American Ancestors

American Ancestors American Ancestors is a National Center for Family History, Heritage & Culture.

American Ancestors provides expert family history services through our staff, original scholarship, data-rich website, educational opportunities, and research center to help family historians of all levels explore their past and understand their families’ unique place in history. We are a member-based nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing the study of family history in America and beyond, b

y educating, inspiring, and connecting people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise. We offer the most comprehensive resources in the country for researching family history:

An Expert Staff: Our professional genealogists are among the most respected and advanced in the profession. With research specialties including early American, New England, New York, Irish, English, Italian, Scottish, Atlantic and French Canadian, African American, Native American, Chinese, and Jewish genealogy, our expert staff can assist family historians by providing research advice in-person, over the phone, or in writing. Our expert staff can also conduct research on behalf of family historians, providing authoritative, documented research reports and family tree charts. Original Scholarship: To support the research of family historians around the world, we produce the most significant original research and important publications in genealogy, including, since 1847, the longest continually published academic journal in the field, The Register. In addition to the quarterly journal, we publish a quarterly magazine, ten to twenty books per year, and a weekly electronic newsletter. As the leader in genealogical scholarship, we also produce important study projects such as The Great Migration Study Project, covering those who arrived in New England between 1620 and 1640; The Early New England Study Project, 1641–1700; Families of Western Massachusetts in 1790, capturing families heading west at the time of the 1790 census, and the newEarly Vermont Settlers to 1784 which covers families that settled Vermont, the last frontier of New England. Website: AmericanAncestors.org is the most-used genealogical society website in the world. It provides family historians access to more than 1 billion records spanning the U.S. and beyond, including one of the most extensive online collections of early American records, and the largest searchable collection of published genealogical research journals and magazines. Special strengths in our content include English, New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont), New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia materials. Education: Designed to benefit family history researchers of all levels, we provide exclusive, in-depth learning opportunities through lectures, seminars, intensive research programs, tours to libraries and archives, online courses and webinars, and special events . Research Center: Named by USA Today as a top 10 world destination for family history, the public, members and visitors are invited to visit our eight-story library and archive where we offer the largest collection of original family history research materials in the country. Our collection, which continues to grow through acquisition and preservation activities, dates from the fourteenth century to the present and spans North America, Europe, and beyond. It includes more than 28 million diaries, letters, photographs, and other manuscripts, and more than 200,000 books and microforms.

Summer 2025 Issue of American Ancestors Magazine Now Available!The summer issue of American Ancestors focuses on home so...
07/23/2025

Summer 2025 Issue of American Ancestors Magazine Now Available!

The summer issue of American Ancestors focuses on home sources for family history. Learn how these records can enhance your research and deepen your knowledge of your ancestors and relatives. View now at https://hubs.ly/Q03y3h3j0

Join us for an illustrated tour of the Gilded Age, seen through the experiences and artistry of two of its celebrated ar...
07/21/2025

Join us for an illustrated tour of the Gilded Age, seen through the experiences and artistry of two of its celebrated artists: architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Author Henry Wiencek and moderator Curt DiCamillo will take us behind the scenes to show how these two cultural trendsetters transcended scandal to enrich their times. https://hubs.ly/Q03vv6mn0

Learn more about the newly renovated Brim-DeForest Library at American Ancestors with a brief tour this August! During t...
07/18/2025

Learn more about the newly renovated Brim-DeForest Library at American Ancestors with a brief tour this August! During this tour, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the collections, services, and other library offerings. Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q03rJ1QY0

Acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Beth Norton’s "I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer" is a remarkable col...
07/17/2025

Acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Beth Norton’s "I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer" is a remarkable collection of questions and answers drawn from the Athenian Mercury—a one-page, two-sided periodical published in 1690s London. In this groundbreaking publication ran the world’s first personal advice column ran, revealing intimate romantic problems of the day. Join us for free: https://hubs.ly/Q03vZnLS0

Vital records do not survive for all time periods, or they may never have existed. Many regions in the United States, fo...
07/16/2025

Vital records do not survive for all time periods, or they may never have existed. Many regions in the United States, for example, didn’t start recording vital records until the late nineteenth century. In this online lecture, Chief Genealogist David Allen Lambert will discuss how to ensure you are doing an exhaustive search, provide information on alternate sources, and how to draw conclusions from multiple sources when a “smoking gun” record doesn’t exist. https://hubs.ly/Q03vvg_f0

Actor-producer-director Griffin Dunne grew up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan. Don’t miss h...
07/15/2025

Actor-producer-director Griffin Dunne grew up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan. Don’t miss hearing the story of his family – a New York Times bestseller named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Time, People, and Town & Country magazines. https://hubs.ly/Q03vZq1M0

