On 27 June 1809, President James Madison appointed John Quincy Adams (JQA) minister plenipotentiary to Russia. On 5 August 1809, JQA set sail for St. Petersburg. In addition to writing long entries in one of his diary volumes, JQA also summarized each day of his trip in his line-a-day diary volume. Since 5 August 2009, the Massachusetts Historical Society has been posting John Quincy Adams's line-a-day diary entries on Twitter, exactly 200 years after his journey across the Atlantic.

Support the MHS

JQA Twitter Project http://twitter.com/JQAdams_MHS

Read John Quincy Adams's posts on Twitter. (Twitter posts appear under the user name, JQAdams_MHS.)

August 5, 2010 will be the one-year anniversary of the Massachusetts Historical Society's JQA Twitter project! John Quincy Adams (with the help of MHS staff) continues to tweet his own line-a-day diary entries summarizing his life and work as minister plenipotentiary in St. Petersburg, Russia. Please read (or continue to read) JQA's succinct posts exactly 200 years after he wrote them.

John Quincy Adams's Diaries

John Quincy Adams in Russia

  • "The First Ambassador: John Quincy Adams in St. Petersburg, 1809-1815" (http://www.russianlife.com/pdf/adamsinrussia.pdf)
    This article written by Mary Claffey and Sara Sikes (both authors are Assistant Editors for the Adams Papers Editorial Project) appeared in Russian Life, September/October 2008. This article describes JQA's successful diplomatic mission in Russia as well as his life at Court with his wife, Louisa Catherine and young son, Charles Francis.

The Beehive Blog Posts about the JQA Twitter Project

  • Was JQA a Tweeter?
    This blog post describes JQA's numerous diaries and likens the short entries within his line-a-day diary to posts to the micro-blogging website, Twitter.
  • To Russia With Tweets
    This blog post from 16 July 2009 announces Massachusetts Historical Society's plans to post JQA's line-a-day diary entries on Twitter, beginning on 5 August 2009, 200 years after he started his journey to St. Petersburg, Russia.
  • John Quincy Adams, Media Darling
    This blog post includes links to online articles and video clips from the press describing the JQA Twitter project, as well as comments from Twitterers, and a quote from Louisa Catherine Adams (John Quincy Adams's wife) about the anguish she felt about the prospect of leaving two of her children in the United States when she accompanied her husband to Russia.
  • John Quincy Adams's Shipboard Reading Lists
    These blog posts list the books John Quincy Adams mentions in his line-a-day diary entries and provides links to online copies of the titles.
    August 1809 | September 1809 | October 1809 | November/December 1809
  • JQA, Lead-Water, & Lindsey Vonn
    This blog post from 15 March 2010 provides some contextual information about seemingly unusual treatments for JQA's inflamed leg—first the application of lead-water, and then the application of butter. The post also draws a connection to the Olympic skiier, Lindsey Vonn, who said her physical therapist had been treating her shin injury by wrapping cheese on it.

Selected Media Coverage about the JQAdams_MHS Twitter Project