The seminary was established in 1807 at Hampden-Sidney College but it was formally instituted by the Synod of Virginia in 1812 as a project of the Presbytery of Hanover. The seminary was moved from Hampden Sidney to Richmond, Virginia, in 1898.

Librarians, historians, researchers, students, and others interested in examining the literary production of Southern Presbyterian ministers and works written about them will find A Presbyterian Bibliography invaluable. A 4,187-entry listing of extant published writings of ministers ordained by or received into the Presbyterian Church in the United States in its first hundred years, 1861-1961, this bibliography lists works by and about PCUS ministers and gives locations of all editions found in eight significant theological collections in the U.S.A. Presbyterian seminary libraries are those of Austin, Columbia, Louisville, Princeton, Reformed, and Union (Virginia); included also are the libraries of the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches and the Presbyterian Historical Society. An examination of this listing of published (i.e., printed) books, parts of books, pamphlets, and periodical article repreints shows that PCUS ministers became authors, editors, translators, poets, dramatists, composers, and essayists who wrote sermons, polemics, commentaries, Bible studies, theologies, histories, and letters to Presidents. Content notes and annotations for many books indicate individual minister contributions. A subject index, and indexes leading to every listing of a minister's name and to the main entries of the other presons gives access to the Bibliography.