Daughters of the American Revolution facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Daughters of the American Revolution

DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
Abbreviation	DAR / NSDAR
Motto	God, Home, and Country
Founded	October 11, 1890; 133 years ago (1890-10-11) February 20, 1896 (incorporation)
Founder	Mary Desha, Mary Smith Lockwood, Ellen Hardin Walworth, and Eugenia Washington
Type	Non-profit
Focus	Historic preservation, education, patriotism
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., United States
Key people	DAR President General
Publication	American Spirit Magazine, Daughters Magazine
Affiliations	Children of the American Revolution
Website	www.dar.org

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote education and patriotism. The organization's membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the Revolutionary period who aided the cause of independence; applicants must have reached 18 years of age and are reviewed at the chapter level for admission. The DAR has over 185,000 current members in the United States and other countries. Its motto is "God, Home, and Country".

Founding

The Founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution sculpture honors the four founders of the DAR.

Julia Green Scott in 1913, DAR President General

In 1889 the centennial of President George Washington's inauguration was celebrated, and Americans looked for additional ways to recognize their past. Out of the renewed interest in United States history, numerous patriotic and preservation societies were founded. On July 13, 1890, after the Sons of the American Revolution refused to allow women to join their group, Mary Smith Lockwood published the story of patriot Hannah White Arnett in The Washington Post, asking, "Where will the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution place Hannah Arnett?" On July 21 of that year, William O. McDowell, a great-grandson of Hannah White Arnett, published an article in The Washington Post offering to help form a society to be known as the Daughters of the American Revolution. The first meeting of the society was held August 9, 1890.

The first DAR chapter was organized on October 11, 1890, at the Strathmore Arms, the home of Mary Smith Lockwood, one of the DAR's four co-founders. Other founders were Eugenia Washington, a great-grandniece of George Washington, Ellen Hardin Walworth, and Mary Desha. They had also held organizational meetings in August 1890. Other attendees in October were Sons of the American Revolution members Registrar General Dr. George Brown Goode, Secretary General A. Howard Clark, William O. McDowell (SAR member #1), Wilson L. Gill (secretary at the inaugural meeting), and 18 other people.

The First Lady, Caroline Lavina Scott Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison, lent her prestige to the founding of DAR, and served as its first President General. Having initiated a renovation of the White House, she was interested in historic preservation. She helped establish the goals of DAR, which was incorporated by congressional charter in 1896.

In this same period, such organizations as the Colonial Dames of America, the Mary Washington Memorial Society, Preservation of the Virginia Antiquities, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Sons of Confederate Veterans were also founded. This was in addition to numerous fraternal and civic organizations flourishing in this period.

Structure

The DAR is structured into three Society levels: National Society, State Society, and Chapter. A State Society may be formed in any US State, the District of Columbia, or other countries that are home to at least one DAR Chapter. Chapters can be organized by a minimum of 12 members, or prospective members, who live in the same city or town.

Each Society or Chapter is overseen by an executive board composed of a variety of officers. National level officers are: President General, First Vice President General, Chaplain General, Recording Secretary General, Corresponding Secretary General, Organizing Secretary General, Treasurer General, Registrar General, Historian General, Librarian General, Curator General, and Reporter General, to be designated as Executive Officers, and twenty-one Vice Presidents General. These officers are mirrored at the State and Chapter level, with a few changes: instead of a President General, States and Chapters have Regents, the twenty-one Vice Presidents General become one Second Vice Regent position, and the title of "General" is replaced by the title of either "State" or "Chapter". Example: First Vice President General becomes State First Vice Regent.

Historic programs

This Daughters of the American Revolution tablet erected in 1926 in Old Allentown Cemetery in Allentown, Pennsylvania honors Allentown patriots from the American Revolution, many of whom are buried in the cemetery.

The DAR chapters raised funds to initiate a number of historic preservation and patriotic endeavors. They began a practice of installing markers at the graves of Revolutionary War veterans to indicate their service, and adding small flags at their gravesites on Memorial Day.

Other activities included commissioning and installing monuments to battles and other sites related to the War. The DAR recognized women patriots' contributions as well as those of soldiers. For instance, they installed a monument at the site of a spring where Polly Hawkins Craig and other women got water to use against flaming arrows, in the defense of Bryan Station (present-day Lexington, Kentucky).

In addition to installing markers and monuments, DAR chapters have purchased, preserved, and operated historic houses and other sites associated with the war.

