Name D. Simons | Role Author | |
 | ||
Books Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775 | ||
RootsTech 2019 Interviews - D. Brenton Simons of American Ancestors by NEHGS
D. Brenton Simons is president and CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (AmericanAncestors.org), the founding genealogical organization in America, and is a nonfiction history author. His specialty is the history of pre-Federal Boston and genealogical art and iconography.
Contents
- RootsTech 2019 Interviews D Brenton Simons of American Ancestors by NEHGS
- Biography
- Organizations and honors
- References
Biography
Simons was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and attended schools in Connecticut, South Carolina, and Switzerland. He is a graduate of Boston University (CGS'86, COM'88, SED'94), and following studies in England, returned to Boston where he has lived since 1988. In 1993, he joined the staff of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and in 2005 was appointed its president and CEO. During his tenure, membership in the organization has grown dramatically and he recently led the Society’s $55 million capital campaign. Under his leadership, NEHGS has served as the anchor location of the PBS television series "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." and has held events where Simons has honored Ken Burns, James Carville and Mary Matalin, David Gergen, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Angela Lansbury, Thomas M. Menino, and HRH Princess Michael of Kent, with Lifetime Achievement Awards. He is the author of Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem, 1620-1775, and Boston Beheld: Antique Town & Country Views.
Organizations and honors
Simons is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, a proprietor of the Boston Athenæum, a former board member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, a member of the Club of Odd Volumes, and is a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. His book, Witches, Rakes, and Rogues, received the 2006 Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History.