Papers of H Pearl Adam

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 106 7HPA
  • Dates of Creation
      1896-1956
  • Language of Material
      English
  • Physical Description
      2 A boxes

Scope and Content

The archive consists of manuscript diaries (1912-1914, 1950-1956), manuscript notebooks which include some of her own poetry (1900-1922), publications by Adams and photographs of visits to Paris (1906, 1915).

Administrative / Biographical History

Helen Pearl Adam (1882-1957) was born on the 25 Apr 1882, the daughter of Mrs CE Humphrey who, as 'Madge' writing in 'Truth', was one of the first women journalists in Britain. Helen began her own career as a journalist in 1899 when she was seventeen. Ten years later, she married another newspaper writer, George Adam. The pair were correspondents in Paris during the First World War, where George Adam had been posted in 1912. There she edited 'International Cartoons of the War' in 1916 and subsequently published her diary of the period under the title 'Paris Sees it Through'. After the war, the couple remained in the city where Helen Pearl Adam met the writer Jean Rhys, allowing her to live in the Adam's flat, editing Rhys' first novel, 'Triple Sec' and introducing her to Ford Maddox Brown. George Adam resigned from the Times in Jan 1921 but remained there working for American newspapers, while his wife wrote articles commissioned by the Evening Standard, the Observer and the Sunday Times amongst others. George Adams died in Paris in 1930 and in the wake of this Helen Pearl Adams returned to England where she continued her work, which included writing the History of the National Council of Women of Great Britain in 1945. She died on the 2 Jan 1957.

Access Information

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Acquisition Information

Deposited by HM Sturges in 1985 and 2007.

Other Finding Aids

Fawcett Library Catalogue