The Adams Papers
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MICROFILMS OF The Adams Papers GIVEN BY THE ADAMS MANUSCRIPT TRUST TO THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PART III Pro uesf Start here. This volume is a finding aid to a ProQuest Research Collection in Microform. To learn more visit: www.proquest.com or call (800) 521-0600 About ProQuest: ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world's knowledge-from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information. 789 E. Eisenhower Parkw~y • P.O Box 1346 • Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 • USA •Tel: 734.461.4700 • Toll-free 800-521-0600 • www.proquest.com MICROFILMS OF The Adams Papers GIVEN BY THE ADAMS MANUSCRIPT TRUST TO THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PART III MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY BosTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1956 Adams Manuscript Trust Trustees Thomas Boylston Adams 470 Atlantic Avenue, Boston John Quincy Adams Advisory Committee Samuel Flagg Bemis Yale University Julian Parks Boyd Princeton University Lyman Henry Butterfield Massachusetts Historical Society Stewart Mitchell Massachusetts Historical Society Samuel Eliot Morison Harvard University Stephen Thomas Riley Massachusetts Historical Society Vernon Dale Tate Massachusetts Institute of Technology Walter Muir Whitehill, Secretary Boston Athenceum roY2 Beacon Street, Boston Massachusetts Historical Society President John Adams Director Stewart Mitchell Librarian Stephen Thomas Riley Copyright © 1956 by The Massachusetts Historical Society. Published simultaneously in Canada by S. J. Reginald Saunders & Co., Ltd., Toronto. All rights reserved Reprinted 1986 and distributed by: UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS INTERNATIONAL A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road/P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 Telephone: 800-521-0600 (Toll-Free) In Michigan, Alaska, Hawaii call collect (313) 761-4700 HE Adams Manuscript Trust was instituted in 1905 by the three surviving sons of T Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), and by one of his grandsons, in order, among other things, to provide for the proper care and use of all the papers, public and private, of Presi dent John Adams ( 1735-1826), President John Quincy Adams ( 1767-1848), and Charles Fran cis Adams (1807-1886), together with the papers of their wives and children. These papers have been on deposit at the Massachusetts Historical Society since the establishment of the Trust, and in April 1956 the Trustees gave ultimate custody and ownership of the papers to the Society. Acting at the request of the Trustees, the Massachusetts Historical Society, aided by grants from the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, undertook in 1953 the microfilming of these papers. The entire effort is without motives of profit to any individuals or institution, and has been undertaken purely for the benefit of scholarship and the better understanding of history. It is the intention of the Society, as it was of the Trustees, to make these papers fully ac cessible to scholars through the medium of microfilm. As to research, no restrictions what ever are imposed upon the use of the microfilm. Scholars are free to examine the material as they see fit. The literary rights remain in the control of the Massachusetts Historical Society, to whom application must be made for permission to publish any of the material. This reser vation is made unavoidably necessary by the fact that a long-range program of publication of the papers, under the editorial supervision of the Society, requires systematic planning, central direction, and the establishment of scholarly standards to insure a result that will meet the needs of scholars and of the public at large. As it is the desire of the Society, while under the necessity of retaining all literary rights in the papers, to cause as little inconvenience as possible to serious scholars, libraries subscrib ing to these microfilms are furnished a supply of printed forms by which permission to pub lish extracts from the papers may be requested with a minimum of correspondence. Anyone wishing such permission is requested to fill out one of these forms in duplicate, forwarding both copies to the Editor of The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, l l 54 Boyl ston Street, Boston, Massachusetts. No covering letter is necessary. Such permission will be promptly and readily granted in all cases where the request does not seem deleterious to the long-range publication program. The return of the duplicate copy of the form, bearing the signature of an authorized representative of the Society, will constitute permission to publish the extracts requested. JoHN ADAMS THOMAS BOYLSTON ADAMS For the Massachusetts Historical Society For the Adams Manuscript Trust l June 1956 Note on Part III Part III of the Microfilms of The