Thomas Randolph Adams

Tom Adams died on December 1, 2008. He earned his B.A. at the University of Michigan and his M.A. at the University of Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. Tom Adams served as director of the John Carter Brown Library for twenty-five years. Upon retirement from the library, he was appointed John Hay Professor of Bibliography and University Bibliographer at Brown University, retiring in 1991. His historical bibliography work included American Controversy: A Bibliographical Study of the British Pamphlets about the American Disputes, 1764- 1783. His interest in maritime history led to the publication of Maritime History: A Hand-List of the Collection in the John Carter Brown Library, 1474 to ca. 1860. AAS member Norman Fiering wrote of the friendship between Marcus McCorison and Tom Adams, recalling “the ongoing learned banter about which of the two institutions, the AAS or the JCB, was the “better,” whatever that might mean.they had fun amiably diminishing the other’s home turf and vaunting their own, by comparison, while at the same time, despite this good natured jabbing, the two men worked together over the years most cooperatively.”