Escape to Boston for three days of research, one-on-one consultations, orientations, and social events while exploring the rich offerings at the American Ancestors Research Center and benefitting from the knowledge and assistance of expert genealogists.

The lectures and demonstration offered as part of this program are focused on resources and strategies that will help you learn how to use fraternal society, charitable aid society, and lineage society records to trace your ancestors.

Program includes:

• Tour and orientation to collections of the American Ancestors Research Center
• Daily lectures and demonstrations
• Two 30-minute consultations with expert genealogists (one virtual pre-tour consultation, one on-tour consultation)
• Group meals (daily breakfast, opening reception, and closing dinner)
• Pre-program preparatory webinar and resources

Jeffrey Croteau is Director of Library & Archives for the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he has been the museum’s librarian since 2007. He is responsible for many aspects of the library, including collection development, cataloging, and providing reference services. He also writes about the library’s collection for the museum’s blog and various other publications.

David Allen Lambert has been on the staff of American Ancestors since 1993 and is the organization’s Chief Genealogist. David is an internationally recognized speaker on the topics of genealogy and history. Lambert has published many articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the New Hampshire Genealogical Record, Rhode Island Roots, Mayflower Descendant, and American Ancestors magazine. He has authored and or co-authored in the published genealogies presented to David McCullough, Ken Burns, Angela Lansbury, Michael and Kitty Dukakis, Nathaniel Philbrick, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.  He has also published eleven books including A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries (American Ancestors, 2018), and Vital Records of Stoughton, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1850 (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2008). David received his B.A. in History from Northeastern University. David is an elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Mass., and a life member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati and the General Society of the War of 1812. David also serves as the tribal genealogist for the Massachusett Tribe at Punkapoag in Massachusetts. His areas of expertise include New England and Atlantic Canadian records of the 17th through 21st century; American and international military records; DNA research; and Native American and African American genealogical research in New England. 

Melanie McComb is a Senior Genealogist at American Ancestors. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. She is an international lecturer who teaches on various topics including colonial through twentieth-century American military research, genetic genealogy, Atlantic Canadian, African American, Jewish, and Irish genealogy. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. She has had articles published in American Ancestors Magazine and Fifty Plus Advocate. She is a blogger, known as The Shamrock Genealogist.

Cancellation Policy: Written cancellations received before March 26, 2025, will be subject to a $100 per person cancellation fee. No refund is possible after this date. Fees are based on group participation. There is no refund for services or portions of the tour not taken, or for participants who do not complete the tour.

Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Some Fellows of the Royal Society: a key to the identities of the sitters. Wood engraving, 1885. 1885 Published: -