Editing rights on the English Wiki are changing.
More information.

American Antiquarian Society

From FamilySearch Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search


American Antiquarian Society
American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass.

Contact Information[edit | edit source]

E-mail:[1] Library@americanantiquarian.org

Address:[1]

185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609-1634

Telephone:[1] 508-755-5221
Fax: 508-753-3311

Hours and holidays:[2] Monday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.;Tuesday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.;Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Thursday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on legal holidays.

Directions, maps, and public transportation: Click here.

Internet sites and databases:

Collection Description[edit | edit source]

A national research library of American history, literature, and culture through 1876. The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) library houses the largest and most accessible collection of printed materials from first contact through 1876 in what is now the United States, the West Indies and parts of Canada.[3] This repository is best known for its premier newspaper collection, over 18,000 bound volumes 1704-1820 in the United States alone. About 75 percent of all printed American documents for the first 200 years are found here. Subject categories include American history, literature and bibliography, newspapers, periodicals and imprints to 1820, biography, genealogy, local history, almanacs, history, directories, federal, state and municipal documents including New England town reports, schools, patriotic publications, literature of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the westward movement, negro literature, slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction, Native Americans, women, canals, railroads, early maps, photos, portraits, and manuscripts.[4]

Tips[edit | edit source]

  • Using the Library who may use it, planning your visit, arriving and exiting, what is and is not allowed in the reading room, and policies.

Guides[edit | edit source]

Alternate Repositories[edit | edit source]

If you cannot visit or find a source at the American Antiquarian Society, a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections

  • National Archives Northeast Region (Boston) (that is Waltham), federal censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty land, photos, passengers arrival indexes, naturalizations, Native Americans, African Americans, workshops.
  • National Archives at New York City, census, naturalization, passenger arrivals, Canadian border crossings, customs, draft, military service, military pension and bounty land, Chinese Exclusion Act cases, Freedmen's Bureau, Indians, and vital records.

Similar Collections

  • New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, national in scope. Over 100 million name database, of vital records, genealogies, journals, over 200,000 books, 100,000 microfilms, and over 20 million manuscripts with emphasis on New England since the 1600s.
  • New York Public Library Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; photos; New York censuses, directories, and vital records.
  • Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, features a premier genealogical periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, American Indians, African Americans, and Canadians.

Neighboring Collections

Sources[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Contact Us at American Antiquarian Society (accessed 22 October 2013).
  2. Hours at American Antiquarian Society (accessed 22 October 2013).
  3. American Antiquarian Society (Internet site) (accessed 22 October 2013).
  4. William Dollarhide and Ronald A. Bremer. America's Best Genealogy Resource Centers (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1998). At various libraries (WorldCat). FS Library Ref Book 973 J54d.