Position

AHA President, 1889

Institution

University of Wisconsin

Presidential Address

Recent Historical Work in the Colleges and Universities of Europe and America

 

In Memoriam

From the American Historical Review 8:1 (October 1902)

Charles Kendall Adams (January 24, 1835–July 26, 1902), a member of the Council of the American Historical Association and a well-known historical scholar, died at his home in Redlands, California, July 26. Mr. Adams was born in Derby, Vermont, in 1835. In the autumn of 1857 he entered the University of Michigan and received the bachelor’s degree four years later. The next year he was appointed instructor in history and Latin in the University of Michigan. From 1867 to 1885 he was professor of history at Michigan, resigning to accept the presidency of Cornell University. The latter position he held till 1892, when he became president of the University of Wisconsin. Because of failing health he found it necessary, about a year ago, to give up his academic work. His work as a teacher of history first gave him reputation and standing in the country at large. As a student in Germany thirty years since, he became interested in German methods of instruction, and helped to introduce into our universities the more modern methods of conducting historical study and investigation. President Adams was not a prolific writer. His best known work is the Manual of Historical Literature (1889) which is certainly a monument of patient toil. He was also the author of Democracy and Monarchy in France From the Inception of the Revolution to the Overthrow of the Second Empire (1872); Christopher Columbus, his Life and his Work (1892). He edited Representative British Orations (1884 , and was the editor in chief of the Universal Encyclopædia (1896).

Bibliography

Democracy and monarchy in France from the inception of the great revolution to the overthrow of the second empire. By Charles Kendall Adams. New York, H. Holt and Company, 1874.

Questions and notes on the constitutional history of England, for the use of advanced students and postgraduates in the historical seminary. By Charles Kendall Adams Rev. ed. Ann Arbor, Sheehan & Company, 1879

A manual of historical literature: comprising brief descriptions of the most important histories in English, French and German: together with practical suggestions as to methods and courses of historical study: for the use of students, general readers, and collectors of books. By Charles Kendall Adams. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1882.

Christopher Columbus: his life and his work. New York, Dodd, Mead and company, 1892.

A history of the United States. By Charles Kendall Adams and William P. Trent. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1903.

Universal cyclopaedia and atlas. Charles Kendall Adams, editor-in-chief, assisted by a corps of associate editors composed of eminent specialists in Europe and America. A newly rev. and enl. ed. Rossiter Johnson, editor of the revision. New York, D. Appleton, 1905.