Collections in Manuscripts and Archives Division

Charlotte, Levina and Susan Adams were sisters who lived in Medway, Mass. during the first half of the 19th century. Charlotte married Christopher Slocum of New York and Levina married Cephus Taylor. Slocum's sister Esther married Rev. Lewis Pennell. Collection consists of correspondence of the Adams sisters and other family members and friends, minutes, and financial papers. Correspondence contains information on social and economic conditions among women of Massachusetts and Rhode Island who worked in private homes as spinners, weavers, dressmakers, housekeepers, etc.; women who had shops; and women who taught school. Some letters depict religious activities in Massachusetts. Papers also include the minutes of the Medway, Mass. Social Debating Society and financial papers of Christopher Slocum. less

American diplomat, lawyer, and biographer; son of John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848; U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts 1859-61, U.S. Minister to England, 1861-68; U.S. Arbitrator at the Geneva Tribunal ("Alabama" claims), 1871-72. Responses to requests for autographs, correspondence, and requests for a subscription to N.Y. Tribune. less

The folder contains papers related to Francis W.L. Adams. Enclosed is a "note" regarding an investigation into his suicide that cleared his wife of neglience for not preventing it. Adams shot himself with a revolver; he was long suffering from consumption. less

John Adams was the second President of the United States. Eleven letters and a receipt written or signed by Adams. Letters are addressed to John Wentworth (1756), John Jay (1779), Mr. Dumas (1783), Richard Cranch (1786-1787), Cotton Tufts (1788), Noah Webster (1798), Richard Sharp (1811), Richard Rush (1915) and Elkanah Watson (1819). Also, an extract of a letter from Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson (1784), as well as copies, facsimiles, and clippings from auction and sale catalogs. less

Robert Adams' papers include an unpublished holograph "History of Newbury, Mass., from its settlement to 1828," as well as his notes from the town records, 1706-1783, and other sources, as well as a list of records and books consulted. Includes ten original documents, 1743-1773 less