Robert Borthwick Adam (February 4, 1833 – June 30, 1904) was a retailer and book collector from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. In 1867, Adam co-founded the department store Adam, Meldrum & Whiting. Adam's home a
448 Delaware Avenue
in Buffalo, built in 1876, still stands.

Biography

Adam was born in Peebles, Scotland, on February 4, 1833, to Rev. Thomas Adam and Isabella Borthwick. He left school at the age of 10 and went to work in Edinburgh, where he lived until 1857. In 1855, he married Grace Harriet Michie. In 1857, Adam left Scotland for the United States. He first settled in Boston and moved to Buffalo in 1867. In 1872, Adam adopted his nephew Robert Borthwick Adam Scott (1863-1940), who then took the name Robert Borthwick Adam. Among's Adam's philanthropic activities were a longstanding involvement with the Buffalo

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

which he served as President from 1897 until his death on June 30, 1904.

As a collector

In the 1880s, Adam began collecting rare books and manuscripts related to English Literature, with a particular focus on Samuel Johnson. The collection passed to his son, who continued to add to it. In 1931, the scholar L.F. Powell called the collection "unrivalled and without a competitor." The collection was purchased by Donald and

Mary Hyde Mary Lord nee Hyde (c. 19 February 1779 – 1 December 1864) was an English Australian woman who in the period 1855 to 1859 sued the Commissioners of the City of Sydney and won compensation for the sum of over £15,600 (plus costs) for the inunda ...

in 1948 and now forms part of the Hyde Collection at Houghton Library,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

.Adam, R. B. (Robert Borthwick), 1863-1940. R. B. Adam papers, 1846-1948: Guide.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Robert Borthwick 1833 births 1904 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American philanthropists American businesspeople in retailing Philanthropists from New York (state) American retail company founders Scottish emigrants to the United States