Dear friends,

A few weeks ago we hosted a launch event for William M. Fowler’s new book, American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781-1783. This was exciting not just because of Bill’s long association with NEHGS ― he is a past board chair and serves presently as a trustee emeritus and a Capital Campaign committee member ― but because his compelling book sheds light on an under examined moment in the early years of our nation, gives us new views into George Washington’s leadership, and even draws intriguing parallels to our world today.

Later this week I will meet with members in Washington, D.C. and offer them an overview of our Capital Campaign, its key objectives, and suggest ways in which we need their help. While we have reached the $36 million mark in the campaign, we have much more work to do to achieve our $50 million goal. My presentation will outline our plans to:

*Share expertise  by helping our constituents learn more about resources and methodologies to provide a stronger foundation and understanding of the field through personal interactions with our staff of world class experts.

*Build collections  by continuing to add to the largest collection of original, primary materials collected by a genealogical organization and by making these unique materials widely accessible.

*Expand resources  through offering new ways of sharing content, resources and expertise, such as via our award-winning website, AmericanAncestors.org.

*Embrace the future  by creating a new, stronger platform for economic sustainability and long-term financial success that will propel our organization into an even higher level of serving its national and international constituents.

NEHGS needs the help of all its members and friends to fulfill the promise of these objectives.

Wishing you happy holidays … and all the best in 2012,

Brenton

While David continues to lead this type of interacting and sharing, he is not alone in this effort. Marie Daly, our Library Director, now frequently answers Irish research questions posed on Facebook. And new and important resources for Jewish genealogy are now available to our members through an exclusive collaboration with the American Jewish Historical Society. The innovations go on and on. NEHGS is abuzz with activity and our staff members travel the country to meet with our members and friends to share their expertise broadly. As many of you know, these education programs take place in the form of research tours (throughout the United States and beyond), seminars, and lectures. We have plans (to be enabled by the Capital Campaign) to offer these incredible experiences in a virtual and interactive setting via some new online tools. 

To lead these increasingly popular opportunities to learn from the experts on the NEHGS staff, it is my pleasure to announce that we have concluded our national search for our next Director of Education. Leah Walczak will be joining us from Historic New England (formerly SPNEA), where she is currently Museum Operations Manager. With Bachelor and Master Degrees from Cornell and Syracuse, and advanced historical studies in the United Kingdom, her background also includes an impressive track record of programmatic management. We are very pleased to recruit someone of Leah’s caliber to our team and know that you will enjoy working with her on future programs.  

Whether it is a visit to our research center in Boston, a virtual conversation with David Lambert, or participation in our expansive educational offerings, NEHGS members are making transformational strides in documenting the histories of families in America. With over 70% of our $50 million comprehensive capital campaign committed, we have already invested this philanthropy in endeavors that advance all your diligent work. Together, we are reaping the fruits of such generous investments.

The last few months have brought several memorable moments in the life of our ever-growing organization, one which today serves more than 45,000 members and registered users.

Chief among these special occasions was our annual dinner in April when Ken Burns, the Emmy award-winning film maker and our longtime member, brought more than 200 friends of NEHGS to the edge of their seats with his powerfully moving and eloquent remarks on the importance of family and family history. We were delighted when councilor David Hackett Fischer presented Ken with our Lifetime Achievement Award for his “outstanding lifetime achievement in filmmaking and its contributions to the history of America and her peoples,” an honor richly deserved. As has been the case with many of our honorees, we prepared a genealogy of Ken’s family and presented it to him. In this special volume we gave America’s great storyteller a richly woven story of his own ancestral past. Providing a foreword to this book was Ken’s frequent collaborator, Dayton Duncan, who summed it up best: “this volume traces a collection of such fascinating characters, whose cumulative lives produced, among many other things, a fascinating American whose business may be history, but whose mission is a better future.”

