Study carefully
She worked across old records, histories, correspondence, and libraries, often without the institutional access available to men of her time.
The Library · Family Collection
Hannah Adams
Writer. Historian. Independent scholar. An ancestor whose life still feels close to mine.
1755–1831
The first American woman known to make a living through writing.
Hannah Adams was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, and became a historian of religion, New England, and Jewish history. She was largely self-educated and built her career by reading widely, comparing sources, and explaining difficult subjects to ordinary readers.
She was also an ancestor of mine. As a writer, I find something deeply personal in giving her a place in this Library: another woman in the family who believed careful research could help people understand the world.
Explain fairly
Her comparative work sought to describe religious communities in their own terms, a distinctive approach for the eighteenth century.
Keep writing
Financial hardship, poor health, and failing eyesight complicated the work. They did not end it.
From Hannah’s shelves
Selected works.
1784
An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects
Her pioneering survey of religious traditions, later expanded as A View of Religions.
Read the archive → 1799A Summary History of New-England
A history from Plymouth’s settlement through the adoption of the Constitution.
Read the archive → 1812The History of the Jews
A wide-ranging history that became one of her most substantial works.
Find the edition → 1832A Memoir of Miss Hannah Adams
Her own account of the work, disappointments, friendships, and purpose that shaped her life.
Read the memoir →Learn more through the Boston Athenæum, which preserves her portrait, letters, and early editions.