Around the world in the month of June continues with American Ancestors Tuesday…. and the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). The first genealogical society to be established in the USA, the Society was founded in 1845 by a group of five Bostonians: Charles Ewer (1790-1853), Lemuel Shattuck (1793-1859), Samuel Gardner Drake (1798-1875), John Wingate Thornton (1818-1878), and William Henry Montague (1804-1889). There was significant debate initially about the nature of the organisation which they wanted to establish. Genealogy and history were favoured and so, plans were made to incorporate as the New England Historical Genealogical Society. However, Charles Francis Adams of the Massachusetts Historical Society opposed the use of the word “historical” and so the name was altered to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
The Society is now the ‘leading resource for family history research’ in the USA, according to their award-winning website, AmericanAncestors.org. Helping genealogists to improve their knowledge and understanding of their family, they provide expertise and research in nearly all aspects of family history – not only New England – from seventeenth century colonial New England through to immigration research in the twentieth century.
Their website is one of the most widely used genealogical resources in the USA and features nearly 3,000 unique searchable online collections, offering information on more than 300 million people. The extensive NEHGS Library catalog is also fully searchable through the site.
You have to be a paid up member to view most of the online collections – which is US$79.95 for an annual membership for a single individual. But, as well as access to the online databases, membership includes full on-site use of the Research Library in Boston (including special collections and manuscripts), access to premium databases like the Early American Newspapers, subscriptions to American Ancestors magazine and The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, discounts of research services and tutorials with staff genealogists and on selected titles from the Bookstore.
Certainly worth considering…..
