Artist Don Swann, born in Florida in 1889, studied art in Rome and Munich before returning to America where he resided in Baltimore until his death in 1954. Don Swann was an artist who also worked as a writer and engraver, illustrating significant structures, mostly in and around Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Much of his work is in permanent collections of the U.S. Naval Museum, the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress, as well as many notable private collections. His sizable body of historic Americana includes many of Don Swann's etchings.

Artist Don Swann's work included schools, universities, ships, trees, and a U.S. Navy series. Some of Don Swann's prints for sale are rendered in color. His 1939 book, a collection of prints entitled, Colonial and Historic Homes of Maryland, shows the high quality of his work.