Ephraim Douglass Adams papers, 1730-1974

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Summary

Creators:
Adams, Ephraim Douglass, 1865-1930
Extent:
10 Linear Feet
Language:
Undetermined .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ephraim Douglass Adams papers (SC0142). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

The E.D. Adams Papers, dating from 1730 to 1974 (1900-1931 bulk), include correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts of some of Adams' writings, research materials, and a small amount of Stanford administrative records. The correspondence is arranged chronologically, but the letters for the years 1929 and 1930 are arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

The Adams papers contain a substantial amount of correspondence concerning the Stanford History Department and the Hoover War Library. Adams' correspondence with Hoover touches on other university matters also, such as the tenure system and the Stanford Union.

The Adams papers also include correspondence pertaining to the establishment of the National Archives (J. Franklin Jameson).

E.D. Adams was collaborating with Charles Francis Adams, Jr., on The Life of Charles Francis Adams, Sr. at the time of C.F. Adams, Jr. 's death in 1915. When E.D. Adams used some of the research materials gathered for this biography in his work Great Britain and the American Civil War it led to a major controversy (here called the Ford Controversy) with Worthington C. Ford, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society. E.D. Adam's documentation of this dispute has been separated into its own series, the Ford Controversy.

Major correspondents include the following:

  • Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
  • Nina Almond
  • American Historical Association
  • Max Farrand
  • Worthington C. Ford
  • Herbert C. Hoover
  • Lou Henry Hoover
  • J. Franklin Jameson
  • H. Barrett Learned
  • Sir charles Lucas
  • Ralph Lutz
  • Edgar E. Robinson
  • Lady Agatha Russell
  • Ray Lyman Wilbur
  • Frederick Jackson Turner

Additions to the E.D. Adams papers include the papers of his son, James Douglass Adams, and daughter-in-law, Katharine Mordock.

Biographical / historical:

Ephraim Douglass (E.D.) Adams was born in Decorah, Iowa, on December 18, 1865. Adams attended Grinnell College and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1887, receiving a doctorate in 1890. He became principal of the high school in McGregor, Iowa, in 1887-88, and after his graduate work he served in Washington on the staff of the Eleventh Census, 1890-91. He then joined the history department of the University of Kansas, and eventually became professor of European History, resigning to accept an appointment at Stanford in 1902.

Professor Adams taught European history for his first six years at Stanford, but in 1908, with the reorganization of the department, he took over recent American history, and especially British-American relations. Adams also became head of the department in 1908 and served in that capacity until 1922.

Adams' published works include The Control of the Purse in the United States Government (1894), The Influence of Grenville on Pitt's Foreign Policy (1904), British Interests and Activities in Texas (1910), The Power of Ideals in American History (1913), Great Britain and the American Civil War (1925).

Adams was collaborating with Charles Francis Adams, Jr. on the Life of Charles Adams, Sr., at the time of Charles Francis Adams, Jr.'s death in 1915. When E.D. Adams used some of the research materials gathered for this biography in his work Great Britain and the American Civil War it led to a major controversy (here called the Ford Controvery) with Worthington C. Ford, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

When Herbert Hoover assumed the direction of the wide-reaching operation of Belgian relief, Adams called to his attention the importance of preserving all the significant records of his administration. From this correspondence arose the project a War Library. Professor Adams directed the acquisition of materials throughout Europe after the war; these papers formed the original collections in the new Hoover War Library (later renamed the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace).

Adams died of pneumonia on September 1, 1930.

Custodial history:

Gift of James D. Adams, 1975, 1981. Additions gift of Rebecca Adams Mills and Katharine Butler, 2005.

Arrangement:

Correspondence Boxes 1 - 2

Publications Boxes 3 - 7

Ford Controversy Boxes7 - 8

Miscellaneous Box 8

Administrative Records Box 9

Additions Boxes 10-12

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ephraim Douglass Adams papers (SC0142). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:
Stanford University Archives, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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