John Frederick Schwaller is an American historian of Latin America, specializing in colonial Mexico, religion, and indigenous peoples.
His administrative service includes being President of State University of New York at Potsdam from 2006 to 2013 and Director of the Academy of American Franciscan History, 1993–95.
Schwaller was born and brought up in Hays, Kansas, but he spent considerable time in Mexico as a youth, travelling with his parents.
As a graduate student he spent two years doing research in Mexico and Spain, supported by fellowships.
He has been active in promoting connections between scholars through the H-Net listservs for Latin America (H-LATAM)[1] and Nahuatl (H-Nahuatl).