Over the past ten months we have been pleased to collaborate with independent film makers Nancy Beach and Bryan Vawter on a short documentary, “A Farseeing Vision: Connecting Families, Advancing History,” a film about NEHGS and genealogy in America ― ranging from the Society’s founding role in the field of genealogy in 1845 to its present and future. I am grateful to several distinguished colleagues for participating in our film, including Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan, CNBC anchor and author Bill Griffeth, historian Cornelia Dayton, and Great Migration series author Robert Charles Anderson. The film, which debuted in Boston at the annual dinner, has now been viewed by large gatherings of NEHGS members in Charleston, South Carolina, and twice in the Los Angeles area. We intend to show it to more audiences at programs around the country and in due course make it available to everyone through the Internet. I am happy to report that “A Farseeing Vision” has been honored with a Telly award. This award is voted on by its prior recipients and recognizes “the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions.”

Bringing NEHGS to our members around the country is one of our most important activities and we have been logging the air miles to prove it. We were pleased recently to attend genealogical conferences in Charleston, South Carolina, and Burbank, California, with members of the NEHGS staff, board, council, and our extended family.  These visits bring NEHGS staff genealogists and our patrons more closely together for valuable exchanges and interactions. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming programs before too long and there share with you our mutual enthusiasm about family and local history in America.

July 5-15, 2011

Millions of Americans are descended from Irish immigrant ancestors—Gaelic clansmen, Viking and Norman invaders, English settlers, Ulster Scots; Catholics and Protestants; peasants farmers, landed aristocrats, urban craftsmen, laborers, shopkeepers.  We know their names, and often their stories.  Now, in a tour that explores rural Ireland and the capital city of Dublin, we will see where and how they lived, from beehive huts and ancient monastic settlements to medieval tower houses to Georgian country estates and town dwellings.  We will also enjoy legendary Irish hospitality in internationally renowned hotels and restaurants and private homes.

A once-in-a-lifetime visit, our special tour of Ireland will be led by the perfect host, Donald Friary. He will guide us at a leisurely pace through breathtaking scenery, quaint villages, haunting ruins, splendid private homes, and magnificent artwork. At the same time, he will share with us the broad sweep of Irish history from the Bronze Age to the present. We will sample local cuisine, and by special invitation, visit several great houses: dinners will be held for us in two of Ireland’s most beautiful and exclusive settings --- Glin Castle with the Knight of Glin, and Leixlip Castle with the Honorable Desmond Guinness. By private arrangement, we will also visit the meticulously restored Georgian house and gardens belonging to a longtime friend of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, where we will enjoy horse-drawn carriage rides and an evening of traditional Irish music. This rare opportunity to see through expert eyes some Ireland’s most interesting sites and elegant homes surely will not come again.

Donald Friary has organized and led historical tours in the United States, Canada, and Europe for more than thirty years. Among the most memorable are two tours of Ireland, the best features of which are incorporated in this NEHGS tour.  Don is President of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Director Emeritus of Historic Deerfield, and an NEHGS Councilor.  He has a Ph. D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania and is a specialist in colonial America who has read widely in Irish history and is particularly interested in parallels between English settlement in Ireland and in North America.

I am pleased to share with you an advance look at our itinerary. For more information, pricing or to register please email Joshua Taylor at education@nehgs.org or 617-226-1226. Space is limited.

Tuesday, July 5                    We depart from Boston’s Logan Airport at 7:30 p.m. on Aer Lingus flight 134.    

Wednesday, July 6                After an early morning landing at Shannon Airport, we proceed by chartered bus to Adare, County Limerick for a light breakfast and a day of rest. We have a catered box lunch, perhaps in the garden of the 18^th-century country house that is our headquarters for the next four days, and enjoy carriage rides of the landscape during the afternoon. Our welcome dinner is at the award-winning Mustard Seed nearby.                    

