Henry Adams Photographs 1866-ca.1900 Guide to the Photograph Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Sources Collection Description Related Materials Acquisition Information Organization of the Collection Detailed Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) was the son of Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886) and Abigail (Brooks) Adams (1808-1889), the grandson of John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), and the great grandson of John Adams (1735-1826). Henry Adams (HA) was a journalist, professor, historian, and political observer. From 1860-1868, HA worked for his father as a secretary and accompanied him to Europe. HA was then a professor at Harvard College between 1870-1877 and later moved to Washington, D.C., although he maintained a house in Beverly, Mass. In 1872, HA married Marian "Clover" Hooper; they had no children. Throughout his life, HA traveled extensively and spent time in Europe, Egypt, Japan, Cuban, and the South Pacific. His books include: History of the United States, vols. 1-9; Mont Saint Michel and Chartres; and The Education of Henry Adams.

Sources

The following are some of the available biographical sources containing more detailed information about Henry Adams: Ernest Samuels, The Young Henry Adams (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1948); Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams: The Middle Years (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1958); Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams: The Major Phase (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1964); Edward Chalfant, Both Sides of the Ocean: A Biography of Henry Adams, His First Life, 1838-1862 (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1982); Edward Chalfant, Better in Darkness: A Biography of Henry Adams: His Second Life, 1862-1891 (Hamden, CT: Archin Books, 1982).

Collection Description

The Henry Adams photograph collection contains 423 photographs in five albums (in boxes or cases) and 6 narrow boxes. The bulk of the collection documents Henry Adams's travels to England in 1870 and 1873; Egypt in 1872-1873 and 1888; Tahiti in 1891; Japan in 1886; Fiji in 1891; and Wyoming in 1894. The subjects of these travel photographs include, among others, landscape views of Papeete, Tahiti, Japan, and Wyoming; Fijian natives; Japanese and Egyptian antiquities; and Wenlock Abbey and Acton, England. Also featured in the photographs are Henry Adams and various travel companions such as John La Farge and John Hay.

Many of the photographs of Egypt, Japan, and Fiji were commercial photos that Henry Adams purchased or had made for himself abroad. These commercial photographers include, where noted, J. Pascal Sebah; Antonio Beato; Dufty Bros. of Levuka, Fiji; and F. H. Dufty of Suva, Fiji. Others were taken by friends and travel companions such as Joseph Paxson Iddings, and Frank Doyle. It is also possible that Henry Adams himself took a number of photographs in this collection.

Also included in the collection is an album that contains thirteen portraits taken in 1900, most likely by Henry Adams. Its subjects include, among others, Elizabeth Ogden Adams (1873-1945), Louisa Chapin Hooper (b. 1874), Mary Hooper Warner (b. 1879), John Hay, Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), and Henry Adams himself. These same subjects are also represented in the miscellaneous loose portraits at the end of the collection; it is probable that they were alternate takes for the images that Adams finally chose to include his portrait album. Duplicate copies of many of both the loose portraits and the portraits in the album are also contained in this collection.

There is also one album belonging to Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams that contains commercial photographs of France, England, Scotland, and Switzerland. It is inscribed "Clover Hooper London March 29, 1866," and the photos are captioned in her hand.

Photographs by and of Marian Hooper Adams were removed from this collection and made into a separate collection, the Marian Hooper Adams photographs (Photo. Coll. 50) in May 2002.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following photograph collections related to the Henry Adams photographs:

Adams-Thoron photographs. Photo. Coll. 42. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fap025.

Marian Hooper Adams photographs. Photo. Coll. 50. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fap007.

Adams family photographs. Photo. Coll. 62.

Abigail Adams Homans photograph collection. Photo. Coll. 194.

Acquisition Information

The Henry Adams Photographs were removed from the Henry Adams Papers. The entire collection was donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society as a bequest from Henry Adams in 1919.

Photographs 40.418-40.421 were given to the Massachusetts Historical Society by Mrs. Ward Thoron in 1957 and added to the Henry Adams Papers.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

With the exception of Album 5, most of the photographs in the albums have captions in the hand of Henry Adams. In the following list of photographs, initials in brackets after the captions indicate who wrote the caption: [HA] = Henry Adams; [MHA] = Marian Hooper Adams. Descriptions in brackets [ ] were supplied by the cataloger. The identification of the locations of the photographs in Album 4 and the loose photographs of Fiji, Tahiti, and Samoa were provided in October of 1997 by James L. Yarnall, Director of La Farge Catalogue Raisonné Inc.

Each photograph entry in the following list also indicates the assigned number for that photograph, its page and album or box number, its caption and/or description, and the name of the photographer (if known). Any additional information, such as a the donor, is also noted. The Photograph Albums are identified by the numbers given them on the inside front cover.

Preferred Citation

Henry Adams photographs, Photo. Coll. 40, Massachusetts Historical Society Photo Archives.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.