DAR Hospital Corps (Spanish-American War, 1898)

In the 19th century, the U.S. military did not have an affiliated group of nurses to treat servicemembers during wartime. At the onset of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the U.S. Army appointed Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee as Acting Assistant Surgeon to select educated and experienced nurses to work for the Army. As Vice President of the DAR (who also served as NSDAR's first Librarian General), Dr. McGee founded the DAR Hospital Corps to vet applicants for nursing positions. The DAR Hospital Corps certified 1,081 nurses for service during the Spanish–American War. DAR later funded pensions for many of these nurses who did not qualify for government pensions. Some of the DAR-certified nurses were trained by the American Red Cross, and many others came from religious orders such as the Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, and Sisters of the Holy Cross. These nurses served the U.S. Army not only in the United States but also in Cuba and the Philippines during the war. They paved the way for the eventual establishment—with Dr. McGee's assistance—of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901.

Textbook committees

During the 1950s, statewide chapters of the DAR took an interest in reviewing school textbooks for their own standards of suitability. In Texas, the statewide "Committee on Investigations of Textbooks" issued a report in 1955 identifying 59 textbooks currently in Texas public schools that had "socialistic slant" or "other deficiencies" including references to "Soviet Russia" in the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1959, the Mississippi chapter's "National Defense Committee" undertook a state lobbying effort that secured an amendment to state law which added "lay" members to the committee reviewing school textbooks. A DAR board member was appointed to one of the seats.

Contemporary DAR

There are nearly 180,000 current members of the DAR in approximately 3,000 chapters across the United States and in several other countries. The organization describes itself as "one of the most inclusive genealogical societies" in the United States, noting on its website that, "any woman 18 years or older — regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background — who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is eligible for membership". The current DAR President General is Denise Doring VanBuren, a former public relations executive from New York.

Eligibility

Membership in the DAR today is open to all women, regardless of race or religion, who can prove lineal bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving United States independence. The National Society DAR is the final arbiter of the acceptability of the documentation of all applications for membership.

Qualifying participants in achieving independence include the following:

• Signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence;
• Military veterans of the American Revolutionary War, including State navies and militias, local militias, privateers, and French or Spanish soldiers and sailors who fought in the American theater of war;
• Civil servants of provisional or State governments, Continental Congress and State conventions and assemblies;
• Signers of Oath of Allegiance or Oath of Fidelity and Support;
• Participants in the Boston Tea Party;
• Prisoners of war, refugees, and defenders of fortresses and frontiers; doctors and nurses who aided Revolutionary casualties; ministers; petitioners; and
• Others who gave material or patriotic support to the Revolutionary cause.

The DAR published a book, available online, with the names of thousands of minority patriots, to enable family and historical research. Its online Genealogical Research System (GRS) provides access to a database, and it is digitizing family Bibles to collect more information for research.

The organization has chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia. DAR chapters have been founded in Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The DAR is a governing organization within the Hereditary Society Community of the United States of America, and each DAR President General has served on HSC's board since its inception.

Education outreach

The DAR contributes more than $1 million annually to support six schools that provide for a variety of special student needs. Supported schools:

• Kate Duncan Smith DAR School, Grant, Alabama
• Tamassee DAR School, Tamassee, South Carolina
• Crossnore School, Crossnore, North Carolina
• Hillside School, Marlborough, Massachusetts
• Hindman Settlement School, Hindman, Kentucky
• Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia

In addition, the DAR provides $70,000 to $100,000 in scholarships and funds to American Indian youth at Chemawa Indian School, Salem, Oregon; Bacone College, Muskogee, Oklahoma; and the Indian Youth of America Summer Camp Program.

Civic work

DAR members participate in a variety of veteran and citizenship-oriented projects, including:

• Providing more than 200,000 hours of volunteer time annually to veterans in U.S. Veterans Administration hospitals and non-VA facilities
• Offering support to America's service personnel in current conflicts abroad through care packages, phone cards and other needed items
• Sponsoring special programs promoting the Constitution during its official celebration week of September 17–23
• Participating in naturalization ceremonies

Exhibits and library at DAR Headquarters

The DAR maintains a genealogical library at its headquarters in Washington, DC and provides guides for individuals doing family research. Its bookstore presents scholarship on United States and women's history.

Temporary exhibits in the galleries have featured women's arts and crafts, including items from the DAR's quilt and embroidery collections. Exhibit curators provide a social and historical context for girls' and women's arts in such exhibits, for instance, explaining practices of mourning reflected in certain kinds of embroidery samplers, as well as ideals expressed about the new republic. Permanent exhibits include American furniture, silver and furnishings.