Thursday, July 7                   We embark, after a continental breakfast, on an excursion to the Dingle Peninsula for the entire sweep of Irish history from prehistoric times to the late Middle Ages, all amidst beautiful mountain and ocean scenery. Lunch will be at Benner’s Hotel in Dingle. After returning to Adare, we enjoy an early dinner at the Wild-Geese Restaurant and an evening of Irish music in a thatched cottage.                                                  

Friday, July 8                        We have breakfast in the dining room at our country house, then drive north to the majestic Cliffs of Moher overlooking Galway Bay and the Aran Isles, made memorable in the plays of John Millington Synge. At the Burren Interpretive Center we learn about this remarkable landscape and its prehistoric ruins. After lunch on our own in fishing village of Kinvara, we return to Adare. Following a short break, we have a tour and dinner nearby at Glin Castle, home of Desmond FitzGerald, the 29^th Knight of Glin, and Madam FitzGerald.                                           

Saturday, July 9                    Breakfast prepares us for a drive south to Cork City for a brief tour, continuing to Cobh to see the Emigration Museum and to have lunch on our own. We visit Cloyne, Irish home of Bishop George Berkeley, famed for his poem, “Westward the course of Empire takes its way,” and Youghal, where Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the potato to Ireland, and then to Shanagarry, home in Ireland of William Penn, where we dine at Ballymaloe House, the Allen family’s internationally-known country house hotel.       

Sunday, July 10                    We enjoy breakfast at our lodgings in Adare, and have the morning free or to visit one of two medieval churches restored in 1807-09 by the first Earl of Dunraven--the Black Abbey for the Church of Ireland and the White Abbey for the Catholic parish--before departing north. We stop at the haunting ruins of Quin Friary and see the ruins of Kilmacduagh monastery on our way to Galway City, where we stop for lunch on our own.  We continue through the magnificent scenery of Connemara to a two-night stay at the Renvyle House Hotel, where we dine on Irish fare from the sea and the farm.         

Monday, July 11                   After a full Irish breakfast we set out on a tour of the rugged landscape and historic and prehistoric sites of Connemara, guided by archaeologist Michael Gibbons, stopping in the seaport town of Westport for lunch on our own, and concluding at Clifden, a coastal market town with several shops offering Irish woolens and other goods. We dine at Renvyle House Hotel.     

Tuesday, July 12                  Another Irish breakfast at Renvyle House prepares us for the drive through the peat bogs of the Irish midlands to Dublin, stopping at Athlone on the River Shannon for lunch on our own and then at Russborough in County Wicklow to see the grand Palladian house erected in 1741 and the Alfred Beit Collection of paintings within. In Dublin we check into the Mont Clare Hotel overlooking Merrion Square for a three night stay, and enjoy an elegant dinner at Balzac, a trendy Dublin restaurant.      

Wednesday, July 13              After breakfast in the Mont Clare Dining Room we set out for the Trinity College Library to see the 8^th-century Book of Kells and tour the campus to admire its 18^th-century buildings. Our tour of Ireland’s capital city includes the Bank of Ireland--Parliament House before its dissolution in 1800--Dean Swift’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Archbishop Marsh’s Library, and other highlights of the Georgian capital. Following a break for lunch on our own we visit Newman House on St. Stephens Green to see its magnificent plasterwork. After free time for shopping or touring we go to see Brian Friel’s Translations at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. We are on our own for the evening meal—afternoon tea, a pre-theatre dinner, or a post-play snack in the Lord Mayor’s Lounge in the Shelbourne Hotel.                                         

Thursday, July 14                 After “full Irish” at the Mont Clare we have specially-guided tours of the Irish and European paintings at the National Gallery and of the gold and silver holdings in the National Museum before lunch with Desiree Shortt at Mahaffy House in Dublin. In the afternoon we venture north to tour Marino Casino, built in the 1760s by Sir William Chambers for Lord Charlemont and drive west to County Kildare to tour Castletown, the magnificent country house built in 1722-32 by William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, then go on to Leixlip Castle for a reception and dinner with the Honorable Desmond Guinness and his wife Penny.  

Friday, July 15                      We depart from Dublin Airport at 2:10 p.m. on Aer Lingus flight 137 for Boston, landing at 4:10 p.m. EDT.

I hope you will join us!                              

Finding ancestral portraits has been a conversation lately on the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Facebook page and is a topic well worth examining. As genealogists, when we locate a portrait, photograph or other image of an ancestor it can be one of our most gratifying --- and revealing --- discoveries. This has happened to me several times over the last twenty years.

