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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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1150 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113, USA
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Henry Carter Adams Papers, 1864-1924

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Summary

Creator:
Adams, Henry Carter, 1851-1921
Abstract:
Professor of economics at University of Michigan, 1880-1921, statistician for the Interstate Commerce Commission, 1887-1911, developed standard accounting procedures for railroads. Papers include personal and professional correspondence, diaries, travel journals, drafts of books, letter books, reports and printed materials concerning his work with the Interstate Commerce Commission, his activities as an expert witness in railroad compensation and tax cases, and University of Michigan affairs.
Extent:
30.3 linear feet
3 oversize folders
1 oversize folder
Language:
English.
Call Number:
851790 Ac Aa 2 UAl
Authors:
Finding aid prepared by: Bentley Historical Library Staff

Background

Scope and Content:

The Henry Carter Adams papers consist of personal and professional correspondence, diaries, travel journals, drafts of books, letter books, reports and printed materials concerning his work with the Interstate Commerce Commission, his activities as an expert witness in railroad compensation and tax cases, and University of Michigan affairs.

Biographical / Historical:

Henry Carter Adams was born in Davenport, Iowa, December 31, 1851, the son of the Reverend Ephraim and Elizabeth (Douglass) Adams. His parents were members of the "Iowa Band," a group of New England Congregationalists who went west to establish churches and colleges modelled after Eastern counterparts. After graduating from Iowa College (later Grinnell) in 1874, Adams matriculated at Andover Seminary (his father's alma mater) to prepare for the ministry. After one year, however, he decided against a ministerial career and in favor of advanced study in political economy. Entering Johns Hopkins he fell under the influence of Herbert Baxter Adams. In 1878 he received the first doctor of philosophy degree awarded by the new university and spent the following year studying in Europe. In 1880, Adams accepted his first teaching position, a joint appointment at Cornell University and the University of Michigan. Forced out of Cornell because of his "radical" economic theories, he took up permanent residence in Ann Arbor, remaining on the Michigan faculty until his retirement in 1921.

In 1887, Adams accepted additional responsibilities as a statistician for the Interstate Commerce Commission. With the reorganization of the Commission in 1907, Adams became head of a section charged with accounts and statistics, where he served until he retired from federal service in 1911. In these beginning years of government utility regulation, Adams developed a uniform system of railroad accounting essential to such regulation. After he left the Commission, Adams used his technical knowledge in serving as an "expert witness" in numerous railroad compensation and tax cases.

From 1913 to 1916 Adams served the Chinese government as a special consultant on railroad accounts and statistics, spending a year in China by government invitation. In his last years he concerned himself increasingly with the improvement and expansion of education in business and the social sciences. Several universities, recognizing his pioneering work, granted Adams honorary degrees. In 1895 his professional colleagues elected him president of the then infant American Economic Association. He also served for a time as associate editor of the International Journal of Ethics.

As a spokesman for progressive ideas, Henry Carter Adams demonstrated a penchant for practical innovation and controversy, lecturing extensively and writing numerous books and articles on a wide range of social, economic and philosophical issues and questions. He died August 11, 1921.

Acquisition Information:
The collection was the gift of Professor Henry Carter Adams, Jr. (donor no. 4029) and came to the library in accessions of 1963 and 1965, and of Thomas Adams (donor no. 4320 , 4029 and came to the library primarily in 1966.
Arrangement:

The Henry Carter Adams papers have been arranged into nine series representing either types of documents or areas of activities. These series are:

