The Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature, Swarthmore College's science fiction & fantasy club, was formed in 1979 by a small group of friends, including Jim Huang '81 ("Fearless and Charismatic Leader"). In some senses, it replaced the Canton of the Ivory Tower, Swarthmore's dying chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, as an outlet for weirdness and creativity.

In accordance with its mandate as Swarthmore's science fiction club, SWIL regularly organized showings of science fiction and fantasy movies, short story readings, and occasionally brings writers to speak at Swarthmore. SWIL maintains a the Cordwainer Bird Science fiction library, a library open to all students which was donated to Swarthmore by Carl Fristrom '80. The presidents put out a weekly newsletter, known as "SWILnews", containing meeting minutes and announcements of upcoming events. SWIL also publishes an annual literary magazine, which was called Unicorn Star from 1979-1983, and BEM, or Bug-Eyed Magazine, since 1983.

In 1984, SWIL acquired responsibility for the annual Pterodactyl Hunt, an evening-long role-playing game in which all of campus is invited to take up a sword and attempt to kill the last living Pterodactyl. The Pterodactyl Hunt had previously been a joke among the members of the Swarthmore folkdance club, but it became a much larger event, at various times part of either Swarthmore College's Spring Fling or Oktoberfest, and drawing as many as 200 students in 2003.