Just yesterday I was contacted by a member of my family who received an image of one of our ancestors by email from a distant cousin. This ancestor, born in Germany in 1735, initially came to New Jersey and subsequently removed to Canada. While I have seen his name on my charts for many years, I had never paused for even a moment to imagine what he might have looked like. If I had been asked to think about him, I might have pictured a dour German gentleman of a certain age, hardened by the difficulties of a strenuous life --- in short, an immigrant and pioneer who, in all likelihood, was not a typical candidate for a portrait. Instead, as I opened the email attachment, I was startled to see a naive rendition of a jaunty fellow in 18th century husbandman's garb. This folky portrait pictures him walking through a snowy landscape beneath gloomy skies. Here he is --- an axe under one arm, puffing on a long clay pipe dangled between the fingers of his left hand, with an open-mouthed, wolf-like dog at his heels. Is there a shadow of a smile on his face? This portrait took me by surprise! I look forward to learning more about this most unexpected, and rather endearing, family relic and its provenance.  

At NEHGS we are often asked for sources to locate family portraits, including ancestors from the first generations of immigrants to New England and elsewhere in America. One of my favorite sources is Charles Knowles Bolton's 1919 "Portraits of the Founders" AKA "The Founders: Portraits of Persons Born Abroad Who Came to North America Before the Year 1701." Published in three volumes, this fine source helpfully divides several dozen early portraits into geographic regions, including New England-Virginia and Maryland-New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware-and-the West. Over the course of three volumes, Bolton considered, and sometimes reconsidered, these portraits, their artists, and, for several, questions about their validity. It is a fascinating study. Anyone researching early America should consult it. Just flipping though one volume this morning I learned more about one of the New England Historic Genealogical Society's 17th c. portraits, Mabel (Harlakenden) Haynes (1614-1655), wife of Governor John Haynes of Connecticut, and later of Samuel Eaton. Bolton provided some intriguing insights into the life of Mrs. Haynes that make her more "human," including her illness in the spring of 1648. During this malady her first husband wrote "My wife is yet in the land of the livinge, only weake, keepes her bedd constantly --- If she tryes to sit upp, presently falls into her violent fitts." Perhaps to everyone's surprise, Mabel later recovered and the Rev. John Wilson of Boston mentioned "the miraculous cure of sweet Mris. [sic] Haines." Now we know one of Boston's most important ministers called her "sweet." Her gentle face certainly continues to communicate this attribute centuries later. We also learn that at some point the portrait was in terrible condition, even, purportedly, damaged by an unsuccessful suitor, and, finally, poorly restored in England: "It was very dirty. The canvas was rotten and had to be renewed. A sword-thrust over the right eye was said to have been made by a rejected suitor ... [the portrait was sent to a] London cleaner, whose work proved somewhat disastrous." Fun stuff to discover about a portrait I have been walking past in the halls at NEHGS for eighteen years.

Finding ancestral portraits is hard and sometimes unfulfilling work, but the rewards --- when they come --- can make the hunt worth your while.

View "The Founders: Portraits of Persons Born Abroad Who Came to North America Before the Year 1701." for free on Google books.

Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting the New Hampshire Antiques Show with Susan Sloan, a trustee and board secretary of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  The former publisher of Sloan’s Green Guide to Antique Dealers, Susan has a keen eye when it comes to discovering “treasures,” especially those with intriguing genealogical connections. Seasoned hunters, we were both surprised by a discovery there associated with the early history of NEHGS, a time when the Society played an important and visible role in the civic events of Boston.

Shortly after arriving at the show, I was approached by the affable Richard Thorner of Resser-Thorner Antiques. Richard, who has been a member of NEHGS, enticed me with his greeting: “I’ve been hoping to see you at a show for several months; I’ve got something you will want.”  “What could it be?,” I wondered.  Like all genealogists, I have a tendency to collect too many things, and Richard is well acquainted with my interests. We proceeded to his booth, where he opened an envelope with a slightly crumpled piece of paper.  What he revealed was the original printing proof and receipt for a “badge” or ribbon printed for the New England Historic Genealogical Society on the occasion of the inauguration of a statue commemorating Benjamin Franklin in Boston on September 17, 1856. Added to this was a red silk ribbon used at the same event.  Happily, all three items are now in the collections of NEHGS.

