“It is contrary to convention for a man to praise his own appearance. But is convention always right?” Paul Swan was an artist and stage dancer hailed for his beauty and mistaken by many to be a Greek god. Expressive, forward-thinking and often misunderstood, Swan believed that all men should strive to be beautiful, for there is greater nobility in beauty than simple handsomeness. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.