Exciting News from NEHGS - Expansion in the Future

For Immediate Release

GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY PURCHASES

ADJACENT NEWBURY STREET PROPERTY

New building offers expansion; growth opportunity for NEHGS

Boston, MA – January 3, 2013 – Brenton Simons, President and CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) announced today that it has purchased the adjacent property located at 97 Newbury Street, giving NEHGS an opportunity in future years to expand on its current location at 99‐101 Newbury while growing its national leadership position. The seller, jeweler John Lewis, has leased back the property from NEHGS and plans to continue to his successful retail jewelry operation there for the foreseeable future.

The purchase of the 4‐story brownstone building by NEHGS will give the non‐profit genealogical library and archive an additional 4,500+ square feet for a variety of purposes, including education and public programs, collaborations with other organizations, exhibition space, parking, and a museum store retail enterprise. In particular, NEHGS can continue expanding its collection of more than 28 million objects while allowing the organization to maintain a larger portion of those important artifacts on the premises rather than in off‐site storage. It also allows for the addition of expert staff to help the increasing numbers of people coming in to learn more about getting started with their own family history research.

Simons said, “This is an historic time at NEHGS. The organization has grown dramatically in recent years, nearly reaching maximum capacity in our present building. Adding this new space will allow NEHGS to continue its leadership role while serving more than 65,000 members and registered users in new, more effective ways.”

Simons added, “We are especially excited about the opportunity to build a new platform for educating

and training the next generation of genealogists while advancing the important work of preserving

our nation’s family and local history for decades to come.”

The brownstone, built in the 1870s by local department store founder Eben Jordan, will be preserved

by NEHGS because, Simons noted, “It is an important part of the Back Bay cityscape.”

“We look forward in the fullness of time to the lasting legacy that the acquisition of John’s building

will offer to the people of Boston, New England and indeed the United States in discovering their

family history,” said NEHGS board Chair David H. Burnham of Cohasset, Mass.

NEHGS, founded in 1845, moved to 99‐101 Newbury Street in 1964 and expanded by adding an

additional four floors to offer greater access to its collection of more 200,000 books in addition to the

original artifacts. Today, NEHGS is the nation’s leading resource for family history research and has

appeared in a number of celebrity genealogy programs, including serving as anchor location for the hit

PBS show, “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr,” and actively participating in the NBC show,

“Who Do You Think You Are?” which included on‐air expert research for actresses Sarah Jessica

Parker, Brooke Shields, and Ashley Judd.

For more information on NEHGS visit their website at www.AmericanAncestors.org.