Tracy Robinson, DAR Director of Archives and History

Much has been written in this blog over the years regarding the DAR Americana Collection. We’ve learned, for example, that it contains more than 4,100 accessions, the collecting focus is on life in the United States pre-1830, and it houses some very special and rare materials. Today, we thought we’d

Tracy Robinson, DAR Director of Archives and History

Happy Presidents Day! The history of what is now Presidents Day began in the 1880s when George Washington’s birthday was first celebrated as a federal holiday. In 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect in an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the country’s workers. It was then

Tracy Robinson, DAR Director of Archives and History

As many of you are aware, DAR employs three archivists including me. Our responsibilities include the management of both the NSDAR Archives and the Americana Collection including acquisitions, collections use and maintenance, reference services, and educational and outreach activities including exhibit planning and installation.

Archivists are professionals who ensure important

Tracy Robinson, DAR Director of Archives and History

We are pleased to announce that the Americana Room’s new exhibit, Women of Resilience: DAR Service in World War I, opened on Monday, June 19, 2017.

One hundred years ago, the United States of America entered World War I. Although President Woodrow Wilson’s administration maintained a neutral stance during

Tracy Robinson, DAR Director of Archives and History

The Office of the Historian General is very pleased to announce the gift of a valuable 18th-century document to the Americana Collection.  A petition asking Brigadier General Henry Knox for an increase in salaries and daily provisions signed July 9, 1777, by 61 workers of Springfield Artillery, Springfield, Mass

Tom Adams, Annual Fundraising Specialist, Office of Development

As part of the Winter fundraising program, the Office of Development recently sent a unique appeal in the mail. As with previous winter mailings requesting support for the NSDAR General Fund, this mailing included a “gift” offered for considering our request and in grateful anticipation of your generosity.

However

Tracy Robinson, Director of Archives and History and Mandie Vasquez, Archivist

We are writing this blog post to share an exciting donation to the Americana Collection received from New Mexico DAR member Beatrice (Betty) Byrd. Ms. Byrd reached out to President General Lynn Young about donating manuscripts that have been in her family for many years and they are a welcome

Last Spring, a C-SPAN producer contacted DAR to feature our Headquarters and collections in their upcoming programming. We were so pleased to welcome them to DAR Headquarters where they filmed two programs for C-SPAN’s American History TV series, American Artifacts.

The first program, which aired in August 2013, featured the

The concept of the Americana Collection, which would house early-American manuscripts, emerged at the time of the commemoration of the DAR’s 50th anniversary in 1940.  No formal collection of such material existed at the National Society prior to that time; rather, documents were dispersed among the holdings of the