Blyth, Benjamin. Abigail Adams (Mrs. John Adams). 1766. Pastel on paper. Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA. Accessed May 30, 2019. https://www.masshist.org/database/69.

When Abigail Adams boarded a ship bound for Europe in 1784, it would be her first trip abroad; despite years of public, political life in the United States, she had never been afforded the opportunity to leave the continent, let alone to serve on a diplomatic mission to the French and English court. 

Abigail's resulting four years in Europe (1784-1788) marked a cosmopolitan shift in her thinking. Through the lenses of education, economics and patriotism, this exhibition invites you to explore Adams' time in Europe; each lens will elaborate on the ideas surrounding America's desire to assert itself as a new nation and the character, personality, observations and motivations of one of America's founding families.