Searching and Browsing
Books from the John Adams Library are easy to find in either of the BPL’s online catalogs. You can search by author, title, publisher, former owner, or keyword. It is also possible to search, in a limited way, by physical features of individual volumes, such as binding elements, markings, and annotations.
For more info about searching Rare Books collections in general, or for information on how to use our online catalogs and other searching tools, see the Search section of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department website.
Browse descriptions of the full Adams Library
To browse through every item in the collection, perform a title search in the BPL research catalog for
John Adams Library (Boston Public Library)
Results can then be sorted by date, author, title, publisher, etc.
Search for items owned by John Adams
To browse every item in the collection that contains direct evidence of ownership by John Adams himself, search in the BPL research catalog for
TITLE: John Adams Library (Boston Public Library) AND AUTHOR: Adams, John, 1735-1826, former owner
Direct evidence of ownership means that the physical item has a note, signature, or other mark that can be directly attributed to President John Adams himself. While he likely owned many more books than just these, he did not mark all of his books.
Search for annotated materials, including books annotated by John Adams
To browse records for books in the Adams Library that have been annotated, either by John Adams, or by other readers, search in the BPL research catalog for
TITLE: John Adams Library (Boston Public Library) AND GENRE: Marginalia
Search for items with signatures, including those of John Adams
To browse records for books in the Adams Library that contain signatures, search in the BPL research catalog for
TITLE: John Adams Library (Boston Public Library) AND ANY FIELD: signature
To find items with inscriptions, such as presentation inscriptions, dates of purchase, etc., search
TITLE: John Adams Library (Boston Public Library) AND GENRE: inscriptions
John Adams Library Online
BPL has digitized the entire Adams Library. Each individual book can be browsed directly through the John Adams Library collection page on Internet Archive.
Contact & Reading Room Hours
Address:
Rare Books and Manuscript Department
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116
specialcollections@bpl.org
Reading Room Hours:
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday: 9:30-4:30
- Thursday: 9:30-4:30
- Friday: 9:30-4:30
- Saturday- Sunday: Closed