Genealogy
The American Antiquarian Society has a very strong collection of published
genealogical material focusing on early North American lines of descent,
including French-Canadian genealogies. Not only is this collection used by
genealogists but it is also used extensively by scholars working on
biographical, historical, and literary topics. Currently, the collection
numbers over 17,000 family histories, plus 2,000 genealogical reference
works. The Society adds to the collection by purchase and
donations. Genealogical acquisitions are partly funded by the following
endowments: George Chandler (1884), Bernard Christian Steiner (1926) and
Dorothy Brewer Erikson (1998). Eleanor Adams, the retired Executive
Assistant to the President, established a fund in 1997 for the purchase of
genealogy and New England local history.
The collection includes some of the earliest genealogies published in the
United States: Roger Clap's Memoirs of Capt. Roger Clap (Boston,
1731), which includes a "short account of the author and his family,"
compiled by
James Blake, Jr.; Luke Stebbins's Genealogy of the Family of Samuel
Stebbins (Hartford, 1771); John Farmer's A Family Register of the
Descendants of Edward Farmer (Concord, N.H., 1813); Anthony Haswell's
Record of the Family of Anthony Haswell (Bennington, Vt.,
1815); and Joseph Sharpless's Family Record of the Sharpless
Family (Philadelphia,
1816). More information pertaining to the Society's collection of early
genealogies can be found in volume 32 of the Proceedings (1922).
All the family histories in the Society's possession are fully cataloged,
with access by author and by all the major families traced in the
book. The genealogical reference materials also are cataloged, with many
of them available on open shelves in the reading room. The reading room
collection includes the 240-volume series of vital records of
Massachusetts towns to 1850, the New England Historic Genealogical
Register, lineage books published by the Daughters of the American
Revolution, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary
War, Mayflower materials, and P. William Filby's Passenger and
Immigration Lists Index (Detroit, 1981). Of particular help is the
American Genealogical- Biographical Index (Middletown, Conn.,
1952-). This series indexes 631 family histories by personal names. The
Society owns 591 of the titles indexed, and, to assist reader usage, the
consolidated "Key Title Index" to this series has been annotated with the
library's call numbers. One reference that is of particular interest for
genealogical research in Worcester County is the Works Progress
Administration's "A Biographical Index to Worcester and Worcester County"
(typescript, 1935). This work indexes ten standard histories by the
personal names of the major figures who lived in this area.
Bibles with manuscript notes entered by family members are an excellent
and often overlooked source of information for genealogists. The Society
has a collection of these Bibles, with access provided in the catalog by
family name.
The Society has a wide spectrum of auxiliary materials available for
genealogical research. These include state, county, and local histories
for all fifty states, biographies, United States histories, regimental
histories, Canadian histories, periodicals of local historical societies
and state libraries, and city directories. Another excellent source of
genealogical information is the Society's collection of newspapers. The
Society's typescript "Index to Marriages in Massachusetts Centinel and
Columbian Centinel, 1784-1840," and the "Index to Deaths in
Massachusetts
Centinel and Columbian Centinel, 1784-1840," are two widely used
indices
that are available in the reading room.
The Society also owns a set of clippings of the genealogical column "Notes
and Queries," which ran in the Boston Transcript from 1894 to 1941. This
is a very good source for genealogical information pertaining to New
England for the period 1600-1800. The Society's collection of these
articles is arranged in boxes by date of publication, and indexed by name
in The American Genealogical-Biographical Index.
There are a number of genealogical sources available in microform. In
addition to the microfilm series Early American Newspapers by
Readex Microprint Corporation, there are two useful microfiche series that
are of value to genealogists: Jay Mack Holbrook's Massachusetts Vital
Records which continues the earlier published records up to 1890 and
American Directories produced by Research Publications, Inc. which
includes all the directories listed in Dorothea Spear's Bibliography
of American Directories through 1860. We have recently acquired the
2nd series titled "City Directories of the United States, 1861-1880" in
microfilm.
There is a small but growing collection of genealogical materials on CD
ROM: the New England Historical and Genealogical Register and
Tanquay's
Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Candiennes.
In order to derive maximum benefit from the Society's genealogical
collections, readers are encouraged to do preliminary work before using
the collections.
- Eleanor S. Adams, retired Executive Assistant to the President, and
Marie E. Lamoureux, Head of Readers' Services.
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Bechtel Family Tree
Detail of the Bechtel Family Tree
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Inventory of Genealogical
Charts
Useful Genealogy Websites
Ancestry Library
Edition
Available from AAS terminals. Provides access to census, military,
birth, marriage and death records.
www.ngsgenealogy.org
Website of the National Genealogical Society with
links to numerous other genealogy sites.
www.usgenweb.com
Comprehensive country wide listing of genealogical
sources by state, county, and town.
www.cyndislist.com
Index to over 170,000 genealogical and research
sites and resources on the Internet
www.NewEnglandAncestors.org
Website of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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