![]() |
The facade of American Ancestors' about-to-open Center for Family History, Heritage & Culture |
I had the opportunity last week to visit Ryan Woods, the President of American Ancestors, at the organization's home office, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, on Newbury Street in Boston. Ryan and his team are scheduled to cut the ribbon on the new, very cool American Ancestors National Center for Family History, Heritage & Culture at 97 Newbury Street on April 24th.
This spectacular new center is part of a multi-structure
building complex named after American philanthropist and preservationist Thomas
Bailey Hagen and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The center will house the Brim-DeForest Library, R. Stanton Avery Special
Collections, the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center, the Brue Family Learning
Center, museum store, staff offices, and the Family Heritage Experience—an
interactive museum experience that will introduce visitors to the joys and
possibilities of family history.
Acquiring the building next door to NEHGS’s long-time
library was an opportunity that first presented itself in 2012, the final year
of my term as Chair of the organization. The owner of John Lewis Jewelers paid a visit and led us on a tour. Now, after much planning, fundraising, and hard work, the
center has been conceived and is (nearly) completed.
Ryan was kind enough to take me for a tour and even allowed me to snap a few pictures. I don’t want to (and can’t possibly) give everything away, but the Family Heritage Experience is destined to be a top 10 Trip Advisor recommendation in Boston, something full of fun and interactive activities.
![]() |
Arrive at the Center and place yourself on the map--where you belong! |
![]() |
Pick a disc, scan the barcode on the back, and get started on you genealogical journey. |
![]() |
The famous, or infamous Shattuck family painting. Like our current administration, if you don't like history, you just make it disappear. That bush in the middle used to be, well... |
As we were talking, Ryan reminded me of a brief talk I gave in 2008 when I was elected Chair. The talk, which I had forgotten, compared genealogy and the potato. Fortunately, I found it buried on this blog. So, I dusted it off and present it here.
I hope it will help you imagine the new Family Heritage Experience as an Idaho Russet potato fired at 117 feet per second through a hose into a finely
sharpened grate, coming out the other side in a perfect French fry cut.