Literacy promotion

In 1989, the DAR established the NSDAR Literacy Promotion Committee, which coordinates the efforts of DAR volunteers to promote child and adult literacy. Volunteers teach English, tutor reading, prepare students for GED examinations, raise funds for literacy programs, and participate in many other ways.

American history essay contest

Each year, the DAR conducts a national American history essay contest among students in grades 5 through 8. A different topic is selected each year. Essays are judged "for historical accuracy, adherence to topic, organization of materials, interest, originality, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and neatness." The contest is conducted locally by the DAR chapters. Chapter winners compete against each other by region and nationally; national winners receive a monetary award.

Scholarships

The DAR awards $150,000 per year in scholarships to high school graduates, and music, law, nursing, and medical school students. Only two of the 20 scholarships offered are restricted to DAR members or their descendants.

Segregation and exclusion of African Americans, and later inclusion

In 1932 the DAR adopted a rule excluding African-American musicians from performing at DAR Constitution Hall in response to complaints by some members against "mixed seating," as both black and white people were attracted to concerts of black artists. In 1939, they denied permission for Marian Anderson to perform a concert. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization. In her letter to the DAR, Roosevelt wrote, "I am in complete disagreement with the attitude taken in refusing Constitution Hall to a great artist... You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed." As the controversy grew, the American press overwhelmingly backed Anderson's right to sing. The Philadelphia Tribune wrote, "A group of tottering old ladies, who don't know the difference between patriotism and putridism, have compelled the gracious First Lady to apologize for their national rudeness." The Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote, "In these days of racial intolerance so crudely expressed in the Third Reich, an action such as the D.A.R.'s ban ... seems all the more deplorable." At Eleanor Roosevelt's behest, President Roosevelt and Walter White, then-executive secretary of the NAACP, and Anderson's manager, impresario Sol Hurok arranged an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a dignified and stirring rendition of "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)". The event attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 in addition to a national radio audience of millions.

The DAR officially reversed its "white performers only" policy in 1952. However, in 1957, the Colorado branch of the DAR refused to allow a Mexican-American child to participate in an Abraham Lincoln birthday event.

In 1977, Karen Batchelor Farmer (now Karen Batchelor) of Detroit, Michigan, was admitted as the first known African-American member of the DAR. Batchelor's admission as the first known African-American member of DAR sparked international interest after it was featured in a story on page one of The New York Times. In 1984, Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson, a retired school secretary, was denied membership in a Washington, D.C. chapter of the DAR because she was Black, according to a report by The Washington Post. Ferguson met the lineage requirements and could trace her ancestry to Jonah Gay, a white man who fought in Maine. When asked for comment, Sarah M. King, the President General of the DAR, told The Washington Post that the DAR's chapters have autonomy in determining members. King went on to tell Washington Post reporter Ronald Kessler, "Being black is not the only reason why some people have not been accepted into chapters. There are other reasons: divorce, spite, neighbors' dislike. I would say being black is very far down the line....There are a lot of people who are troublemakers. You wouldn't want them in there because they could cause some problems." After King's comments were reported in a page one story, outrage erupted, and the D.C. City Council threatened to revoke the DAR's real estate tax exemption. King quickly corrected her error, saying that Ferguson should have been admitted, and that her application had been handled "inappropriately". DAR changed its bylaws to bar discrimination "on the basis of race or creed." In addition, King announced a resolution to recognize "the heroic contributions of black patriots in the American Revolution."

Since the mid-1980s, the DAR has supported a project to identify African-Americans, Native Americans, and individuals of mixed race who were patriots of the American Revolution, expanding their recognition beyond soldiers. In 2008, DAR published Forgotten Patriots: African-American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War. In 2007, the DAR posthumously honored one of Thomas Jefferson's slaves, Mary Hemings Bell, as a "Patriot of the Revolution." Because of Hemings Bell's declaration by the DAR to be a Patriot, all of her female descendants qualify for membership in the DAR. Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly, in 2019, became the first African-American elected to the DAR National Board of Management when she was installed as New York State Regent in June.

Notable members

Living members

• Betsy Boze, American academic, chief executive officer and dean, Kent State University Stark
• Ada E. Brown, first African-American woman federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, and first African-American woman on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in its 140-year history. Second Native American woman to become a federal judge
• Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States
• Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady of the United States, politician, political and social activist
• Bo Derek, actress, former model, and veterans advocate
• Elizabeth Dole, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, former transportation secretary, labor secretary, American Red Cross president, Federal Trade Commissioner, presidential candidate, and presidential advisor
• Tammy Duckworth, American Army veteran, former U.S. Representative, and from 2017, U.S. Senator from Illinois. Duckworth is depicted along with Molly Pitcher in a statue sponsored by the DAR Illinois chapter and dedicated to women veterans on the grounds of the Brehm Memorial Library in Mt. Vernon, Illinois
• Candace Whittemore Lovely, painter
• Dr. Donna J. Nelson, chemistry professor
• Katie Pavlich, conservative commentator, author, blogger, and podcaster
• Margaret Rhea Seddon, NASA astronaut

Deceased members

Daughters of the American Revolution monument to the Battle of Fort Washington, erected in 1910. The approach deck of the George Washington Bridge, New York City was built above it.