Adams Papers comprises the material in the collection classi fied as "Miscellany." It has been made a separate Part because of its bulk. Part IV. which will complete the microfilm edition, will consist of the still larger mass of Letters Received and other loose papers, arranged chronologically in a single sequence from 1639 to 1889. The Miscellany is a heterogeneous collection of MS material, very largely in the form of bound volumes, emanating from many members of the Adams family and from friends and connections of the family. Sometimes the same person used a book for different purposes, and sometimes two or more persons used the same book for similar or dissimilar purposes. The problem of arranging such an intractable mass of material so that it could be used with facility when reproduced on microfilm has therefore been formidable. It is here arranged as follows. The Adams family material is arranged by generations, from the first through the third respectively, counting John and Abigail Adams as the first generation. Under each gen eration the order is by sons from oldest to youngest, but with the wife of each son immedi ately following her husband. At the end is a supplement of non-Adams material that has come to rest in the collection and is arranged alphabetically by the last names of the authors. In all cases where a member of the family left very extensive miscellaneous MSS, they are arranged in the following arbitrary order: 1. Autobiographical material, including diaries (of the lesser Adamses), memorandum books, and the like 2. Financial records of all sorts 3. Legal papers (notes, briefs, fees received, and the like) 4. Literary material, including student exercises, commonplace books, translations, and original compositions 5. Political writings 6. Unclassified material (MSS not classifiable under any of the heads above) Under each of the foregoing classes the MSS are arranged in chronological order when ever that order could be even roughly established. The single exception is that in John Quincy Adams' literary MSS two sequences will be found, resulting from physical problems in pre paring the materials for microreproduction. The first sequence runs from Film No. 2 17 through No. 236, and the second from No. 237 through No. 243. At the end of this list of contents are notes identifying the less well-known Adamses and others represented in the Miscellany. Contents of the Microfilm Reels of the Adams Papers PART III First Generation 180. John Adams, Miscellany 1 87. John Adams, Miscellany Autobiography Literary commonplace book 181. John Adams, Miscellany 188. John Adams, Miscellany Account book, 6, 9 July 1781 Literary notes and drafts Will, inventory, and estate papers, 181g-1831 Blank notebook with fragment of French MS on cover 189. John Adams, Miscellany Copy of Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of 182. John Adams, Miscellany Independence, June 1776 Facsimiles of the engrossed and signed text of the Docket of court cases, January 1763- Declaration of Independence executed by Mav April 1770 erick (1817) and Stone (1823) 1 8 3. John Adams, Miscellany 190. John Adams, Miscellany Docket of court cases, January 1771- Copies of instructions to Adams for negoti July 1774 ating treaties of peace and commerce, 177<)-1780 1 84. John Adams, Miscellany Legal papers 191. John Adams, Miscellany Legal commonplace book; lists of actions, 1761- Copies of Massachusetts Bay charters and 1770; briefs and notes on admiralty cases; four other state papers regarding boundaries, notebooks on Massachusetts cases (not in Adams' hand) &c., furnished to Adams in 1780-1781 185. John Adams, Miscellany 192. John Adams, Miscellany Legal papers Journal of bills of exchange in Holland, Briefs and notes on legal cases, 1761-1778, fol 1780-1784 lowed by others undated; also some accounts and miscellaneous scraps relating to Adams' law prac tice 19 3. John Adams, Miscellany Catalogue of his library, 1790 186. John Adams, Miscellany Notes on law cases, with some added notes 194. John Adams, Miscellany in other hands, including that of John Journal of executive actions, March 1797- Quincy Adams March 1799 19 5. John Adams, Miscellany 197. Abigail Adams, Miscellany Journal of executive actions, June 179() Diary May 1800 20 June-28 July 1784, 30 March-May 1788 198. Abigail Adams, Miscellany 196. John Adams, Miscellany John T. Kirkland, MS funeral sermon on John T. Kirkland, 2 MS funeral sermons Mrs. Adams, November 1818 on Adams, 2 3 July 18 26 Another copy in another hand Second Generation 199. John Quincy Adams, Miscel 204. John Quincy Adams, Miscel lany lany Pocket memorandum and commonplace Pocket memorandum book, 1815-1828, book, 1782-1836 with diary notes for November 18 24 (scattered entries) Pocket memorandum book, 183 1 200. John Quincy Adams, Miscel 205. John Quincy Adams, Miscel lany lany Pocket memorandum and account book, Expense book, 1791-1802 1795-1824 Accounts with the United States, (scattered entries) 1811-1812 201.