A website from the Massachusetts Historical Society; founded 1791.
Adams Family Papers : An Electronic Archive
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Please use one of the following formats: yyyy, yyyy-mm-, yyyy-mm-dd, -mm-dd, -mm-, -dd.

  • For example:
  • 1776 searches for all entries during 1776.
  • 1776-12- searches for all entries during December 1776.
  • 1776-12-31 searches for any entries on Dec. 31 1776.
  • -12-31 searches for any entries on Dec. 31 of any year.
  • -12- searches for any entries during December of any year.
  • -31 searches for any entries on the 31st of any month of any year.

There are no documents outside the range of 1753 to 1801.

Capitalization

The search is not case-sensitive.

A search for returns the same results as or

Default Keyword Searching

By default, your search query will be interpreted as multiple keywords.

finds results containing "liberty" or "conscience" or both.

To search for an exact phrase, enclose it in double quotes.

If looking for a phrase with "and", "or" or "not", enclose the phrase in quotes.

Automatic Word Stemming

The search automatically looks for other words having the same root, but different endings. This feature is not perfect, and may produce unexpected results. Consider using the * wildcard character, as described below ("Wildcards").

finds pages containing "root", or "roots", "rooted", etc.
also finds "root", "roots", "rooted", etc.

Abbreviations and Archaic Spellings

Many words appear abbreviated or with archaic spellings. Wherever possible, the full modern standardized spellings have been encoded into the electronic texts and are automatically searched.

Note that if searching for regularized spellings, archaic spellings may not be highlighted.

finds pages containing "colonel", "col.", "coll.", etc.
finds pages containing "politics", "politicks", "polliticks", etc.

Only regularized spellings have been encoded for non-standard forms, and not vice versa.

only finds "polliticks", but not "politics".

Dates

Search for dates using the format YYYY-MM-DD. Limit the search to "dates" in order to avoid matches that are not dates.

Search for to find pages that mention the year 1777.
Search for to find pages that mention any form of the date 14 May 1777.
Search for to find pages that mention any date in May 1777.
Search for to find pages that mention the date 14 May in any year.

People and Places

Limit the search to "people" or "places" to avoid matches that are not necessarily names. (NOTE: not all names have yet been tagged as such.)

Search for to find the "washington" only when used as a personal name.
Search for to find the "washington" only when used as a place name.

When searching for more than one name, search "all words" for best results.

Search for to find both names.