Born in Fernandina, Florida, Don Swann was an etcher who specialized in illustrating historic Americana. He attended St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland and studied art in Germany and Italy. He made his home in Baltimore. His work forms part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the U. S. Naval Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous private collections. He died at Baltimore.