Joseph Quincy Adams

Born on March 23, 1880, Joseph Quincy Adams Jr. became one of the best-known American scholars of Shakespeare. He taught at Cornell University and later played a central role in building Shakespeare studies in the United States through both his research and his academic leadership.

He is especially remembered as the first officially appointed director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. In that role, he helped guide the library in its early years and strengthen its reputation as a major center for Shakespeare scholarship.

Adams wrote widely on Shakespeare, Elizabethan drama, and the history of the English stage. His career connected university teaching, serious archival work, and public literary culture, and his influence remained strong until his death on November 10, 1946.