Historians use archives to create the histories we love to read, watch, and listen to. So we’re going into one archive to investigate how historians use them and to discover more about the religious lives of the Adams Family.

Sara Georgini, Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams, invites us to join her inside the Massachusetts Historical Society so we can take a closer look at the historical details provided by the Adams Papers and the role these manuscripts played in helping her write her book, Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Sara Georgini, Series Editor of The Papers of John Adams, invites us to join her inside the Massachusetts Historical Society so we can take a closer look at the historical details provided by the Adams Papers and the role these manuscripts played in helping her write her book, Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family.

As we pull back the curtain on how historians work in the archive and why Sara felt compelled to follow the Adams Family’s religious history, Sara reveals how early American families used Christianity as a cultural lens to view their world and the world around them; Details about the religious experiences of the Adams Family progenitors Henry and Edith Adams; And how John, Abigail, and John Quincy Adams used religion to understand the American Revolution, the new republic, and how the new republic would thrive and survive in a world full of monarchies.

What You’ll Discover

The Massachusetts Historical Society

The Adams Papers

Religion in early American families

Religion in the Adams Family

Early Americans’ use of Christianity as a cultural framework

Providentialism

Henry Adams, Adams Family progenitor

Puritan worship and faith in 17th-century Massachusetts

Puritan meetinghouses

What Henry & Edith Adams’ religion taught the Adamses about religion and rebellion

The religious and Christian views of John and Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams and her “Decisive Day” letter

Religion and the Election of 1800

Religion and John Quincy Adams

How John Quincy Adams used religion as a cultural gateway

John Quincy Adams’ interest in the Bible as a text

Using religion to understand the American Republic

What the Adams Family reveals about the early American journey with Christianity

Meet Ups & Talks

Links to People, Places, and Publications

Sponsor Links

Complementary Episodes

Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if the Adams Family had not had the opportunity to live and work abroad? How might their views of Christianity and their use of it as a lens through which to view American life have been different?

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