Virginia Historical Index (Two volume Set)

This landmark work, first published by the Virginia Historical Society in two volumes in 1934 and 1936, is an index to all information relating to Virginia and Virginians in the seven most important serial publications devoted to Virginia genealogy and local history: The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Virginia Historical Register and Literary Advertiser, Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary, Hening’s Statutes at Large, and Calendar of Virginia State Papers. Reflecting well over a hundred years’ worth of the best Virginia scholarship, and citing tens of thousands of individuals in hundreds upon hundreds of family histories, “Swem’s Index,” or “Swem,” as it is commonly called, is considered the most important publication in Virginia genealogy.

The periodicals indexed in Swem are prized today for their scholarly articles on genealogy and family history and were published under the editorship of the foremost authorities on Virginia genealogy, most notably Lyon Tyler and William Stanard. Entries in the index touch upon every phase of life in Virginia for more than three hundred years, with the majority of entries relating to the colonial period. Swem believed that “the later history of Virginia cannot be properly understood unless the colonial period is better known and is interpreted wisely as a result of the study of many printed documents.”

This emphasis on the colonial period, as well as the absolutely amazing comprehensiveness of the index, are what make Swem stand out from the crowd. Virtually every person who is documented in some way in colonial Virginia appears among the approximately one million entries in these volumes. Swem documents the details of colonial life by covering an exhaustive range of subjects, including place names, historical events, institutions, businesses, personal and family names, occupations, tools, censuses, Bibles, personal items, and just about any topic you can think of regarding any person, place, or thing in Virginia.

Genealogists will find thousands and thousands of family and individual names listed, as well as references to a wide range of subjects– such as Bible records, tithables, court cases, and college rosters–that may yield information pertaining to family history research. While the focus of this monumental work is on Virginia, there are references to individuals from many other states, including Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. Another feature of interest to genealogists is the inclusion of words and phrases that are now obsolete, but were used in old wills and official documents.

Earl Gregg Swem

(1934, 1936), 2003, 8.5" x 11", paper, 2,333 pp. total

ISBN: 9780806317236

102-5688