Martha Helen Swain - “Remembering Mentors”
Martha Helen Swain
If one were to chronicle the life of Martha Helen Swain, it would require quite a few pages, many of which would probably focus on her long association with Mississippi State University.
Swain, a Starkville resident, learned life lessons and the historian's craft from two well-known 20th century faculty members at Mississippi State. A memorial gift from the retired history professor has established the Glover Moore-John K. Bettersworth Endowed Scholarship for undergraduate history majors in the university's College of Arts and Sciences.
While pursuing a bachelor's degree at MSU, Swain apprenticed in the department under Bettersworth and Moore. After graduation, she attended Vanderbilt University on a full scholarship.
Swain, who graduated from the Nashville institution in 1954, said her advanced studies would not have been possible without the recommendations of Bettersworth and Moore, the latter a Vanderbilt University doctoral graduate. Among her treasured possessions is a letter from Vanderbilt history department head William C. Binkley, saying he would accept anyone with a recommendation from the two MSU colleagues.
"I learned the historian's craft of writing, research and publishing by working in the history department at Mississippi State," Swain explained. "I wanted to honor my major professors by giving back in a way that would allow the university's history department to mold other students with potential."
After Vanderbilt, Swain taught 16 years at various institutions before returning to Vanderbilt to earn her doctorate. She also was a 21-year member of the faculty at Texas Woman's University in Denton, where she holds emerita status.
Swain is the author of three books on Mississippians in Washington during President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal era. She also is co-editor of two volumes of essays on Mississippi women and an associate editor of the Mississippi Encyclopedia.
After retiring in Texas, Swain served as an adjunct member of the MSU history faculty. During her professional career, she has been honored with a Texas Woman's University distinguished senior faculty award, Eudora Welty book prize from Mississippi University for Women and the Mississippi Historical Society's Dunbar Rowland Award for lifetime contributions to state history.
This is not Swain's first contribution to scholarships. She, and her sisters, Margaret and Mary Elizabeth, earlier endowed an MSU scholarship to honor their late father, Jim Henry Swain, a project engineer and a 1913 then-Mississippi A&M College graduate. The award supports civil engineering majors.
