2026 American Stories, American Lives Gala

Commemorating Revolutionary Roots

Gala Patrons

Brady and Jessica Brim-DeForest of Balvaird and Blairlogie 

Click to Learn about Individual Benefactor Opportunities and Corporate Sponsorships

Please join us at the 2026 American Stories, American Lives Gala for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We invite you to mark this special moment in our country’s history as we honor our shared past and look toward the next chapter of the American story. American Ancestors is recognized nationally and internationally as the gold standard in historic research, interpretation, and preservation since our founding in 1845. We look forward to welcoming you!

We are proud to present American Ancestors' Lifetime Achievement Awards to Glenn Close, one of the most revered actresses of her generation, whose eight Academy Award nominations and numerous honors across film, television, and theater reflect a career of extraordinary artistic range and impact; and to Dr. Jane Kamensky, President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, a distinguished historian whose scholarship and public leadership have profoundly shaped the study and interpretation of early American history. 

Engaging in family history enriches lives. It is a source of joy, education, inspiration, empowerment, and a means of healing and repair. It is an undertaking that can profoundly influence the lives of individuals and holds the power to impact society positively. By exploring family histories, we uncover the stories of our ancestors—their triumphs, struggles, cultures, and traditions—and bring context and meaning to the world in which we live.

Proceeds from the American Stories, American Lives Gala sustain our mission to educate, inspire, and connect people through the power of family history, funding educational programs, youth outreach, original research and scholarship, publications, and online services. 

Dress code: Cocktail attire

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Glenn Close              

Glenn Close stands among the most revered actresses of her generation, receiving eight Academy Award nominations as well as Emmy, Tony, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

With her film debut in The World According to Garp, she earned her first Oscar nomination. She was subsequently nominated for The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, The Wife, and Hillbilly Elegy. Other recent credits include Netflix’s Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man and Hulu’s All’s Fair. In 2026, she will appear in the highly anticipated Lionsgate film The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping and Channel 4’s Up To No Good.

Starting on Broadway in 1974, her credits include Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” “Death and the Maiden” directed by Mike Nichols and Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing,” all three garnering a Tony Award.  

In 2010, Close co-founded Bring Change to Mind, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the stigma and discrimination around mental illness.                                             

Dr. Jane Kamensky

Dr. Jane Kamensky is President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. A historian of British America and the United States, she is the author of numerous books, including A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley (2016), which won four major prizes and was a finalist for several others; and, most recently, Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution (2024), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. A former Commissioner of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and past Trustee of the Museum of the American Revolution, Kamensky serves as a member of the National Advisory Council of More Perfect and the Council for Civic Strength, among many other public history roles. For thirty years, she worked as a history professor and higher education leader, most recently as Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University and Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

In Conversation With

Ty Burr was a film critic and pop culture columnist for The Boston Globe for two decades, from 2002 to 2021, and for The Washington Post from 2023 to 2025. Since 2021, Ty has published “Ty Burr’s Watch List," a weekly subscription e-mail newsletter for streaming movie recommendations and cultural commentary; he also has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame (2013), The Best Old Movies for Families (2007), and the e-book The 50 Movie Starter Kit: What to Know if You Want to Know What You're Talking About (2013). He teaches courses at the online film school CineJourneys. In 2017, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. 

Gala Benefactors 

Jefferson Benefactor

Thomas and Juliet Gede

David and Jean Kruger

Franklin Benefactor

Beacon Bank

Cheryl  L. Edwards

Gerry and MaryLee Halpin

Rebecca Rogers

Jonathan Buck Treat and Leslie Janet Aitken

Tawny Welch

Revere Benefactor

Lea Sinclair Filson

Sarah E. Gunderson

Lisa Pennington and David Furlow

DeAnna Polin

Helen E. R. and DuWayne Sayles

Tim and Julia Schmolke

Eric and Susan Baker Schultz

Lionel and Vivian Spiro

David Trebing

Brenda Williams

Host Committee

David Sherrill, Chair

Ernst and Joan Berndt

Christine Bosworth

Cheryl L. Edwards

Joann Denton

Lea Sinclair Filson

Karen L. Finlay

Diatou Gueye

Sarah E. Gunderson

Beverly L. Hamilton

Brantley C. Knowles

David and Jean Kruger

Keli and David Levine

Mark Kimball Nichols and Lowell Reid Massey

Colette A. M. Phillips

Richard Pickering

Rebecca M. Rogers

Tim and Julia Schmolke

Peter Steingraber

Eric and Sarah Ward

Toby and Stacie Webb

Brenda M. Williams

Albert J. Zdenek, Jr. and Alain Briscadieu-Farjas

Thank you to our Corporate Sponsor