DAR Museum

Today was the day to finally visit the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Library.  Members of DAR are women who can trace their ancestry to someone who aided the cause of the American Revolution.  In my case, my patriot is my 5x great grandfather, Ashbel Waller.

Fortunately, my DAR Angel, Wendy, prepped me for the visit and told me that I would need an "appointment" to take a tour.  I made the appointment and since we were staying just a few blocks away, we made the walk and arrived shortly before it opened.  So we waited outside.

That's me, waiting for it to open

The opening time passed and the doors were still locked.  Fortunately, I saw a group of women walking towards me - and then past me - with briefcases in their hands.  Did they know something I didn't?  Turns out, they did!

The museum and library is located in Memorial Continental Hall, just down the street from Constitution Hall, where I was standing and some of the museum's concerts take place.

The DAR Museum was founded in 1890 (the same founding year as the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution) as a way of depositing and displaying family heirlooms.  As part of the NSDAR, the museum sought to promote historic preservation and patriotism through collections and displays of colonial era artifacts.  Thanks to several DAR organizational, member, non-member, and purchased acquisitions, the museum's collection expanded to more than 30,000 items over the years.

We started out by exploring the special exhibition.

This exhibit - from March to December 3 - combines sewn items from all textile sections of the DAR Museum's collections. 

There was a lot to see - this caught my eye.

Civil War Bedspread, 1864

Made by Margaret Dodge

Gift of Margaret S. Todd

A silk version of this bedspread was displayed at Brooklyn's Sanitary Fair benefitting Union hospitals in 1864.  The eagle was painted by the maker's son, a professional artist.  It attracted much media attention and was later donated to President Lincoln.  Its whereabouts are unknown, but two cotton versions remained in Margaret's family of which this is one.

This postage stamp quilt is something.  There are rows of tiny squares set on point, roller printed and woven designs alternating with solid white squares, machine pieced.  Thin loft cotton filling quilted in grid diamond at 5-6 stitches per inch with white thread.  

According to the donor, a descendant of the maker, this was made by Nellie Everhart as a teenager while recovering from an illness.

About 15 minutes before our appointed time, a nice docent, Kim, came to tell us that since she was available, she'd like to give us a private tour.  SCORE!

Off we went to our first stop - the library

The DAR Library was founded in 1896 with a collection of 126 books to be used by the genealogists who were verifying membership applications for the DAR.  Shortly after 1900, the growing collection was opened to the public and has remained so ever since.

The white rectangular objects on the second floor balcony are rolling book shelves full of books.  I wish I'd had an opportunity to look in at least one of them.

The library is amazing and I was a bit overwhelmed.  

The Mission of the DAR Library is to support and enhance the National Society's membership application process and to further the goals of the National Society by acquiring and preserving historical materials related to genealogical research, primarily American genealogical research, and by acquiring and preserving records related to the American Revolutionary War period.  This focus has made the DAR Library one of the nation's premier genealogical research centers based on the uniqueness of its resources.  The Library's book collection exceeds 225,000 volumes.  Approximately 3,000 new titles enter the Library each year, many of which are works printed in limited quantities.

The library was the original meeting room for the members before they outgrew the space and moved into the larger hall.  The original balconies are lovely.

Oh my, the ceiling!

And the chandelier.

We left the library and walked through the beautiful hallways.

Kim and I chatted and got to know each other better and I told her the story of joining a Virginia DAR chapter since I didn't have a "home".  She asked where, and when I said the Fort Nelson Chapter, it took me a minute to come up with the city.  Finally, I came up with Portsmouth!  Believe it or not, she not only knew of the chapter but she has roots in the area and knows the chapter house.  I showed her the picture below and she said her grandmother once spent time in the Senior Center next door.  

Photo from Fort Nelson DAR Facebook group page

Thanks, Wendy!

Now it was time to tour some of the period rooms.  The 31 period rooms tell the story of the American domestic interior.  The rooms date from the 1690s through the 1930s.  Reflecting how people furnished their houses, the rooms illustrate a wide range of cultures and regional differences.  Each room is "sponsored" by a state.

This is the 1775 Bedroom and Parlor in Massachusetts.

The Connecticut Board Room.  This room has not changed much since its construction and still features most of the original mahogany furniture.  The building was one of the first in Washington, D.C. to use electricity and the design of the chandelier (darn, didn't get a picture of that) shows off the type of light bulbs that originally illuminated this room.

1920s library from Michigan.  A room like this was typically found only in wealthy homes.

1820s New York parlor.

1860s bedroom in Texas.

The 1910s relic room from New Jersey is interesting.  All the wood in this room came from the British warship Augusta.  The ship sank in the Delaware River in 1777 during the Battle of Red Bank.  In 1910, two New Jersey DAR members acquired the ship's remains and had the idea to use its wood to create the room full of relics from the ship.  But first it took a year for the wood to dry out!  The DAR used this room for committee meetings until the 1930s.

Time was running out but there was time for one more room.  I'm a fourth generation Californian so I was pleased when our last stop was California.

The parlor was inspired by the home of David and Mary Wight in Monterey, California in 1847.  Today the house is part of the Monterey Historic District.  Kim was excited that the Monterey home inspired the room because her parents met in Monterey.  Just to show how small the world really is, I told her that my grandmother was born and raised in Monterey and that her father and grandfather owned a Mercantile called The White House.  Her parents may have shopped there!

We were way over our allotted time but she wanted to show us one more thing.

The bronzed eagle was the official podium used in Memorial Continental Hall and was presented to the 14th DAR Continental Congress in 1905 by the Flintock and Powderhorn Chapter of Rhode Island as a pledge of "loyalty to the organization, and in the interest of purity, patriotism and peace."

Though the Flintock and Powderhorn Chapter has since disbanded, its gift to the National Society now resides in the President General's Assembly Room as a reminder of the chapter's wish to give a permanent memorial to NSDAR.  Frequently used at important early DAR ceremonies and at Continental Congress, it was also on the platform when President Woodrow Wilson Spoke at the 25th Continental Congress in 1916.

The DAR eagle lectern first caught the attention of the nonpartisan Inaugural Committee in 2005, when its members were visiting DAR headquarters as a possible venue for Inaugural events.  Recognizing that it would add a special element for the Inaugural Luncheon, they immediately requested that it be loaned for ceremonial purposes.  And it has been used at the luncheons ever since.

https://blog.dar.org/dar-eagle-lectern-loaned-inaugural-committee

We wandered around the exhibit before leaving and I just couldn't get over how beautiful the building is and the history that has gone on within those walls.  As we left we noticed a lot of construction underway - happy that we were able to see exactly what was going on.

I'm so glad we were able to come for a visit!