Dr. Adams joined the English Department in 1948, and except for a sojourn of teaching at LSU (1966–70), continued in the department until his retirement in 1985. He served as director of graduate studies in English (1976–84), was named a Chancellor’s Research Scholar in 1977, and was named a Lindsay Young Professor in 1980. Adams authored, edited, or translated 20 volumes, including Travelers and Travel Liars (1962, 1978), Graces of Harmony (1977), and Travel Literature and the Evolution of the Novel (1983). He was the founding president of the Southeastern Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, served as a Fulbright Lecturer in France (1958–59), and held a National Humanities Senior Fellowship (1976–77). A plaque recognizing his contributions to the intellectual life of the university was placed on a library faculty study in 1986.
The Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies annually conducts the Percy G. Adams Article Competition, giving a monetary prize for the best article on an eighteenth-century subject published in a scholarly journal.