American Antiquarian Society

Our Mission

Founded in 1812 by patriot printer Isaiah Thomas, AAS welcomes, recruits, supports, and empowers people of all backgrounds and experiences to participate in collecting, preserving, and sharing America’s and Americans’ diverse stories. In more than two centuries of collecting, AAS has accumulated more than four million items, including books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, periodicals, manuscripts, and other materials dating from the earliest European settlement of North America through the nineteenth century. The Society makes these collections available to researchers both in its reading room and digitally and organizes virtual and onsite programs for diverse audiences from its home in Worcester, Massachusetts. Stewardship of AAS’s collection is vested in its elected membership.