The so-called “badges” used at the “Franklin Festival” were undoubtedly worn by officers of NEHGS, who must have walked in the public procession behind the institution’s lustrous silk and gold tasseled banner, a fragile and beautifully decorated item still in our collections. Tellingly, both the “badges” and receipt identify NEHGS as the “N. E. Hist-Gen.” For me, this settles the question of whether the founding generation intended our organization’s name to be abbreviated as “Hist-Gen” or “His-Gen,” a variation favored by some. Either way, these strange sounding nicknames are not ones we especially cherish today. Our branding efforts have moved in other, broader directions as our national identify becomes better known. But these small objects found by a friend of NEHGS commemorate our institution’s early role in celebrating American history and recognizing one of Boston’s most important native sons.

This month marks the anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin on January 17, 1706 (o.s., January 6, 1705). We know from Franklin’s writings of his interest in family history and NEHGS has some interesting associations with it. Michael Leclerc, our Director of Special Projects, has extensively researched descendants of the Franklin family and in 2010 NEHGS acquired a magnificent, hand-drawn Folger family tree (representing Franklin’s maternal ancestry) made in 1866 by William C. Folger “and executed by me at the age of sixty with my left hand.” This rare and decorative family tree complements the extensive genealogical collections of its author already in our archives. These connections are just a few of the many millions of items and artifacts at NEHGS that tie us not only to significant events and individuals in American history but also shed light on the everyday world our ancestors knew intimately and directly.

One of my favorite new nonfiction books is Philip Mould's The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures (Viking, 2009). Mould, an art dealer in London specializing in portraits, is a regular on the BBC Antiques Roadshow. In his book, Mould presents a collection of stories ranging from discovering unrecognized masterpieces on eBay, to identifying a long missing Gainsborough landscape, to laying out the circumstances of a masterful fraud at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. As the jacket says, "the art world has never seemed quite so treacherous, so beguiling --- and so much fun."

Why is this book a great "read" for a genealogist? Because, at its core, it is about detective work, not to mention gathering and analyzing evidence. It relates closely to the research you and I conduct in establishing the facts around our lineages. Like Mould and his associates, we sometimes go on hunches, frequently form hypotheses, always search for primary evidence, and sometimes discredit bad research or lofty claims made by others in print or on the Internet. I also see a parallel in the way Mould describes the restoration work his colleagues conduct on paintings that have suffered from being "doctored" by amateur hands or heavily varnished over time. Conservators carefully remove overpainted layers added long after a work was completed in order to return the canvas or panel to its truest, original form. These anecdotes remind me of the work we undertake in family history, often removing layers of misinformation --- wrong dates, places, names, etc. --- that have gathered like bad varnish over time on the surface of our family history. Mould says it best, a "discovery is dependent on knowledge that transforms something formerly unrecognized into something that is understood and valued." At the New England Historic Genealogical Society and on www.AmericanAncestors.org, we are always excited to help facilitate discoveries for families and communities so that our history may be better understood and valued.

Wishing you all the best in 2011! Brenton

Few images evoke the spirit of the holidays for me as much as an 1861 Fanny Palmer print by Currier & Ives, "Winter Morning." This print, a visual recollection of a quaint and bygone era, hangs in a hallway of the New England Historic Genealogical Society near our R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, the great treasure trove of American family history containing millions of original records. Beneath gray skies and shrouded in a blanket of snow, Fanny Palmer presented scenery that is in no way bleak. Rather, it is animated, even festive: a horse drawn sleigh carries a man through the snow towards a welcoming house, barnyard animals amble behind a stockade fence, and, in the distance, skaters whirl across a frozen pond below rolling hills. This image fuels romantic visions of a holiday our ancestors might have known and enjoyed. It also touches upon two of our key concerns at NEHGS: the family and the community.

