MHS News

Adams Papers Digital Edition Named Outstanding Academic Title of 2009

The editors of Choice, a publication of the American Library Association and the leading reviewer for academic and scholarly titles, have chosen the Adams Papers Digital Edition as one of their Outstanding Academic Titles of 2009. Reviewed in the October 2009 issue of Choice, the Adams Papers editorial project was lauded as "a significant accomplishment in historical and scholarly editing." This digital edition of the Adams Papers is made available through the University of Virginia Press’s Rotunda imprint and is one of a collection of founding era documentary editions, including the papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, that are presented with cross-platform searchability. The review notes that Rotunda’s "American Founding Era Collection" presents a "wealth of topics and characters [that] offers a particularity and historical framework that allow a deeper understanding of the Colonial and early national periods of American history."

The Massachusetts Historical Society’s Publications Department, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Harvard University Press, worked closely with UVA Press to present these 30 volumes in the rich and multilayered "American Founding Era Collection" and is pleased to see it recognized as a title for libraries to acquire through the subscription service. In keeping with the MHS policy of presenting our materials to the widest possible audience, the Adams Papers Digital Edition is also available as a stand-alone resource at the MHS website, free of charge.