An Evening with John Adams

Chautauquan Bill Chrystal portrayed John Adams on March 5, 2010 at CSU-Pueblo in conjunction with John Adams Unbound, a traveling exhibition based upon the 2006-2007 gallery exhibition of the same name on display at the Boston Public Library, which explores Adams’s personal library – a collection of 3,500 books willed by Adams to the people of Massachusetts and deposited in the Boston Public Library in 1894. This remarkable collection of books provides first-hand insight into how John Adams shaped American history and how he was shaped through his lifelong dedication to reading and books. Through photo-reproductions of these annotated volumes, viewers will witness one of our founding fathers wrestling with intellectual and political ideas at every stage in his long life – as a boy, university student, Boston lawyer, revolutionary, diplomat, President and citizen of the early American republic.

John Adams was a lifelong learner. Slated early in life by his parents to receive a higher education, Adams combined hard study with a plan in order to achieve his goal--that of being remembered by later generations. Always willing to champion unpopular causes, John Adams knew that determination and learning, when combined with a cause, plays an important role in success.

For Adams, books were constant companions. "You will never be alone," he wrote his son John Quincy Adams, "with a poet in your pocket." His library was huge for its day--it rivaled Thomas Jefferson's in size. But unlike Jefferson, Adams engaged the authors he read. His marginal notes in many books have provided generations of scholars with keener insight into the former President.

Bill Chrystal has been portraying John Adams and other Founding Fathers since 1993. He is also the moderator of the nationally syndicated radio program The Thomas Jefferson Hour, and he debates spiritually oriented, political topics with politicians and listeners on local public radio. His experience as a Navy chaplain, a minister, and a radio host has made Bill a sought-after speaker and “entertainer.”