Guide to the Robert Martin Adams Papers,
[ca. 1950-1966]

Professor of English.

Robert Martin Adams graduated from Columbia University, where he also received an M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He taught at Columbia, at the University of Wisconsin, and at Rutgers University before coming to Cornell University in 1950. At Cornell, he taught courses in the literature of the 17th century, the Renaissance and the modern period in the departments of English and Comparative Literature from 1950 to 1968. In 1968 he joined the faculty of UCLA. Professor Adams died in 1996.

Manuscripts include: "Winter Arches, a private book," an autobiographical account of his life until World War II; "Machiavelli without the Prince," in two manuscript versions; "Montaigne Incisions," an essay; and "Sun Goes Down Tide Goes Out," writings at the end of his life. Also, teaching materials, including ditto sheets given to students and a short play about the English Department.