• Jane Addams, activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner
• Mary Jane Aldrich (1833–1909), American temperance reformer and lecturer
• Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist
• Lillie Stella Acer Ballagh, national chairman of Colonial Relics
• Mary Ross Banks (1846–1910), litterateur and author
• Clara Barton, American Red Cross founder
• Octavia Williams Bates (1846–1911), suffragist, clubwoman, author
• Frances E. Burns (1866–1937), social leader, business executive
• Mary Temple Bayard (1853–1916), American writer, journalist
• Cora M. Beach, State Chairman and member of National Committee for Genealogical and Historical Research
• Clara Bancroft Beatley (1858–1923), educator, lecturer, author
• Ella A. Bigelow (1849–1917), author and clubwoman
• Sarah Bond Hanley, first Democratic woman to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. She served as the Illinois State Regent.
• Leah Belle Kepner Boyce, State Recording and Secretary of the California Daughters of the American Revolution
• Gene Bradford (1909–1937), member of the Washington State House of Representatives
• Alice Willson Broughton (1889–1980), First Lady of North Carolina
• Olivia Dudley Bucknam, Hollywood chapter
• Eleanor Kearny Carr (1840–1912), First Lady of North Carolina
• Luella J. B. Case (1807–1857), author
• Marietta Stanley Case (1845–1900), poet and temperance advocate
• Florence Anderson Clark (1835–1918), author, newspaper editor, librarian, university dean
• Vinnie B. Clark, established and developed the Geography Department at the San Diego State Teachers College
• Clara Rankin Coblentz (1863-1933), social reformer
• Sarah Johnson Cocke (1865–1944), writer and civic leader
• Emily Parmely Collins (1814–1909) – suffragist, activist, writer
• Harriet L. Cramer (1847–1922) – newspaper publisher
• Inez Mabel Crawford, first registrar of the General Edward Hand Chapter
• Belle Caldwell Culbertson (1857–1934), author and philanthropist
• Carrie Chase Davis (1863–1953), American physician, suffragist
• Allie Luse Dick (1859–1933), music teacher
• Estelle Skidmore Doremus, supporter of the New York Philharmonic
• Ella Loraine Dorsey (1853–1935), author, journalist, translator
• Fanny Murdaugh Downing (1831–1894), author and poet
• Saidie Orr Dunbar, Executive Secretary of the Oregon Tuberculosis Association
• Caroline B. Eager, American philanthropist who worked mainly with the Igorot people of the Philippine Islands
• Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science church
• Isabel H. Ellis, Rubidoux Chapter
• Infanta Eulalia of Spain, Spanish princess and author
• Laura Dayton Fessenden (1852–1924), author
• Inglis Fletcher, American writer
• Mary Alice Fonda (1837–1897), American musician, linguist, author, critic
• Abigail Keasey Frankel, prominent club and civic worker of Portland. She was the first president of the Oregon Federation of Business and Professional Women
• Agnes Moore Fryberger (1868–1939), music educator
• Dale Pickett Gay, Wyoming clubwoman and one of the best known women of her time in the oil business
• Wilma Anderson Gilman (1881–1971), concert pianist, music teacher, clubwoman
• Lillian Gish, actress
• Fannie Smith Goble, held several high offices in Daughters of the American Revolution organization
• Isophene Goodin Bailhache, national vice chairman of Historic Spots, State Officer, Chapter Regent
• Gene Grabeel, mathematician and cryptanalyst who founded the Venona project
• Harriet A. Haas, attorney and member of Piedmont Board of Education
• Inez M. Haring, American botanist
• Sallie Foster Harshbarger, from 1920 to 1922, State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution
• Caroline Harrison, former First Lady of the United States
• Mary Hilliard Hinton, historian, painter, anti-suffragist, pro-racial segregation
• Emily Caroline Chandler Hodgin, temperance reformer
• Margaret Gardner Hoey, First Lady of North Carolina
• Grace Hopper, Rear Admiral, USNR
• Anna Morris Holstein (1825–1900), Founder First Regent D.A.R. Valley Forge Chapter, Hosted 1891 DAR National Leadership visit to Valley Forge, Prayer Desk Dedicated at VF Memorial Chapel in her honor, Founder, Regent Centennial and Memorial Association, Civil War Nurse, Author.
• Harriet Lane Huntress (1860–1922), Deputy Superintendent Public Instruction in New Hampshire
• Electa Amanda Wright Johnson (1938–1929), philanthropist, writer
