Swarthmore Nativity Pageant Records

The first Swarthmore Nativity Pageant was presented Dec. 18, 1938, in two performances staged in Clothier Memorial on the Swarthmore College campus. The pageant was the dream of Charles D. Mitchell, Saturday Evening Post illustrator and director of Swarthmore Players, who was the first director. Truly a community effort, the original costumes were made by sewing groups of two local congregations, and the chorus was drawn from Swarthmore congregations as well as other community members.

The first four productions were made possible by the Donald Darlington Fund, a fund established by Frances M. White in memory of her adopted son. About 2,500 people attended the performance the first year, with over-capacity crowds attending the following year. Charles Mitchell died in 1940, and his wife, Reba, and family continued the tradition through the 1950s.

The Second World War caused an interruption, but the Pageant resumed in 1948. Since 1951, it has been produced every other year, supported by individual and organizational contributions to the Swarthmore Nativity Pageant Fund, and it was incorporated in 1965. In 1985, the Pageant was moved from Clothier Memorial to the Eugene Lang Music Building.