[1] The firm uses a disciplined investment process consisting of three core tenets: identifying high-quality companies through a proprietary research process; employing rigorous analysis to assess company fundamentals; and executing a portfolio management strategy focusing on generating long-term capital appreciation.

[citation needed] Both funds have consistently paid dividends for over 80 years and are committed to paying an annual distribution of at least 6%.

[citation needed] Adams Express was founded in 1854 and is one of the oldest companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ADX).

In 1839, Alvin Adams, a produce merchant ruined by the Panic of 1837, began carrying letters, small packages and valuables for patrons between Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.

[4] Effective March 31, 2015, the company changed its name to Adams Diversified Equity Fund[5] in recognition of the fact that its express activities had long ended; it continues to operate as a closed-end fund traded on the New York Stock Exchange under its previous symbol.

Former slave Jordan Anderson mentions Adams Express as his preferred form of payment to compensate for his years of unpaid labor, in his Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master (1865).

[6] Adams Express Company is referenced in the punchline to a Biblical joke found in The Big Fun Book:[7] Q: "Why was Eve made?"