Collection: Lucile Swan Papers | Georgetown University Archival Resources

Scope and Contents

The Lucile Swan Papers contain correspondence from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to Lucile Swan and from Claude Cuenot to Lucile Swan; Teilhard de Chardin writings/essays; printed materials about Teilhard, many written by friends and colleagues; and photographs of Teilhard and various friends.

Please note that although correspondence and other materials within this collection use "Peking" or "Peiking" for the Chinese city in their content, this finding aid uses "Beijing" in its original descriptions.

Dates

1907 - 1985
Majority of material found within 1932 - 1955

Conditions Governing Access

Most manuscripts collections at the Georgetown University Booth Family Center for Special Collections are open to researchers; however, restrictions may apply to some collections. Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of the materials being used, establishing who the copyright owner is, locating the copyright owner, and obtaining permission for intended use.

Biographical Note

Lucile Swan, painter and sculptor, was born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1890. She received her early education at an Episcopal boarding school. In 1903 she moved to Chicago, and in 1908 she began studies at the Chicago Art Institute. Swan married artist Jerome Blum in 1912. From 1916 through 1923 she worked and traveled in Corsica, Japan, China, Tahiti, and France. In 1924 she divorced. Two years later, she closed her Chicago studio and moved to New York City where she continued her work.

In 1929, Swan accepted a commission from the Cenozoic Laboratory in Beijing. It was shortly after her arrival in China that year that she met Pierre Teilhard de Chardin at a dinner given by Dr. Amadeus Grabau. She later recalled that the meeting changed her life. Swan and Teilhard became lifelong friends; he was a frequent teatime guest at her house in Beijing where they discussed philosophy. Over the years, they exchanged correspondence that was eventually published in The Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and Lucile Swan edited by Thomas M. King, SJ, and Mary Wood Gilbert (1993).

During Swan's time in China (1929-1941) she created a portrait bust of Teilhard de Chardin, now at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, and a reconstruction (nicknamed "Nelly" by Teilhard) of one of the skulls of sinanthropus, the "Peking Man," under the supervision of Franz Weidenreich, German anatomist and paleoanthropologist. In August 1941, Swan left China in face of the Japanese occupation during World War II, taking up residence in Washington, DC. Swan did not see Teilhard again until March 1948 during what was his sixth visit to the US. Their communication continued over the ensuing years through Teilhard's death in 1955. Lucile Swan died ten years later in New York City in 1965.