Printmaker Reginald Wilmer Vaughan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 26, 1869. He moved to California in 1890 to work on a ranch near San Diego. In 1911 he relocated to Santa Barabara, establishing a studio in his home and studying etching under the tutelage of his neighbor, Western artist Edward Borein.

Among his subjects were land- and seascapes, and the architecture of Italy and France. Vaughan exhibited with the San Francisco Art Association in 1935, and the Ebell Club, Los Angeles, 1935. He died in Palo Alto on August 11, 1958.