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| American Ancestors | |
|---|---|
| Name | American Ancestors |
| Formation | 1790 |
| Type | Nonprofit genealogy organization |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Leader title | President |
American Ancestors
American Ancestors is a nonprofit genealogical organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, associated with historical societies and genealogical networks. It connects researchers, genealogists, librarians, archivists, and institutions such as the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Library of Congress, Massachusetts Historical Society, and American Antiquarian Society through collections, publications, and educational programs. The organization collaborates with universities, museums, and archives including Harvard University, Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, and Princeton University to support family history research and preservation.
Founded in the late 18th century amid post-Revolutionary institutions like the Society of the Cincinnati and the Massachusetts Bay Colony commemorations, the organization evolved alongside figures such as Samuel Adams, John Adams, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock. Its development paralleled archival initiatives at the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the rise of genealogical scholarship exemplified by scholars connected to Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and the American Antiquarian Society. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it interacted with preservation movements involving the Peabody Essex Museum, Pilgrim Society, New York Historical Society, and the Smithsonian Institution, while responding to genealogical interests tied to events like the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and migrations documented by the Ellis Island era.
The mission emphasizes preservation, access, and education, aligning with best practices promoted by entities such as the Society of American Archivists, the National Genealogical Society, and the American Library Association. Activities include digitization partnerships with the Digital Public Library of America, collaboration with repositories like the Massachusetts State Archives, and programming that references primary sources from collections associated with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and other historical figures. It supports research into families connected to events like the Mayflower voyage, the Great Migration (Puritan)', the Irish Potato Famine, and transatlantic movements documented by the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database.
Programs include educational courses, seminars, and conferences in coordination with academic partners such as Harvard Kennedy School, MIT, Duke University, and Stanford University. Services cover genealogical consultations, DNA research services in the context of providers like 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and FamilyTreeDNA, and workshops referencing standards from the International Society of Genetic Genealogy. It offers certification pathways similar to those from the Board for Certification of Genealogists and promotes standards endorsed by the National Archives and Records Administration and the American Association for State and Local History.
Collections comprise manuscript archives, printed genealogies, vital records, probate files, and newspapers comparable to holdings at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New-York Historical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the American Antiquarian Society. Researchers consult town records from Boston, Massachusetts, ship logs tied to Port of New York, and immigration manifests from Ellis Island. It curates resources relating to families connected with personalities such as John Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson, William Bradford, Roger Williams, and records paralleling collections at the Library of Congress, National Archives, Smithsonian Institution, and regional historical societies across New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
Publications include scholarly journals, genealogical registers, and monographs that engage readerships similar to those of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and editions produced in partnership with university presses like Harvard University Press and Yale University Press. Outreach extends to partnerships with media outlets and institutions such as the PBS, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and digital platforms akin to the Digital Public Library of America and Internet Archive. It hosts lectures featuring historians and genealogists who have researched figures like Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Daniel Webster, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Eliza Hamilton, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Catherine Clinton, Gideon Welles, Salmon P. Chase, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé Knowles, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk.
Governance follows nonprofit models with a board of trustees and officers analogous to those at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and other cultural institutions like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Peabody Essex Museum. Funding sources include membership dues, philanthropic gifts from foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, corporate sponsorships, and earned income from services, exhibitions, and publications. Collaborative grant partnerships have been formed with institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and university research centers at Harvard University and MIT.
Category:Genealogical societies