James Truslow Adams
James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949)[1] was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well regarded by scholars.[2] He popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America.
For other people named James Adams, see James Adams (disambiguation).
James Truslow Adams
October 18, 1878
Brooklyn, New York
May 18, 1949 (aged 70)
Southport, Connecticut
Bachelor's degree; MA
- New York University (then Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn; bachelor's)
- Yale University (MA)
1921–1933
History, biographies
Early life[edit]
Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a wealthy family, the son of Elizabeth Harper (née Truslow) and stockbroker William Newton Adams Jr.[3]
His father had been born in Caracas, Venezuela. His paternal grandfather, William Newton Adams Sr., was American of English descent with roots in Virginia and his paternal grandmother, Carmen Michelena de Salias, a Venezuelan of Spanish descent with roots in eighteenth-century Gipuzkoa and Seville.[4] The earliest paternal ancestor was Francis Adams from England, an indentured servant who settled the Province of Maryland in 1638.[5][6][7][8]
Adams took his bachelor's degree from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering (then Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn) in 1898, and a MA degree from Yale University in 1900. He entered investment banking, rising to partner in a New York Stock Exchange member firm.[3] In 1912, he considered his savings ample enough to switch to a career as a writer.
In 1917, he served with Colonel House on President Wilson's commission, "The Inquiry", to prepare data for the Paris Peace Conference.[3] By 1918, he was a captain in the Military Intelligence Division of the General Staff of the U.S. Army.[3] By late 1918, he was selected for the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Conference.[3] His main task consisted in the provision of maps and the selection of plans and atlases that should be acquired by the War College, the American Geographical Society, and the Library of Congress.
Death[edit]
Adams lived in Southport, Connecticut, where he died of a heart attack.[3]
Honors[edit]
After 1930, Adams was active in the American Academy of Arts and Letters[16] serving as both chancellor and treasurer of that organization. He was also a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Massachusetts Historical Society, American Antiquarian Society, American Historical Association, and the American Philosophical Society. Among British societies, he was honored as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[17]
Adams wrote 21 monographs between 1916 and 1945. He was also editor in chief of the Dictionary of American History, The Atlas of American History, and other volumes.