New England Historic Genealogical Society

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845.

New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is America’s founding genealogical organization and the most respected name in family history. Established in 1845, NEHGS is a leading comprehensive resource for family history research and the largest society of its kind in the world. NEHGS provides family history services through its staff, original scholarship, data-rich website, AmericanAncestors, educational opportunities, and research center to help family historians of all levels explore their past and understand their families’ unique place in history.

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, NEHGS is located at 99–101 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an eight-story archive and research center. Today it has over 220,000 members and guest members worldwide and a 85-person staff.

NEHGS maintains a large web site with more than 1.3 billion names in its databases, the largest such online collection of any genealogical society. It includes vital records, compiled genealogies, and a suite of scholarly journals, such as The New England Historical and Genealogical Register and The American Genealogist, the leading independent journal in American genealogy. In addition to American Ancestors (formerly New England Ancestors), NEHGS publishes other periodicals: The Register, the flagship journal of American genealogy, American Ancestors Journal, an annual supplement to The Register, and The Great Migration Newsletter, a quarterly publication of the Great Migration Study Project.

NEHGS' library catalog is available online and lists more than 200,000 genealogical books and other resources. The R. Stanton Avery Special Collections features over twenty million manuscript items, with an emphasis on the period of the 17th century to the present, covering New England and other regions.

The first genealogical society established in the United States, NEHGS 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). Initially, the founders debated the nature of the organization they would establish. Among their decisions was whether to focus on genealogy, heraldry, or history, or some combination of these disciplines. Genealogy and history were favored and plans were made to incorporate as the New England Historical Genealogical Society. Opposition to the use of the word “historical” was brought by Charles Francis Adams of the Massachusetts Historical Society and, as a compromise, the institution's name was altered to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This change did not please everyone and one or two of the founders regarded the new name as cumbersome. On March 18, 1845 the General Court of Massachusetts approved the Society's petition for incorporation.

...
Wikipedia