  1. Correspondence
  2. Student Notebooks and Diaries and other bound materials
  3. U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission
  4. Railroad and Utility Company Consultation Case files
  5. Special Consultant to the Chinese Government
  6. Addresses, Lectures and Writings
  7. Miscellaneous
  8. Topical file
  9. Photographs.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:
Economics.
Education -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Public utilities -- United States.
Railroads -- United States.
Social service -- United States -- Societies, etc.
Street-railroads -- United States.
Taxation -- United States.
Universities and colleges -- Michigan.
Children.
Dwellings -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Private libraries.
Travel.
Formats:
Diaries.
Photographs.
Names:
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company.
Canadian Express Company (Montrèal, Quèbec)
Canadian Northern Express Company (Toronto, Ont.)
Chicago and Alton Railroad Company.
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company.
Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad Company.
Chicago Demurrage Bureau.
Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway.
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company.
Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad Company of Illinois.
Chicago Warehouse & Terminal Company.
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway Company.
Colorado and Southern Railway.
Detroit United Railway.
Erie Railroad.
Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company.
Great Northern Express Company.
Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.)
Houston & Texas Central Railway Company.
Houston, East and West Texas Railway.
Houston and Shreveport Railroad Company.
Illinois Central Railroad Company.
Illinois Tunnel Company.
International & Great Northern Railroad.
Iowa Central Railway Company.
Kansas City Southern Railway.
Lagonda Western Railway Company.
Lehigh Valley Railroad.
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company.
Louisiana & Pacific Railway Company.
Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company.
Louisiana Western Railroad Company.
Manufacturers' Railway Company.
Michigan. Board of State Tax Commissioners.
Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad.
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company.
Missouri Pacific Railroad Company.
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway.
New Orleans, Natchez & Northwestern Railroad Company of Louisiana.
New York Central Railroad Company.
Northern Express Company (St. Paul, Minn.)
Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
Union Pacific Oregon Shortline Railroad.
Pennsylvania Railroad.
Pullman Company.
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company.
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company.
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company.
Southern Pacific Company.
Southern Railway (U.S.)
Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Company.
Texas & Pacific Railway.
Toledo, St. Louis, and Western Railroad Company.
Trunk Line Association.
Union Pacific Railroad Company.
United States. Interstate Commerce Commission.
University of Michigan. Dept. of Economics.
University of Michigan -- Faculty.
Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern Railway Company.
Western Express Company (Toronto, Ont.)
Western Railway Weighing Association and Inspection Bureau.
Adams family.
Adams, Henry Carter, 1851-1921.
Adams, Bertha H. Wright.
Adams, Charles Kendall, 1835-1902.
Adams, Elizabeth Sylvia Ann (Douglass), 1821-1905.
Adams, Ephraim, 1818-1907.
Adams, Ephraim Douglass, 1865-1930.
Adams, Herbert Baxter, 1850-1901.
Addams, Jane, 1860-1935.
Allison, William B. (William Boyd), 1829-1908.
Anderson, William J.
Angell, James Burrill, 1829-1916.
Ashley, H. W.
Baker, Ray Stannard, 1870-1946.
Bartlett, Hamilton H.
Beakes, Samuel Willard, 1861-1927.
Bemis, Edward Webster, 1860-1930.
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz, 1856-1941.
Brown, W. C. (William Carlos), 1853-1924.
Bullock, Charles Jesse, 1869-1941.
Burton, Marion Le Roy, 1874-1925.
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 1862-1947.
Butterfield, Kenyon L. (Kenyon Leech), 1868-1935.
Canfield, James Hulme, 1847-1909.
