The recipient of several awards and honors for her research, Swindler's seminal work was Ancient Painting, from the Earliest Times to the Period of Christian Art (1929).

[5] Swindler attended public school in Bloomington[1] and described her youth as filled with activity: "playing football, doing circus stunts, riding a bicycle violently and expending surplus energy on athletics of various kinds.

[7] Swindler worked with Thompson on studies of ancient vases at the Bryn Mawr College Museum's Mediterranean Section.

[6] Her seminal work, Ancient Painting, from the Earliest Times to the Period of Christian Art (1929), offered a comprehensive review the subject for scholars as well as students.

[11] In 1941, when she was awarded an honorary degree from Indiana University, Swindler became the first woman to deliver a commencement address at IU.

[12] Swindler was regarded as an authority on ancient Greek paintings and received numerous honors and awards,[5][8] including the following: