Articles by Steven Gilchrist

Boston, MA. - From September 2006 - April 2007, more than 3,800 books from John Adams’s personal library were on display at the Boston Public Library. A native of Braintree, Massachusetts, Adams graduated from Harvard College, eventually becoming a lawyer and politician. I had the opportunity to visit the John Adams Unbound exhibition and discovered that the second president of the United States had a passion for collecting books. Upon entering the hall, there was an imposing portrait of Adams suspended from the ceiling. Captions on kiosks described selected books in the collection. Volumes were stacked in columns more than 10 feet high in a semi-circle glass case. In several of the books Adams’s written comments remain in the margins. His collection includes books by authors such as Homer, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Another section of the exhibit was divided into seven themes found in a quote from Adams’s diary. On January 30, 1768, Adams wrote, “I am mostly intent at pres...

Over the past couple of years, I have viewed several innovative and thought-provoking cultural & historic exhibits at the Boston Public Library.  I have seen exhibits on President John Adams, artist Allan Rohan Crite, Allexandre Vattemare – a French ventriloquist, and an exhibit recognizing the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec. Earlier this year in February, I visited the BPL again and on this occasion I saw three separate but important exhibits.  The first exhibit was Right and Wrong in Boston: The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society .  Held in the Cheverus Room in the McKim Building, this display included documents and pictures concerning an influential abolitionist group in 19th century Boston.  The BFASS’s primary mission was to assist fugitive slaves by protecting them if they escaped from their owners and advocating for their emancipation.  Women of many different religious beliefs were members of the Society.  Maria Weston Chapman (1806 -1885), a well known aboliti...