In celebration of John Adams, the miniseries that will be broadcast on HBO over six weeks beginning on 16 March, the MHS will mount an exhibition, "John Adams: A Life in Letters," from 8 March through 31 May 2008. The exhibition will be open to the public, Monday-Saturday, 1:00-4:00 PM, at the Society's headquarters at 1154 Boylston Street, Boston.

The exhibition will focus on John Adams's extraordinary correspondence, especially the letters he exchanged over almost forty years with his "Dearest Friend," soul mate, and closest political adviser, Abigail Adams; and later, in retirement, his renewed correspondence with an old friend and colleague who had become his bitter political rival, Thomas Jefferson. The exhibition also will include diaries kept by John Adams, his manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence (he was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration), and a first printing of Adams's 1780 Massachusetts State Constitution, the oldest written constitution in use today.

In addition to the earliest portraits of John and Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth, the Society will exhibit Mather Brown's portrait of John Adams, painted for Thomas Jefferson (on loan from the Boston Athenaeum), together with views, engravings, memorabilia, and a costume worn by Laura Linney as Abigail Adams from the HBO miniseries.

This exhibition is sponsored by Eaton Vance Investment Counsel.

Join us on Monday, March 31, for a special conversation with Hon. Hiller Zobel, editor of the Legal Papers of John Adams and author of The Boston Massacre. Click here to learn more!