Department of Interior, Office of Indian Affairs. Sweet was terminated by the Office of Indian Affairs in 1921 and became an agent for Pacific Mutual Life in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1925 Sweet moved his family to Stockton, CA and became a General Agent for Pacific Mutual Life Insurance, and retired in 1935. After his retirement Sweet traveled to the World Mission Fields with Bishop Arthur J. Moore, at the Bishop's invitation. They traveled to China, Japan, Africa, and Europe, visiting over twenty countries. During their travels Sweet took pictures and movies of the countries that he visited. Sweet returned to the United States in 1936 and lectured throughout the United States with his missionary movies, channeling thousands of dollars into the foreign missions. Later he became a lay delegate to the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, South, 1937-1939. In addition to these activities Sweet also wrote articles for the Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, American Illustrated Methodist Magazine, The Christian Advocate, and The World Today. At the time of his death he was on his way to Vancouver, Canada to spend his summer writing a book entitled "The Hand of God in a Democracy." E.M. Sweet, Jr. died on November 14, 1947.

Scope and Content of Collection

This collection contains family correspondence, personal correspondence, business correspondence, correspondence about the Oklahoma Prohibition Statehood, miscellaneous correspondence; writings by E.M. Sweet, Sr. and E.M Sweet, Jr.; job recommendations for E.M. Sweet, Jr.; letters of introduction for E.M. Sweet, Jr.; blueprints of E.M. Sweet, Jr.'s inventions; journals; scrapbooks of E.M. Sweet, Jr.'s trip to the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe; photographs; newspaper clippings, and ephemera.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Sweet, Evander McIver, Sr.

Prohibition - United States - History.

Prohibition - Oklahoma.

Indians of North America - Alcohol use - Oklahoma

Liquor laws - Oklahoma

Related Material

MSS 47: E.M. Sweet, Jr.: Bureau of Indian Affairs Papers. MSS 252: Pearl Shaffer Sweet Papers

Series 1: Family Correspondence, 1858-1975 (bulk 1894-1950). Includes letters to and from Theodore Roosevelt, 1906 and correspondence with E. E. Overholt.

Scope and Content Note

3 Boxes. Folder inventory available upon request.

Series 2: E.M. Sweet Jr. Personal and Business Correspondence, 1892-1947

Scope and Content Note

3 Boxes. Folder inventory available upon request.

Series 3: Indian Territory (Oklahoma) Church Federation for Prohibition Statehood, 1904-1905

Scope and Content Note