John Adams Library

For much of 2023, two important volumes from the John Adams Library were featured as part of a display in the Special Collections lobby.

John Adams signed his name to the first item, M. Tullii Ciceronis orationum selectarum liber (ADAMS 154.10, 1734), when he was 14 years old and a schoolboy. Thirty-three years later, while he was negotiating the end of the war with Great Britain, Adams purchased and signed his name to a copy of The new pocket dictionary of the French and English languages (ADAMS 154.8, 1781). Taken together, these two books from Adams’ personal library hint at the breadth of his life as a reader. 

The John Adams Library Project at the Boston Public Library was a multi-year endeavor dedicated to John Adams as a reader and the library of books which he amassed. As part of this project, the Adams Project team curated a major exhibit called "John Adams Unbound" that aimed to present Adams' extensive library to a wider audience. The exhibit ran from 2006-2007 at the Central Library and was organized around the various themes to which Adams believed his library could be applied: Fame, Fortune, Power, God, Country, Clients, and Fellow Men. In partnership with the American Library Association, the exhibit was converted into a smaller, facsimile-panel exhibit that travelled to various libraries and institutions around the county during 2008-2010. Both exhibits were well-attended and sparked public programming at the Boston Public Library and beyond.