The personal papers of John Adams' great-grandson, Henry Adams, provide historians with additional material on this illustrious American family. Henry Adams was an author and a historian, and his correspondence to his family, especially his parents, Charles Francis (1807-1886) and Abigail Brooks Adams (1848-1927), provides another perspective on Adams family history.

Also included in this collection is Adams' correspondence to intimate friends such as Henry Cabot Lodge and prominent individuals including James Russell Lowell and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as several historical sketches, notebooks, diaries, and poems.