Lillian E. Swanson scrapbooks and photograph album

Lillian E. Swanson was born in Monmouth, Illinois on March 1, 1901 to John and Wilhelmina Swanson. She graduated from Monmouth High School in 1918, enrolling at Augustana College in the fall of that year. According to her senior yearbook entry, Lillian had a wide variety of interests. In addition to majoring in mathematics, she participated in the Science Club as well as the Women's and Senior Girls' Clubs. Along with her pursuit of learning mathematics and the sciences, she also participated in the Oratorio Society, the Edward Everett Debating Club, and the Berean Bible Society. In addition, Swanson was a founding member of the Phi Rho sorority, chartered in 1919, and is listed as serving as their secretary-treasurer in her senior year.

She utilized her mathematics degree to teach high school students in Monmouth as well as nearby school districts such as Geneseo. Around this time, she married Ernest Reynolds on July 2, 1930. Lillian served as a high school math teacher until retiring in 1963. Following her retirement, she became the house mother of the Westerlin Hall dormitory until 1970. Her ties to the college continued throughout her life, as she served as a member of the Augustana Endowment Society and provided funds for the partially-endowed Lillian Swanson Reynolds Scholarship. She passed away on June 3rd, 1991 at Silver Cross Nursing Center in Rock Island, Illinois and was buried in Mount Bloom cemetery in Tiskilwa, Illinois.