Scope and Content of Collection

A comprehensive collection of photographs, approximately 34,450 black-and-white negatives, contact prints and enlargements and approximately 13,450 color transparencies, slides and prints by a self-taught photographer and practicing architect who traveled widely and published many large-format books devoted to the art and architecture of various cultures. Included are a small quantity of correspondence with publishers, agents, colleagues and friends, sales statements, research notes, a manuscript, and a copy of his master's thesis.

Most images, taken in situ between 1951-1995, reflect Swaan's interest in facades, architectural details and decoration. Main concentrations include Gothic, Medieval, Baroque and Renaissance Europe, Islamic Spain and Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Iran, Ancient Egypt and Greece, Asia, including India, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America, and the landscape of the American West.

Arrangement note

The collection is arranged in three series: ; ; .
Series I. Book projects, 1963-1995
Series II. Other photographs, 1951-1995
Series III. Papers, 1958-1995