 |
Postings will make Adams all a-Twitter
It seems John Quincy Adams was way ahead of his time.
A high school student touring the sixth US president’s archives recently noticed that his bite-sized diary entries looked a lot like tweets.
Starting today, history will meet modern technology as the Massachusetts Historical Society begins posting Adams’s updates from 200 years ago on Twitter. The historical society will include a presidential tracker of sorts, linking maps to show Adams’s progress on a diplomatic trek to Russia as US minister.
The tweets will include mentions of his favorite reading matter, memorable meals, weather updates, and the daily dramas encountered during months at sea.
His updates are concise enough to put Twitter experts to shame: “Thick fog. Scanty Wind. On George’s Bank. Lat: 42-34. Read Massillon’s Careme Sermons 2 & 3. Ladies are Sick.’’ (This one, from Aug. 6, 1809, comes in at 109 characters, well under Twitter’s 140-character limit.)
The Aug. 31 entry was even tighter, at only 91 characters: “Calm and light winds. Pleasant weather. Lat: 59-23. Long: 17-15. Cimon and Lucullus. Cards.’’
His 95-character line showed Aug. 15 to be more eventful: “Weather fine - wind scanty. Lat: 44-13. Long: 53-40. This afternoon I found the Caboose on fire.’’
Librarians and historians at the society say they hope to connect a new online generation with Adams by bringing his life into the 21st century.
The group’s website has digital copies of Adams’s diaries that show his whimsical script.
Society librarian Jeremy Dibbell said Adams did not intend that his diaries be published.
“When he’s doing this, it’s not really for public consumption, although I think the Adamses kind of knew that what they were writing would be read for many years hence,’’ said Dibbell, an assistant reference librarian helping to coordinate the society’s Twitter feed.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