Every year, we enjoy selecting an image from our collections to be used in conjunction with the Society's holiday greetings. This season we chose an antique photograph of two children being pulled on a sled through the snow by a car, another lovely image that evokes memories of happy holidays long gone. (Antique automobile experts, please identify the make and model of this car!) This undated photograph, from our Martha Clapp Wyman Palin collection, has touched a nerve among several members of the NEHGS family who have seen it on AmericanAncestors.org: the joy of youthful winter fun and frolic in decades past!  

This year, in addition to celebrating the holidays with your family or friends, spend a few moments thinking about special times in years past and give some thought to our ancestors and their lives, many of which were difficult and without the comforts or liberties we enjoy today. At the New England Historic Genealogical Society we work hard to keep the memory alive of those long gone. Thank you for all your support in 2010 in fulfillment of our great mission and to all, happy holidays and all best wishes in 2011! Warmly, Brenton

Welcome to my new blog, "View from the Family Tree." I hope to post to it on a weekly basis if not more frequently, as time permits. Here I will plan on sharing insights on activities at NEHGS, impressions from the fields of genealogy and local history, as well as a few personal reflections on my own interests and family history experiences. I want to start by thanking our capable web team, lead by Ryan Woods, and to Brian A. Sullivan for the use of his excellent photograph, taken last summer at Walpole, N.H., as its logo.

This evening the New England Historic Genealogical Society will host its annual holiday party for members, staff, and their families. The building is abuzz with excitement. We will have all the requisite ingredients of a successful holiday party, including refreshments, music, raffles and prizes, and, for the first time, even a magician! Thank you to longtime member and genealogist Philip Vanderbilt Brady for coming all the way from South Carolina to entertain our group with a magic show. But, more importantly, this event gives me the occasion to reflect on what we have accomplished as an organization in 2010. I am proud of the good work our staff has done, the positive impact of the contributions of our volunteer corps, and the loyalty, generosity, and friendship of our members across the nation and the world.

It has been a good year, even during uncertain economic times. Membership is up --- in fact, way up, earned and contributed revenue is ahead of plan, and our new state-of-the art website, AmericanAncestors.org was successfully launched a few months ago. Some of the highlights:

• The American Jewish Historical Society made NEHGS the headquarters for its major archives and three-person staff
• The launch of a new website with 25+ million new names
• The premiere episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" on NBC with our beautiful library featured and the wonderful chemistry between our own Josh Taylor and Sarah Jessica Parker 
• The debut of new, unique data and journals on our website, including most recently "The Mayflower Descendant," begun in 1899
• The presentation at our annual dinner to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of his family history (with a foreword written for the occasion by Oprah Winfrey) and his moving response; and the impact of his series on PBS, "Faces of America" 
• The beautifully presented remarks by Pulitzer-prize winning author Annette Gordon-Reed at the same event 
• A special collaboration with the Museum of African American History and the African American Historical and Genealogical Society to launch AfricanAmericanAncestors.org and publish a guide to our African American holdings at NEHGS 
• The pleasure of interacting in real time with our members and friends (7,300 and growing!) on Facebook 
• A discovery-filled trip with members to research Irish family history at repositories in Dublin
• An exciting, interactive "weekend retreat" with our Board of Trustees in October
• A delightful visit to London last February for the world's largest genealogical exhibition and our fun evening of "wit and whimsy" at the historic Rule's restaurant near Covent Garden 
• Visits with members in California, Connecticut, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, to name just a few!
• Our ongoing dedication to scholarship through publications (both online and in print), education, and library services
• And, finally, laying the groundwork for a $50 million Capital Campaign to secure the Society's future and advance our mission, an effort which will be announced in a few weeks

The list of exciting things that have happened at NEHGS this year is very long but I will stop here. As the holidays approach, I hope you will join me in reflecting upon the important role NEHGS plays in advancing family history research in New England, New York, and beyond. You are central to the success of our great American mission and on behalf of the Society's board, council, and staff, I thank you for your participation in our lives and work.

Warm regards,

 Brenton