Jason Richard Swallen (1903-1991) was born on May 1, 1903, in Alliance, Ohio. He received his Bachleor's degree at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1924 and his Master's at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1925. He was first a junior botanist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1936, he published on the grasses of Honduras and Peten. He was promoted to assistant botanist and then associate botanist. From 1943-1945 he was the agricultural production officer in the State Department, and served in Brazil. In 1947, he became the curator of the Division of Grasses at the National Museum of Natural History and became chairman of the Botany Department. He retired in 1965. He lived in Florida, Maryland, and Ohio. He died on April 22, 1991.
Smithsonian Institution Archives Field Book Project: Person : Description : rid_547_pid_EACP544
