Planning for a Presidential Center
This seems to be the current form of the ”Adams Presidential Library” that Koch floated last year and Boston 1775 discussed starting here.
I read articles in the Quincy Patriot Ledger and Boston Globe to try to figure out what’s changed.
A lot of this plan is still very nebulous. It’s not clear where the center will be, though two buildings near the Adams Academy are slated to be cleared away.
It’s not clear what documents or artifacts from Presidents John and John Quincy Adams would go into this building. The Adams Family Papers are at the Massachusetts Historical Society. John Quincy Adams’s book collection is at the Adams National Historical Park.
Mayor Koch has expressed a desire for John Adams’s book collection, originally willed to the town as discussed here but over one hundred years ago transfered to the Boston Public Library.
None of those institutions have showed interest in giving this “Presidential Center” large parts of those collections. Maybe a few documents or books for specific exhibits, but that still leave the new institution short of its own assets.
The Patriot-Ledger reported:
The city has spent $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money to hire two museum consultants: M. Goodwin Museum Planning and Luci Creative. The two contractors will work with the board members and Koch to draw up plans for a building.In addition, the first three members of what might eventually be a board of two dozen were appointed.
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An article in the 16–17 July 2022 Patriot Ledger quotes Mayor Thomas Koch saying he’s willing to sue the Boston Public Library for John Adams’s books because “we hold the moral high ground around here.” The Boston Public Library hasn’t responded to Koch’s request.
Koch is also quoted saying, “I don’t think the books provide a great scholarly resource necessarily and it’s not something e must have to run the center, but it’s John Adams’ own collection.”
The paper trail from 1895 might be useful for showing whether the books were sent from Quincy to Boston permanently or temporarily, but it’s clear that Charles Francis Adams, Jr., great-grandson of John Adams, was involved in the shift.
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