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.