Locate Manuscripts

Overview of Adams Family Manuscripts

Information about the Adams Family Papers, the manuscript collection owned by the MHS that contains documents written, received, and saved by John and Abigail Adams and their descendants, as well as other collections at the MHS that contain papers relating to members of the Adams family.

Online Adams Catalog (OAC)

Catalog of three generations of Adams family correspondence, including manuscripts by or to the Adamses at the MHS and over 30,000 documents held by other institutions.

Microfilm guide to the Adams Family Papers

A guide to the 608-reel microfilm edition of the Adams Family Papers manuscript collection at the MHS.

Microfilm Set Locations

A list of the domestic and international institutions that own the 608-reel set of Adams Family Papers microfilm.

Upcoming Events
Author Talk

Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson & America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation

18Feb 6:00PM 2019
There will be a pre-talk reception at 5:30.

Steve Luxenberg presents a myth-shattering narrative of how a nation embraced “separation” and its pernicious consequences. Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme ...
History of Women and Gender Seminar

Panel: Feminist Economics

19Feb 5:30PM 2019
Location: Knafel Center, Radcliffe Institute

These papers begin a conversation on the intersection of the study of the women’s liberation movement with the history of capitalism. Danielle Dumaine’s paper ...
Teacher Workshop

Teaching the Industrial Revolution in Massachusetts

20Feb 9:30AM 2019
Registration fee: $25 per person

Lowell’s water-powered textile mills catapulted the nation – including immigrant families and early female factory workers – into an uncertain new ...
See our calendar for all events

From our Blog

This Week @MHS

Join us for a program this week! Here is a look at what is going on: - Tuesday, 29 January, 5:15 PM: Better Teaching through Technology, 1945-1969, with Victoria Cain, Northeastern ...

Founder to Founder

Like so many good stories here at the Historical Society, it began with a reference question. Jeremy Belknap, hunting through his sources, asked Vice President John Adams for some help. Belknap, the ...

Read more from our blog

Have you seen?

U. S. Constitution (first printing) with annotations by Elbridge Gerry