David E. Adams was born July 20, 1892 in Wilton, New Hampshire, and resided in Hanover, N.H during his time at PA. The scrapbook includes information from the start of his Andover career in 1908 to his commencement in 1909. His scrapbook is extremely neat, but the binding is falling apart and the covers are peeled off at the corners. Adams lived in Andover Cottage while he was a student and took a picture of both his neat dorm room and the entire dorm. David was strictly a Classical studies student, and his passion for Greek, Latin, German, History and English shows through in his extracurricular involvement and school records. He appeared on the first grade honor list twice as well as the scholarship honor list. He received senior honors for German Elementary, Greek, Greek History and Roman and Latin. There are two class schedule cards included in the scrapbook that show he took all of the subjects mentioned above. Many of his writings on ancient Greek are included in booklets glued to the scrapbook. His excellent academic record is enhanced by his participation in an English competition, German composition competition and a Latin competition as indicated by the exam booklets he included. The Philips bulletin, examination and recitation schedules among other notes that are important to him show that he was very organized and focused.

Related to Adams’s skills in the humanities, he was actively involved in the Philomathean (debate) Society as the secretary and was a member of the Society of Inquiry, a student club that performed charity work. Many booklets and pamphlets of the Philo Forum debates he attended are included. Also included is a Phillipian subscription card and Phillipian clippings related to sports, Philo and other random subjects. He included the dining hall menus along with his preferences as to what food was good. Tickets and programs to music events as well as a picture of the musical clubs on campus demonstrate his interest in Music. His schedule reveals that he may have been part of the glee club with the abbreviations “gle”. He was a Means Essay speaker who made it into the final round but not the top three; the topic was on translating the Iliad. The scrapbook also includes a preliminary list of students that shows where everyone was from and their prospective dorms. He includes many excerpts of the times of events he wishes to attend, such as the debating team trials and Philo meetings.

Adams included only a few things related to social life and dancing. However, he did include many tickets, photographs and articles related to athletics on campus. He had a season pass to home games for Andover’s baseball team and tickets plus schedules to football, track, baseball and hockey games. Many newspaper clippings with results from important games and pictures of members within the different teams are included. A Phillipian excerpt suggests that Adams was on the track team for 100 yard sprints. He has one admit to the senior prom gallery and a humorous tag saying “I have been tagged all over but not kissed.” Judging by his academic prowess and even stern expression on the yearbook, Adams was probably not a very social student.

In general, Adams collected and saved many different items on extracurricular activates, athletic events and academics. His organized scrapbook, honors and success both in and outside of the classroom prove he was a very driven and smart student with probably less than average interest in socializing. After graduation, he received a doctorate of divinity at Dartmouth, continuing his work in the Society of Inquiry that had regular meetings and speakers on spreading happiness through Christian mission work.

by Max Huang, class of 2017

Scrapbook Box 95