Adams Papers Editorial Project

The Adams Papers Editorial Project is a collaborative undertaking by historical documentary editors at the Massachusetts Historical Society to collect, edit, and publish letterpress and digital editions of the manuscripts written and received by the Adams family of Quincy, Massachusetts.

Project History

The Adams Papers Editorial Project was founded in 1954 to prepare a comprehensive published edition of the manuscripts written and received by John and Abigail Adams and their family. The multigenerational Adams Family Papers collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society forms the nucleus of the project. In addition, editors have gathered nearly 30,000 copies of Adams items from hundreds of institutions and individuals in the United States and abroad. The project's cut-off date is 1889, the year Abigail Brooks Adams (wife of Charles Francis Adams) died.

Editorial Process

The editors do not alter the Adamses' words; rather, they continue the search for Adams documents, select the material to be included in the edition, provide a faithful transcription of the manuscripts, and supply annotation for historical context. To date, nearly 60 letterpress volumes have been published by Harvard University Press, most of which are also freely available online as part of the Adams Papers Digital Edition. The editorial project’s first born-digital edition is the John Quincy Adams Digital Diary.

Publications

For a cumulative list of print and digital publications by the Adams Papers, click here.

Use Permission & Citations

Click here for guidelines about citing or reproducing Adams Papers publications and materials.

Funders

Current funders of the Adams Papers Editorial Project include the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the Packard Humanities Institute, with additional support from the Florence Gould Foundation and private donors. Original funding for the project came from Time-Life Inc. and the Ford Foundation. Over the years contributors have also included the Lyn and Norman Lear Fund, the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund, and the Charles E. Culpepper Foundation through the Founding Families Papers, Inc.

Contact Information

If you have questions regarding the Adams Papers, please contact us at adamspapers@masshist.org.

The Adams Papers
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617-536-1608
 

John Quincy Adams designed and used this acorn and oak leaf seal after 1830. The motto is from Cæcilius Statius as quoted by Cicero in the First Tusculan Disputation: Serit arbores quæ alteri seculo prosint ("He plants trees for the benefit of later generations").