Adams letters arrive at Vassar Library

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

“The Day, perhaps the decisive Day is come on which the fate of America depends.” Abigail Adams penned these words to her husband, then-delegate to the Continental Congress John Adams, on June 18, 1775 after the Battle of Bunker Hill.

For the first time, Vassar will be publicly displaying this letter, and 34 other priceless documents, on loan from the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS). These letters span the couple’s entire marriage and beyond—they include the first letter young Adams ever wrote to Abigail Smith, a letter outlining his first, unfavorable impressions of the White House, as well as his letter to John Quincy Adams mourning his wife’s death in 1818.

The exhibit will last through April 30. Surprisingly, according to Director of Development for Regional Programming John Mihaly, the College did not have to pay to display the letters.

“For reasons that I still don’t entirely understand, the Historical Society agreed to have the letters displayed at Vassar,” Mihaly said.

Mihaly said that Vassar owes a debt of gratitude to MHS Librarian Peter Drummey, MHS Director Dennis Fiori and MHS Director of Development Nancy Baker, for bringing the collection here.

Drummey, who is speaking on April 11, will also be giving guided tours of the letters to Vassar parents over parents weekend. “These are his documents, he’s their librarian,” said Mihaly, “So we think parents will really love that.”

Along with Adams letters, the exhibit will feature select paintings, a letter from Abigail to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams’ notes on the Boston Massacre trial and an original Paul Revere engraving of “the Bloody Massacre perpetuated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770.”

The collection coming to Vassar includes several famous letters such as Abigail’s to her husband telling him to “Remember the Ladies” as he advocated for independence in April 1776.

His less than progressive reply? “As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh,” he replied in his next letter.

Despite their occasional disagreements, these letters also provide the public with a rare insight into the hearts and minds of the second first couple. Abigail is revealed to be John’s most trusted political advisor throughout his career, warning him to “beware of spair Cassius”—Alexander Hamilton—and expressing her frustration with former friend Thomas Jefferson.

Exhibit-goers will also see Abigail’s letter to John lamenting that “some of the most Manly Sentiments in the declaration are Expunged from the printed coppy,” and one in which she asks to see the “list of judges” whose appointment lead to the landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison.

The Adamses were married for 53 years, and between 1762 and 1788 they were apart almost more than they were together. Their misfortune was to the benefit of posterity, for John Adams’s long and frequent absences resulted in their famed prolific correspondence.

Nearly 1,200 of their letters remain to this day, in part becauseJohn and Abigail were not in the habit of burning their letters, as many other politicians did at the time. For this couple, so in love and so often apart, the letters were all they had of each other.

“You bid me burn your letters,” John Adams once wrote to his wife, “But I must forget you first.”

How fortunate for us all that he never did.