Teacher training programs and statewide library database access expand learning tools for educators and students
McGRATHPR.com – American Ancestors®, Boston’s national center for family history, heritage and culture, is supporting family history education across the Commonwealth and beyond through initiatives that support both classrooms and libraries. Its family history research databases are also now part of the statewide database collection provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), making them free to anyone who lives, works or studies in Massachusetts through the Commonwealth’s libraries and placing new learning tools directly into students’ hands.
Earlier this summer in June, the nonprofit trained 50 Kansas teachers to teach history through genealogy and primary sources in half-day workshops at its Brue Family Learning Center, continuing initiatives to provide learning programs for educators.
During the Kansas teachers’ five-day professional development and research tour, organized by the National Council for History Education, educators worked with original documents and records and built classroom-ready research approaches they can adapt for their own students. The teachers took a Revolutionary War-themed walking tour through Boston, led by American Ancestors’ chief genealogist David Allen Lambert and senior genealogist Melanie McComb, demonstrating how local history can anchor valuable lessons. The visiting teachers join a growing number of educators nationwide who have brought American Ancestors’ family history curriculum into their classrooms.
Anyone who works, studies or lives in Massachusetts can now research their ancestry online through the Commonwealth’s libraries. American Ancestors features Massachusetts-specific information not available anywhere else and offers unique opportunities to create a family tree or find out about Mayflower descendants.
These resources are among the many online research databases provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) to ensure access to accurate online information and learning. Databases are online research and learning tools that provide accurate reliable information, often not available to consumers without a fee, on a variety of subjects. The databases are available for free access 24/7 to anyone who lives, works or studies in Massachusetts and are especially important for schools and students who on average make up 60% of users.
Both initiatives build toward the same facet in American Ancestors’ mission: to serve, since its founding, as a gold standard for genealogical research. The training deepens teachers’ command of family history as a teaching method, and the library databases place authentic research directly in students’ hands, together strengthening the curriculum expertise educators bring to the classroom and the opportunities students have to learn. For Massachusetts schools, a single lesson can serve as the launchpad for continued discovery, as students and teachers retain access to American Ancestors’ research databases through their school and local libraries.
The Boston sessions extend a program that has steadily widened its reach. American Ancestors piloted teacher training workshops on the U.S. mainland in Maine, brought them to teachers in the U.S. Virgin Islands twice, and has now hosted educators traveling from Kansas, a pattern that enriches implementable professional development for teachers with growing student access to family history research tools.
The program is led by American Ancestors’ School Programs and Curriculum Manager Dustin Axe at its Brue Family Learning Center, guiding the workshops across each location. Most recently, on April 18, American Ancestors presented “Genealogy in the Classroom: Bringing History to Life with Family History” to 26 educators on St. Croix at the University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park, in collaboration with the Caribbean Genealogy Library and the Virgin Islands Department of Education and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.
“Family history gives every student a way into the past, because the research starts with their own name and their own people,” shares Axe. “We can train a teacher to lead that search, but the discovery does not stop when class ends. Putting these databases into Massachusetts libraries means a student can keep pulling the thread on their own, which is exactly where the real learning happens.”
American Ancestors offers teacher professional development for schools, districts and states, along with free one-on-one sessions for classroom teachers, librarians, home school educators and after-school leaders. Educators and teacher organizations interested in bringing family history into their classrooms can learn more about teacher and youth education programs at americanancestors.org/youth-education. For more information about American Ancestors, visit americanancestors.org.
About American Ancestors
American Ancestors® is a national nonprofit center for family history, heritage & culture based in Boston, Massachusetts, that has been setting the gold standard for genealogical research since its founding in 1845. Today, American Ancestors serves 400K+ members and subscribers through americanancestors.org, one of the world’s largest online collections of family history resources.
In 2025, American Ancestors launched the Family Heritage Experience, an interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition that introduces visitors to the joy of family history research, located at 97 Newbury Street at our headquarters in Boston. American Ancestors is also home to the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center, which preserves New England’s Jewish history, and 10 Million Names, a project dedicated to finding the names of the enslaved men, women, and children in pre- and post-colonial America before emancipation. For more information, visit americanancestors.org.
About the Brue Family Learning Center
The Brue Family Learning Center is dedicated to introducing family and local history to national and international audiences. Founded by Nord and Suzanne Brue, the Center supports the creation of programming aimed at helping anyone start or advance their family history journey. Located on Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay, American Ancestors® is the nation’s oldest and largest genealogical society. The Brue Family Learning Center is part of a capital expansion project to introduce family and local history to wider audiences.
Philanthropic leadership from the Brue Family also supports the creation of unique program content for American Ancestors’ online education offerings. For more information, visit americanancestors.org/brue-family-learning-center.
About the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
The Board of Library Commissioners is the agency of state government with the statutory authority and responsibility to organize, develop, coordinate and improve library services throughout the Commonwealth. The Board advises municipalities and library trustees on the operation and maintenance of public libraries, including construction and renovation. It administers state and federal grant programs for libraries and promotes cooperation among all types of libraries through regional library systems and automated resource sharing. It also works to ensure that all residents of the Commonwealth, regardless of their geographic location, social or economic status, age, level of physical or intellectual ability or cultural background, have access to essential new electronic information technologies and significant electronic databases. Learn more at mass.gov/mblc.
About the Massachusetts Library System
The Massachusetts Library System (MLS) was established in July 2010 and provides services to about 1,500 Massachusetts libraries of all types and sizes. Its mission is to empower libraries across the Commonwealth through innovative and responsive services. Learn more at masslibsystem.org.
