teacher and historian who introduced the European seminar method to U.S. universities.

Graduating from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1861, Adams taught history there until 1885. His study in Germany and France in 1867–68 led to his introduction of the seminar method, which spread to other U.S. universities. Among his historical works are Democracy and Monarchy in France (1874), A Manual of Historical Literature (1882), and Christopher Columbus (1892). He edited Representative British Orations (1884). He became president of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., in 1885, and served as president of the University of Wisconsin (Wisconsin, University of), Madison, from 1892 until his death.