Herbert Baxter Adams
Herbert Baxter Adams was a prominent American historian born in 1850 in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. The son of Nathaniel Adams, a lumber business partner, Herbert was encouraged to pursue academic excellence from a young age. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College, initially contemplating a career in journalism before shifting his focus to history after a transformative lecture. Adams furthered his studies in Europe, earning his doctoral degree at Heidelberg University in 1876, and subsequently joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Adams was instrumental in developing innovative academic practices, introducing the German seminar style to American higher education and founding the "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science." He played a significant role in establishing the American Historical Association in 1884 and served as its first secretary. Over his career, he authored twenty-seven academic books and numerous articles, influencing the first generation of American historians, including notable figures like Frederick Jackson Turner. Adams's work combined rigorous German scholarly methods with engaging literary styles, setting a high standard in the field of history. His legacy continues to be felt in historical scholarship despite some of his works being overshadowed by later research.
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Herbert Baxter Adams
Educator
- Born: April 16, 1850
- Birthplace: Shutesbury, Massachusetts
- Died: July 30, 1901
- Place of death: Amherst, Massachusetts
Biography
Herbert Baxter Adams was born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, near Amherst, in 1850. He was the third and last son of Nathaniel and Harriet Adams. Nathaniel, whose roots were in sixteenth century New England, was a partner in a lumber business and had high expectations for all of his sons. After Nathaniel’s death, the family relocated to Amherst, and Adams attended public schools. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1868 and attended Amherst College, graduating in 1872. Initially considering a career in journalism, a single lecture on the philosophy of history turned him toward history as a graduate pursuit, and ultimately a career. He toured Europe for half a year and then began doctoral work at Heidelberg University (1874- 1876) with a term spent at the University of Berlin. He graduated summa cum laude in May, 1876, and immediately accepted a post- doctoral position at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
His first book, Maryland’s Influence in Founding a National Commonwealth (1877), was a clear reflection of German academic historical practice, and earned Adams the rank of associate. He introduced the archetypal German seminar to Hopkins and Smith College, where he taught during spring terms, and rapidly acquired a faithful following of graduate students and fellow researchers. In 1882, he founded the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, a pioneering series of academic monographs. In 1883, he was promoted to associate professor and chair of the faculty of history, political science and economics, in which position he thrived for eighteen years. Adams helped establish the American Historical Association in 1884, which he served as founding secretary. Often asked to leave Hopkins to serve as a university president elsewhere, he remained in Baltimore, visiting Amherst each summer. A severe illness during the winter of 1900 led to his death at Amherst in July 1901.
Author of twenty-seven books, most of them academic histories, and numerous articles, Adams is perhaps most important as a major figure in the development of the first generation of American historians, including Frederick Jackson Taylor. He urged a coupling of the German rigorous scientific historical method of Leopold von Ranke with a lighter and friendlier literary style currently practiced by the French and English. While most of his own works were rather rapidly superseded, they served to establish a high bar for writing in the discipline and inspired many of those whom he educated and trained.