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A best-selling author series by American Ancestors

Stories of American history, heritage, and culture

As part of our mission to educate, inspire and connect people to their family history, the American Inspiration Author Series explores themes of personal identity, families, immigration, and social and cultural history. Discover inspiring and thought-provoking stories of American families and the complex history which has shaped this country.

Brought to you by

The Brue Family Learning Center

American Inspiration: A best-selling author series by American Ancestors

Our Partners

American Inspiration Author Series partners with a variety of influential Boston institutions for many of our events, including Boston Public Library, GBH Forum Network, Museum of African American HistoryPorter Square Books, and the State Library of Massachusetts.

Porter Square Books, Boston Public Library, GBH, Museum of African American History, State Library of Massachusetts

Upcoming Events

Author Event
Online
Free

Rachel Jamison Webster with Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family

Join us on an unforgettable genealogical quest – an author’s exploration of her family and its history, brought to life in Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker. Don’t miss Rachel Webster’s presentation and conversation with historian Kendra Field about her experience connecting with relatives across lines of color, culture, and time.

 

Moderated by Kendra T. Field
April 2, 2024

American Inspiration

Author Event
Online
Free

Natalie Dykstra with Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner

An extraordinary achievement of storytelling and scholarship, Chasing Beauty illuminates the fascinating ways the Gardner museum and its holdings can be seen as a kind of memoir, dazzling and haunting, created with objects instead of words. Don’t miss hearing from the award-winning author Natalie Dykstra about the complex and singular woman behind this fascinating and beloved Boston museum—a tale of beauty and loss, grit, and American self-invention.

May 2, 2024

American Inspiration

Author Event
Online
Free

The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust

Join the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center and American Inspiration for a program with professional historians and Holocaust experts Dr. Elizabeth White and Dr. Joanna Sliwa, discussing the astonishing story of Dr. Josephine Janina Mehlberg—a Jewish mathematician who saved thousands of lives in Nazi-occupied Poland by masquerading as a Polish aristocrat.

 

Presented by Dr. Elizabeth White and Dr. Joanna Sliwa.
May 5, 2024

Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Family Center

Author Event
Online
Free

Stephen Puleo with The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union

The Great Abolitionist is the first major biography of Charles Sumner in over 50 years. Employing his “vast knowledge of 19th-century Boston and its diffident attitude toward slavery and integration,” Stephen Puleo calls his book a “biographical history” that brings to life two decades when the nation’s very fate hung in the balance -- when slavery consumed Congressional debate, America careened toward civil war, and the country dealt with the war, the assassination of a President, and the monumental task of Reconstruction.

May 9, 2024

American Inspiration

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Photo Gallery

Enjoy a selection of photos from past in-person American Inspiration events.

Recent Past Events

Visit our Video Library to watch all past American Inspiration Author Series events