His library abounds in nineteenth-century works, both foreign and domestic, on the treatment of mental illness. Psychiatric works by Philippe Pinel and Jean Esquirol are among the French authors included. A segment of William and Mary Professor John Millington's library is preserved in Swem Library. Millington, who taught chemistry and natural philosophy at the College from 1835 to 1848, authored possibly the first American textbook on the subject of civil engineering. His library, as might be expected, is strongest in mathematics and science.
Scientific subjects range from conchology to electromagnetism.
A few histories and novels make up the remainder of the collection which dates from the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. All the volumes in the four libraries are fully accessible online. A separate card shelflist in Special Collections exists for each library. Companion to the libraries are the manuscript collections of Francis Jerdone, Lady Jean Skipwith, John Minson Galt II, and John Millington. He gave approximately 150 titles to the College, all of which were lost in the Wren Building fire of October 29, 1705.