Oberlin's Women: A Legacy of Leadership & Activism

Alice Mead Swing

Alice Mead Swing (1859-1944, OC 1879) was an educator and translator. Between 1870 and 1875, Swing was enrolled in the Preparatory Department and the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. In 1875, she became a college freshman and continued attending classes until her graduation in 1879. In that year, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College. After graduating, Swing worked as a teacher in the Preparatory Department. She moved to Hallowell, Maine in 1881, where she worked as a teacher until 1882. During her time in Maine, she became acquainted with Albert Temple Swing, an Oberlin graduate. The couple married in 1882. Swing's husband was a pastor, and the couple lived in Fremont, Nebraska, Courtland, N.Y., and Detroit, Michigan during their marriage. They later moved to Germany for three years, where Swing worked with her husband to translate the works of theologian Albert Rietschl. The couple returned to Oberlin in 1893 when Albert Temple Swing was appointed as a member of the Theological Seminary faculty at Oberlin College. Alice Mead Swing worked as a German language tutor at Oberlin College from 1893 to 1913. In 1895, she was elected to the school board in Oberlin, which makes her one of the first Ohio women to hold an elective office. Swing became an instructor in German for Oberlin College in 1913. The couple continued to work in their respective fields until they both retired in 1916.

Sources:
 Staff File (Alice Mead Swing), Faculty, Staff, Trustees, and Others, RG 28/3, Box 130, O.C.A.

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