Shimmering, captivating, and corrupting. Great jewels have dazzled people for millennia, their beauty and value producin...
07/14/2025

Shimmering, captivating, and corrupting. Great jewels have dazzled people for millennia, their beauty and value producing respect, deception, love, and betrayal. Whether an enormous diamond, a jewel-encrusted heraldic pin, or an Order of the Garter Star, the language of jewels subtly, and sometimes ostentatiously, conveys a statement of power, position, and wealth. This lecture explores how the 18th and 19th century British ruling classes, modeling themselves on the ancient Roman Empire, used jewelry to reinforce their positions in society and awe their peers. https://hubs.ly/Q03vZpXB0

Anyone can do family history research! In this one-hour in-person lecture, you will learn about key resources, strategie...
07/13/2025

Anyone can do family history research! In this one-hour in-person lecture, you will learn about key resources, strategies, and first steps to discovering and recording your family history. We will also demonstrate how to use important organizational tools, such as the multi-generational chart, family group sheet, and research log. You will also learn how to create a solid research plan! https://hubs.ly/Q03wV7hM0

Come join us for a week of research at our newly expanded Research Center! In addition to daily lectures, one-on-one con...
07/12/2025

Come join us for a week of research at our newly expanded Research Center! In addition to daily lectures, one-on-one consultations, and orientations, this special “Come Home” program will also include a walking tour of Revolutionary Boston. Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q03vZp9j0

This program includes:
- Tour and orientation to collections of American Ancestors Research Center
- Daily lectures
- Three, thirty-minute consultations with expert genealogists (one virtual pre-tour consultation, two on-tour consultations)
- Group meals (daily breakfast, opening reception, and closing dinner)
- Pre-program preparatory webinar and resources

When Jeopardy! contestant Emily Croke correctly responded "Who is Folger?" in Final Jeopardy, she was doing more than an...
07/11/2025

When Jeopardy! contestant Emily Croke correctly responded "Who is Folger?" in Final Jeopardy, she was doing more than answering a trivia question—she was naming her great-great-great-aunt. In the latest Vita Brevis article, Senior Genealogist Christopher C. Child traces Emily's remarkable lineage and uncovers the deep roots of the Folger family.

Chris Child traces Emily’s remarkable lineage and uncovers the deep roots of the Folger family.

07/10/2025
07/10/2025

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Boston, MA

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American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society is America’s founding genealogical organization and the most respected name in family history. Established in 1845, NEHGS is the nation’s leading comprehensive resource for family history research and the largest Society of its kind in the world. We provide expert family history services through our staff, original scholarship, data-rich website, educational opportunities, and research center to help family historians of all levels explore their past and understand their families’ unique place in history. We are a member-based nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing the study of family history in America and beyond, by educating, inspiring, and connecting people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise. We offer the most comprehensive resources in the country for researching family history: An Expert Staff: Our professional genealogists are among the most respected and advanced in the profession. With research specialties including early American, New England, New York, Irish, English, Italian, Scottish, Atlantic and French Canadian, African American, Native American, Chinese, and Jewish genealogy, our expert staff can assist family historians by providing research advice in-person, over the phone, or in writing. Our expert staff can also conduct research on behalf of family historians, providing authoritative, documented research reports and family tree charts. Original Scholarship: To support the research of family historians around the world, we produce the most significant original research and important publications in genealogy, including, since 1847, the longest continually published academic journal in the field, The Register. In addition to the quarterly journal, we publish a quarterly magazine, ten to twenty books per year, and a weekly electronic newsletter. As the leader in genealogical scholarship, we also produce important study projects such as The Great Migration Study Project, covering those who arrived in New England between 1620 and 1640; The Early New England Study Project, 1641–1700; Families of Western Massachusetts in 1790, capturing families heading west at the time of the 1790 census, and the new Early Vermont Settlers to 1784 which covers families that settled Vermont, the last frontier of New England. Website: AmericanAncestors.org is the most-used genealogical society website in the world. It provides family historians access to more than 1 billion records spanning the U.S. and beyond, including one of the most extensive online collections of early American records, and the largest searchable collection of published genealogical research journals and magazines. Special strengths in our content include English, New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont), New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia materials. Education: Designed to benefit family history researchers of all levels, we provide exclusive, in-depth learning opportunities through lectures, seminars, intensive research programs, tours to libraries and archives, online courses and webinars, and special events . Research Center: Named by USA Today as a top 10 world destination for family history, the public, members and visitors are invited to visit our eight-story library and archive where we offer the largest collection of original family history research materials in the country. Our collection, which continues to grow through acquisition and preservation activities, dates from the fourteenth century to the present and spans North America, Europe, and beyond. It includes more than 28 million diaries, letters, photographs, and other manuscripts, and more than 200,000 books and microforms.