Season 2, Episode 7: To Live Like John Quincy Adams

In this episode, we find out what it takes to live like a historical figure and how collections like the Adams Papers can help us rethink daily life in both the past and the present. We sit down with Gwen Fries, the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, to discuss an experiment she conducted during the lockdown of 2020. Gwen spent a week of her life living like John Quincy Adams. We discuss what daily life was like for the sixth president of the United States and what it was like to emulate him.

Episode transcript

Click the images above to view the diary entries discussed in this episode.

Learn more about Gwen's expirement by reading her blog post on The Beehive:

I Lived like John Quincy Adams for a Week (and This is What I Learned)

Episode Special Guests:

Gwen Fries is the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Fries holds degrees in history and corporate communications from Elizabethtown College and has been with the Adams Papers since 2016.

Neal Millikan is the Series Editor for Digital Editions with the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is currently editing the John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, part of the Mellon-sponsored Primary Source Cooperative at the MHS.

Laura Rocklyn is an award winning actress, writer, and first person historical interpreter who has performed with regional theaters across the country and worked at museums up and down the East Coast. She is currently an Acting Company Member with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and a museum educator at the Paul Revere House Museum.

This episode uses materials from:

Cases to Rest by Blue Dot Session (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported)
Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)
Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)