John M. (John Melville) Jennings

Born in 1918, John Melville Jennings was an American historian, librarian, and editor whose work centered on Virginia history. Sources from the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and other library records show him contributing reviews, reports, introductions, and reference works over many years, especially on early Virginia and colonial subjects.

Jennings was associated with the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, and by April 1957 he was identified in a contemporary newspaper notice as the society's director. Earlier sources also show him serving in the society's library and publication work, which fits his reputation as both a careful scholar and an organizer of historical materials.

He is credited with works including A Selected Bibliography of Virginia, 1607-1699 (with E. G. Swem), and he also wrote introductions and reviews that helped shape how readers and researchers approached Virginia's documentary history. A portrait of Jennings is held by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, with the owner listed as the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.