Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871-1958

Author and journalist. Adams was an important member of the staffs of McClure's and Colliers magazines during the muckraking days. He was active in exposing medical frauds and instrumental in bringing about the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906). Adams used fictional settings in a long series of novels dealing with the American background and exploring issues such as dishonest journalism (The Clarion, 1914) and the Harding Administration scandals (Revelry, 1926). He also wrote the Average Jones stories.

From the description of Papers 1905-1990 1905-1958. (Hamilton College). WorldCat record id: 57583181

American author.

From the description of ALS, 1909 October 2, The Players, 16 Gramercy Park, to Mr. [Willard] Austen. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63935411

American novelist and magazine writer.

From the guide to the Samuel Hopkins Adams autograph, undated, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958) was an American author. He was born on January 26, 1871, the son of Myron and Hester Rose Hopkins Adams. After receiving his A.B. from Hamilton College in 1891, Samuel Hopkins Adams joined the staff of the New York Sun, moving in 1900 to McClure's magazine, where he became in succession, managing editor, advertising manager, and staff member in the heyday of Lincoln Steffens and Ida M. Tarbell. Eventually, Adams turned to freelance writing and became a highly successful and versatile writer of short stories (many appeared in the New Yorker), biography, and novels dealing with Americana. His most famous books are: Revelry, a story of the Harding administration which was banned in Washington and sold over 100,000 copies, 1926; A. Woollcott: His Life and His World, 1946; Banner by the Wayside, 1947; Plunder, 1948; Sunrise to Sunset, 1950; The Pony Express, 1950; The Santa Fe Trail, 1952; Canal Town, 1953; Grandfather Stories, 1955.

In 1926, Hamilton College awarded Adams an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He died at the age of eighty-seven in Beaufort, South Carolina on November 15, 1958.

From the guide to the Samuel Hopkins Adams Collection, 1921-1958, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)