A Visit to the Family Heritage Experience at American Ancestors

American Ancestors (The New England Historic Genealogical Society)

Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts

I haven't made the trip into Boston to visit American Ancestors (The New England Historic Genealogical Society) on Newbury Street since before COVID.  The library and archive was closed for a long time due to COVID, and then closed due to rennovations that included adding another whole building.  Part of the rennovations included adding a museum called "Family Heritage Experience" on the first floor.  This interactive experience opened on 24 April 2025, so it was well past time for another visit. 

The new Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Family Heritage Center is truly an amazing new addition to all the wonderful museums in Boston.  This is an experience for the entire family, so bring your favorite kids along with you on your visit.  There are lots of high tech displays, starting with the first room where you can drop a pin on an interactive map showing where your ancestors lived. It's fun to see where all the visitors to this exhibit originated. 

Yours truly highlighting where my ancestors lived in Nova Scotia, England, Scotland, Germany and The Netherlands. Vincent dropped pins for Spain and Portugal. 

There are interactive stations with technology to look up newspapers, censuses and other genealogical resources about particular ancestors. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions by choosing a disk off the wall with statements like "Are my ancestors in newspapers?" or "From where did they migrate?" These disks have QR codes that can read at the stations to help find the answers to your genealogical questions.  

There are hands on activities for all ages, and displays of family memoriablia like quilts, family trees, samplers, religious objects, and more.  You are welcome to push buttons and open drawers to learn more.  It was fun to find some personal family connections, like the Folger family tree (see photo below).  Flora Stewart, who I have blogged about several times as a Londonderry resident, was one of the featured photographs on the wall.  

If this exhibition gets you all excited about learning more, you can step upstairs to the archives on the 5th and 7th floors and dig deeper.  Or you can make an appointment with one of the staff genealogists to assist you.  There is also the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center on the 5th floor, and also online (see link below) with its own archives and events for Jewish genealogy.  A membership to American Ancestors gives you free access to the libraries, archives and all the online resources to be found at their excellent website. 

An untraditional family tree

The Folger family traditional family tree

My finger pointing to my Folger ancestor, Bethshua Folger,

who was dropped off the first branch of this family tree

only because she was a daughter. 

We snapped a photo of the floor directory by the elevator

The Family Heritage Experience is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 am to 6 pm. Check the website (below) for hours and holidays.  Members are always free, as well as children under age 12.  Adult admission is $10. Right now there is FREE admission every Thursday through May 21st. 

On April 23 at the Family Heritage Experience there will be a new exhibit commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War entitled "Patriots of Color: Stories of Courage, Resistance, and Legacy".  This exhibit will feature 26 Patriots from all 13 colonies, and display how genealogical research brought these stories to life. 

There is a brand new shop behind the Family Heritage Experience, with lots of new family and genealogy gifts and books.  These items are also available online (see the links below). 

We met up with David Lambert, chief genealogist, as we were leaving! 

For the truly curious:

American Ancestors
97 - 101 Newbury Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Family Heritage Experience:    https://fhe.americanancestors.org/  

American Ancestors (The New England Historic Genealogical Society):   https://www.americanancestors.org/  

American Ancestors Family Heritage Experience gift shop webpage:    https://shop.americanancestors.org/collections/apparel-gifts?&pass-through=true   

The American Ancestors Bookstore webpage:  https://shop.americanancestors.org/?pass-through=true 

Flora Stewart, Londonderry, NH resident:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/02/flora-stewart-black-history-month-in.html  

Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center:   https://jewishheritagecenter.org/   

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Visit to the Family Heritage Experience at American Ancestors", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 31, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-visit-to-family-heritage-experience.html: accessed [access date]).