FA school library named after Master Sergeant Morris Swett

FA Journal, May-August, 2002

In October 1968, the US Army Artillery and Missile Center, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, renamed its "Technical Library" in Room 16 of Snow Hall "Morris J. Swett" after a retired Master Sergeant who devoted more than 40 years to the library.

Morris Swett was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 18 December 1888. He entered military service on 22 December 1908 at Fort Slocum, New York, and on 3 January 1909, was assigned as a Photographer at the US Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, where he served for six years. During that time, he worked in the USMA library and discovered his lifelong interest as a librarian.

On 15 May 1915, he was transferred to the School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to help run the newly established library. The artillery library had been started by First Lieutenant (later Major General) Ralph Pennell, Secretary of the School of Fire, by order of Captain Dan T. Moore, the first Commandant of the School of Fire, in 1911.

When Master Sergeant Swett retired 1 July 1939 after 30 years of active service, he had devoted more than 24 years to the development of Fort Sill's 60,000-volume library. He then joined the staff of the Field Artillery Journal in Washington, DC, under the editorship of Captain Wilbur S. Nye.

On 15 October 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an unprecedented executive order placing Sergeant Swett in civil service, waiving the requirement for him to speak a foreign language, enabling him to serve as the librarian at Fort Sill. Sergeant Swett, once again, became the librarian at the Field Artillery School.

Before his retirement from civil service in December 1954, his job position was as a GS 11, one of the highest grades in civil service. He had served the Fort Sill library for more than 40 years.

On 14 January 1955, Morris Swett received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the second highest citation given to a civilian employee, for his service from 15 October 1939 until 15 October 1954.

Morris Swett had developed the library's technical and historical holdings from a nucleus of a few volumes to one of the largest, most complete catalogued military libraries in existence. He also gathered original source material on the history of Fort Sill and the surrounding area.

On his off-duty time, he was active in recording the personalities and events of historical interest in the area by conducting interviews, collecting materials and artifacts, and taking photographs. His range of interests included not only the military, but also civilian pioneers of the region, particularly the Indians. He was a friend of IndianScout I-See-O after whom the Field Artillery School's I-See-O Hall was named. In addition in 1942, he was adopted into the Kiowa Tribe as the son of Hunting Horse and named "Too-qoodle-ti-ke," meaning "Helping Young Man."

In addition to collecting earlier photographs, he took some 2,000 photographs covering the period 1916 through the 1930s. He preserved and catalogued these photographs, often donating them to the appropriate museum of the area, such as the Carnegie Library and the Museum of the Great Plains--including giving thousands of documents, artifacts and photographs to the Fort Sill Museum.

Swett's knowledge, contacts, records and photographs were critical in the development and writing of the official history of old Fort Sill--Carbine and Lance by Wilbur S. Nye.

He was also instrumental in locating and marking many historical sites on Fort Sill and elsewhere. For example, he conducted research and located the unmarked grave of frontier Marshal Heck Thomas in Highland Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma, and helped to locate the unmarked grave of Geronimo on Fort Sill.

In 1964, he was awarded the prestigious Achievement Award of the American Association of State and Local History, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Under his guidance, the Field Artillery Library had grown from approximately 200 volumes to more than 108,000 volumes, comprising one of the finest Artillery libraries in the world. It was still growing by 4,000 volumes per year when he retired.

In 1962 at the age of 74, Morris Swett joined the staff of the Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton, as the curator of its library and archives. He guided the development of the museum's library until July 1965.

In August 1966, Morris Swett died at the age of 77 after a lengthy illness. He was buried with full military honors in the Fort Sill Cemetery.

Master Sergeant Morris Swett often was referred to as "Mr. Fort Sill" because of his vast historical knowledge of the post and area. As one of the pillars of the Field Artillery School, he helped and advised generations of young artillerymen and was widely known throughout the artillery community.

Information taken from collected newspaper clippings and documents of Morris Swett Library.