Esther Swift Honored
For Lifetime Achievement
By Martha Slater

South Royalton author Esther Swift—who as a young girl used to babysit for U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy—was recognized last week when the Center for Research on Vermont made her the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2007.

The award was presented May 3 at the center’s annual meeting in Montpelier.

Perhaps best known as the author of "Vermont Place Names: Footprints of History," now in its fifth printing, "she represents all that is the best of Vermont and continues to be very active in preservation of its history, most recently through archiving of the UVM Landscape Change website," noted Pamala Yerrington of Randolph.

Her book is "one of the half dozen essential books about Vermont," said Kevin Graffagnino, executive director of the Vermont Historical Society, who presented the award. "I use it all the time."

The Center for Research on Vermont decribes itself as "the clearinghouse for Vermont-related research" and "an interdisciplinary network of scholars." The Center also coordinates the Vermont Studies Program at UVM.

Kristin Peterson-Ishaq, coordinator of the center, noted that Swift’s award honors her "for her enduring contributions to research vital to the state and the citizens of Vermont."

She also praised her energetic and insightful work—even now at age 84—for UVM’s Vermont Landscape Images program, which compares old photos of Vermont with contemporary photos at the same site.

Swift is "one of the major contributors" to the project, which can be viewed on the UVM website, she said.

Oops—A New Yorker

Swift was born in New York by mistake.

"I’m an import!" Swift said with a chuckle. "I was supposed to be born in Vermont, but my mother had gone down to Amenia, N.Y. to visit her aunt and uncle and I arrived early while she was there."

Swift grew up in Montpelier in a large house on the corner of Liberty and Loomis St., which was built by her great-grandmother’s eldest brother, Samuel Bosworth. As a young girl, she babysat for Patrick Leahy and his brothers.

"He’s remained a dear friend," Swifts said, "and nothing happens in my life that he doesn’t call about and ask if he can help me in some way."

Educated at the Northfield Seminary, she went to the University of Vermont. Her maternal grandmother, Jessie Anna Hunt, was the first woman admitted to UVM as a student and one of the first two women to graduate from there. Swift earned degrees from Columbia and University of Utah in Salt Lake City and was awarded her Ph.D. in the 1940s from the University of Chicago.

In the 1940s, Laurence Rockefeller pioneered the founding of the Free Public Library Commission (FPLC) and Esther worked as the regional librarian for the FPLC of Vermont. Her son was a teenager at the time and earned part of his tuition money working summers down in the basement sorting books.

United Nations Career

After working for the library commission, she spent several years working overseas for the United Nations, helping to establish libraries and communication.

"My favorite spot was Thailand, where I spent six months," Swift recalled. "At the time it was so isolated, that some of the rural people there thought we were demons! I’ve been back there several times. I helped several young people come to the U.S. to go to college. I still hear from them and their families at holidays.

"I grew up believing it was one world, whether we like it or not!"

After leaving the U.N., Swift worked for the Rockefeller Foundation and then went to work for the Billings Farm & Museum.

"I was the librarian and archivist for the Billings Farm and Museum for almost 20 years," Swift explained. "I only retired when I busted my back and had to!"

Swift also kept busy as a lister for the town of Royalton, where she wrote the first listers computer program.

"I bought the oldest house I could find in South Royalton, about a half mile down from the school, and it had been empty and derelict for along time," Swift said. "It’s a foursquare house with a slate roof sitting there at the top of the hill, looking down at the White River. It was originally built by Rufus Rood before the Revolutionary War.

"After he died, his son-in-law General Elias Stevens, the hero of the Royalton Raid, inherited the place. I spent almost 20 years restoring it to its original looks."

Her Masterpiece

Swift said that her "Vermont Place Names" book came about because "I was always interested in why people called things what they did and it got to be a hobby, which went on summer after summer. I was a very curious child, and my grandmother always said to me, ‘Esther, when you grow up, you can study about it and find out ,’ and so I did!"

It took her almost 12 years to do the research before the book was published in 1974.

"It never would have been a book except that my dear friends, Janet and Steven Greene (he was head of the American Publishers Assoc.) convinced me to do it," Swift said. "The first edition sold out even before it went to press and it just recently went into its fifth printing. I now own the rights to it."

Swift noted that, "Every place I wrote about in the book is a place I actually went to and found out about while I was there. I had quite a few adventures traveling with my son over all those years, particularly in the Northeast Kingdom. Back then, it was pretty wild country."

Graffagnino, who spoke at the May 3 ceremony, said he has known Swift for 30 years.

"She’s also put in 50 years on the Vermont cultural heritage scene and published books and articles on many aspects of Vermont history, including the Brattleboro Retreat, and Robert Frost and Vermont libraries.

"She’s one of those people you can point to and say, ‘now there’s a person who’s made a difference in making Vermont a better place.’"