Adams Papers Documentary Editing Project

FAIN: RQ-230372-15

Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA 02215-3631)
C. James Taylor (Project Director: December 2014 to April 2015)
Sara Martin (Project Director: April 2015 to May 2018)

Preparation for publication of two volumes (19 and 20) of the papers of John Adams (1735-1826), Revolutionary leader and second president of the United States, and two volumes (13 and 14) of his family's correspondence. (36 months)

The Adams Papers Documentary Editing Project is a comprehensive edition of the diaries, letters, official records, public writings, and literary miscellanies contained in the Adams Family Papers manuscript collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, supplemented by Adams documents in other collections and archives. The project focuses on three generations of Adamses: John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, and their families.

Associated Products

The Adams Papers: Series III, General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesment: Papers of John Adams, Vol18, December 1785-January 1787 (Book)
Title: The Adams Papers: Series III, General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesment: Papers of John Adams, Vol18, December 1785-January 1787
Author: John Adams
Editor: Amanda M. Norton
Editor: Sara Martin, Editor in Chief
Editor: Gregg L. Lint
Editor: C. James Taylor
Editor: Sara Georgini
Editor: Hobson Woodward
Editor: Sara B. Sikes
Abstract: Volume 18 is the final volume of the Papers of John Adams wholly devoted to John Adams’ diplomatic career. It chronicles fourteen months of his tenure as minister to Great Britain and his joint commission, with Thomas Jefferson, to negotiate treaties with Europe and North Africa. With respect to Britain, Adams found it impossible to do “any Thing Satisfactory, with this Nation,” and the volume ends with his decision to resign his posts. His diplomatic efforts, Adams thought, were too much akin to “making brick without straw.” John Adams’ ministerial efforts in London were disappointing, but other aspects of his life were not. He and Jefferson failed to finalize treaties with Portugal and Great Britain, but they did, through agent Thomas Barclay, conclude a treaty with Morocco. Barclay’s letters are the earliest and most evocative American accounts of that region. Adams witnessed the marriage of his daughter, Abigail 2d, to William Stephens Smith, promoted the ordination of American Episcopal bishops, and toured the English countryside, first with Thomas Jefferson and then with his family. Most significant perhaps was the publication of the first volume of Adams’ Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America. This work is often attributed to concern over Shays’ Rebellion, of which Adams knew little when he began drafting. In fact, it was Adams’ summer 1786 visit to the Netherlands that provoked his work. There, Dutch Patriot friends, involved in their own revolution, expressed interest in seeing “upon paper” his remarks “respecting Government.”
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/papers-of-john-adams-volume-18-vol-18-december-1785-january-1787/oclc/945793250&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674545076
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780674545076
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Adams Papers Digital Editions: Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10 (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Adams Papers Digital Editions: Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10
Author: Hogan, Margaret
Author: Taylor, C. James, editor in chief
Author: Martin, Sara
Author: Woodward, Hobson
Author: Sikes, Sara
Author: Lint, Gregg
Author: Georgini, Sara
Author: Norton, Amanda
Abstract: The newest volume to be added the the Adams Papers Digital Editions, Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10, published in letterpress in 2011 by the Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. The volume covers the period from January 1794 through June 1795, offers over 300 letters from the irrepressible Adamses, including many between John and Abigail never before printed. As always, the Adams family serve as important observers of and commentators on national and international events, from America’s growing tensions with Britain and France, to its internal struggles with increasingly virulent political factionalism and the Whiskey Rebellion. The most significant event of the period for the Adamses themselves was John Quincy’s appointment as U.S. minister resident at The Hague, the beginning of his long and storied diplomatic career. Accompanying him overseas was his brother Thomas Boylston, the only Adams child who had not yet seen Europe.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://10.1.1.10/publications/apde2/volume-toc?series=afc&vol=10
Primary URL Description: Massachusetts Historical Society, Adams Papers Digital Editions
Access Model: Open Access

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