Clark, Frederick Converse.
Clark, John Bates, 1847-1938.
Clements, William L. (William Lawrence), 1861-1934.
Commons, John Rogers, 1862-1945.
Conant, Charles A. (Charles Arthur), 1861-1915.
Cooley, Charles Horton, 1864-1929.
Cooley, Lyman Edgar, 1850-1917.
Cooley, Mortimer E. (Mortimer Elwyn), 1855-1944.
Cooley, Thomas McIntyre, 1824-1898.
Dawson, William Mercer Owens, 1853-1916.
Dewey, Davis Rich, 1858-1942.
Dewey, John, 1859-1952.
Dixon, Frank Haigh, 1869-1944.
D'Ooge, Martin Luther, 1839-1915.
Durand, Edward Dana, 1871-
Effinger, John Robert, 1869-1933.
Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911.
Ely, Richard Theodore, 1854-1943.
Evans, Elizabeth Edson Gibson, 1832-1911.
Fairchild, Fred Rogers, 1877-1966.
Fetter, Frank A. (Frank Albert), 1863-1949.
Fisher, Irving, 1867-1947.
Friday, David, 1876-1945.
Giddings, Franklin Henry, 1855-1931.
Fuertes, E. A.
Gifford, Walter S. (Walter Sherman), 1885-1966.
Gilman, Daniel Coit, 1831-1908.
Gore, Mr. (Thomas Pryor), 1870-1949.
Gray, John H. (John Henry), 1859-1946.
Guthe, Karl Eugen, 1866-1915.
Hadley, Arthur Twining, 1856-1930.
Hanshue, J. J.
Hart, Albert Bushnell, 1854-1943.
Hathaway, F. R.
Hawes, Harry B.
Hawley, Willis Chatman.
Hill, Robert Thomas, 1858-1941.
Hollander, Jacob Harry, 1871-1940.
Hopkins, Albert J. (Albert Jarvis), 1846-1922.
Hull, Charles Henry, 1864-
Hutchins, Harry B. (Harry Burns), 1847-1930.
James, Edmund J. (Edmund Janes), 1855-1925.
Jameson, J. Franklin (John Franklin), 1859-1937.
Jeffery, Edward Turner, 1843-1927.
Jenks, Jeremiah Whipple, 1856-1929.
Johnson, Emory R. (Emory Richard), 1864-1950.
Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931.
Jruks, J. W.
Knight, George W. (George Wells), 1858-1932.
Labadie, Jo, 1850-1933.
Lathrop, Julia Clifford, 1858-1932.
Laughlin, J. Laurence (James Laurence), 1850-1933.
Lawton, Charles De Witt, 1835-1909.
Lewis, David J. (David John), 1869-1952.
Manny, Frank Addison, 1868-1954.
Martin, H. B.
Mayo-Smith, Richmond, 1854-1901.
Mead, Edwin Doak, 1849-1937.
Newcomb, H. T. (Harry Turner), 1867-1944.
Ono, Yeijiro.
Osborn, Chase S. (Chase Salmon), 1860-
Page, Walter Hines, 1855-1918.
Paxson, Frederic L. (Frederic Logan), 1877-1948.
Peabody, Charles.
Pickard, Josiah Little, 1824-1914.
Raymond, J. Everett.
Ripley, William Zebina, 1867-1941.
Rogers, Henry Wade, 1853-1926.
Rosenthal, Lessing, 1868-1949.
Salter, William Mackintire, 1853-1931.
Sanborn, F. B. (Franklin Benjamin), 1831-1917.
Sedgwick, W. T. (William Thompson), 1855-1921.
Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson, 1861-1939.
Sharfman, I. Leo (Isaiah Leo), 1886-1969.
Shaw, Albert, 1857-1947.
Shibley, George H. (George Henry), 1861-
Small, Albion Woodbury, 1854-1926.
Smith, Henry Cassorte, 1859-1911.
Smith, J. Allen (James Allen), 1860-1926.
Smith, John McMunn C., 1853-1923.
Stanley, Augustus Owsley, 1867-1958.
Stearns, Justus S. (Justus Smith), 1845-
Stephens, E. W.
Taussig, F. W. (Frank William), 1859-1940.
Taylor, Graham, 1851-1938.
Thomas, Calvin, 1854-1919.
Towne, Charles Arnette, 1858-1928.
Townsend, Charles E. (Charles Elroy), 1856-1924.
Tunell, George Gerard.
Tyler, Moses Coit, 1835-1900.
Van Hise, Charles Richard, 1857-1918.
Vaughan, Victor C. (Victor Clarence), 1851-1929.
Veblen, Thorstein, 1857-1929.
Ward, Lester Frank, 1841-1913.
Wells, David Ames, 1828-1898.
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 1854-1927.
White, Andrew Dickson, 1832-1918.
Wilcox, Delos F. (Delos Franklin), 1873-1928.
Wilcox, Walter Francis, 1861-
Williams, John Sharp, 1854-1932.
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.
Adams, Henry Carter, 1891-1970.
Adams, Theodore Wright, 1896-
Adams, Thomas Hammond, 1901-
Places:
China -- History -- 1861-1912.
Detroit (Mich.)
Germany.
Ann Arbor (Mich.) -- Dwellings.

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open to research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Donor(s) have transferred any applicable copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright was not transferred. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

item, folder title, box no., Henry Carter Adams Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

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Collection

Henry Carter Adams Papers, 1864-1924
Call Number 851790 Ac Aa 2 UAl
Total components 271
Last indexed 2023-12-09