Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams was born in London in 1775, the daughter of an American merchant.  In 1795, she met John Quincy Adams, a young American diplomat there, where they were married in 1797. She accompanied her husband on his diplomatic assignments to Berlin (1797-1801), St. Petersburg (1809-1815), and London (1815-1817). During their later residence at the US capitol, Louisa hosted weekly receptions at their home on F Street when John Quincy Adams was secretary of state and presided at dinners and levees in the White House when she was first lady.

Of particular note in the Adams Papers are Louisa Catherine Adams’s autobiographical writings (“Adventures of a Nobody,” “Record of a Life, or My Story,” “Narrative of a Journey from Russia to France, 1815”) and her journal letters to her in-laws, John and Abigail Adams.