• Sara Beaumont Kennedy (1859–1920), writer and newspaper editor
• Nancy A. Leatherwood, national chairman of Historical and Literary Reciprocity Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution
• Colonel Westray Battle Long, Director of the Women's Army Corps
• Edith Bolte MacCracken, State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution
• Mary Stuart James MacMurphy (1846–1934), teacher, lecturer, clubwoman, and author
• Virginia Donaghe McClurg, member
• Ruth Karr McKee, member
• Moina Michael, educator and originator of Memorial Day Poppies
• Anne Hazen McFarland, M.D., physician and medical journal editor
• Anita Newcomb McGee, founder of the Army Nurse Corps
• Anne Rogers Minor, artist and DAR President General, 1920–1923
• Fanny E. Minot (1847–1919), national president Woman's Relief Corps
• Bessie Morse, founder of The Morse School of Expression, St. Louis
• Sara E. Morse, held positions in several organizations
• Grandma Moses, folk artist
• Alice Curtice Moyer
• Emma Huntington Nason (1845–1921), poet, author, and musical composer
• Jacqueline Noel, leader in promoting the colonial history of the United States
• Florence Sillers Ogden, columnist, conservative activist, and segregationist
• Elizabeth Fry Page (?–1943), author, editor
• Jane Marsh Parker (1836–1913), author, historian, clubwoman
• Fannie Brown Patrick, musician and leader in civic and social affairs
• Alice Paul, American suffragist
• Edith Allen Phelps, twice president of the Oklahoma Library Association, the first professional in the Library Science field in the Oklahoma City system
• Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States
• Frances Porcher, officer of the Jefferson Chapter
• Delia Lyman Porter (1858–1933), author, social reformer, clubwoman
• Adele Poston, pioneer in the field of psychiatric nursing
• Ada E. Purpus, member
• Emily Lee Sherwood Ragan, author, journalist
• Emma May Alexander Reinertsen (1853–1920), writer
• Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States
• Hester Dorsey Richardson (1862–1933), author
• Alice Mary Robertson, educator and public servant from Oklahoma, second woman to serve in the United States Congress
• Emily Warren Roebling, engineer, known for her contribution to the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge
• Ginger Rogers, actress and dancer
• Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States. She resigned her membership in protest of racism.
• Fannie Forbis Russel, one of the pioneer women of the state of Montana
• Susan Augusta Pike Sanders, national president of the Woman's Relief Corps
• Phyllis Schlafly, conservative political activist and writer
• Julia Green Scott, DAR President General [1]
• M. Elizabeth Shellabarger, Registered Nurse, army nurse overseas during World War I and director of American Red Cross Nursing Service in Albania and Montenegro
• Jessamine Shumate, noted artist and cartographer
• Eva Munson Smith (1843–1915), composer, poet, author
• Lura Eugenie Brown Smith (1864–?), journalist, newspaper editor, author
• Margaret Chase Smith, US Congresswoman and US Senator
• Helen Norton Stevens, Lady Stirling Chapter
• Lillian Carpenter Streeter (1854–1935), social reformer, clubwoman, author
• Vera Blanche Thomas, president of the Arizona State Nurses' Association from 1927 to 1928
• Adaline Emerson Thompson (1859–1951), benefactor and educational leader
• Martha L. Poland Thurston (1849–1898), vice-president of the national body; also social leader, philanthropist, writer
• Lizabeth A. Turner (1829–1907), National President, Woman's Relief Corps
• Gertrude Vaile (1878–1954), social worker
• Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art
• Maryly Van Leer Peck, Founder of Guam Community College, first female president of a Florida Community College, first woman chemical engineer graduate from Vanderbilt University. Received the National Community Service Award from DAR.
• Florence Warfield Sillers, historian and socialite, founding member of the Mississippi Delta Chapter
• Elizabeth Willisson Stephen (1856–1925), author
• Fay Webb-Gardner, First Lady of North Carolina
• Agnes Wright Spring, member
• Adelaide Cilley Waldron (1843–1909), author, editor, clubwoman
• Margaret Ray Wickens (1843–1918), national president of the Woman's Relief Corps

List of DAR presidents general

The presidents general of the society have been:

• 

  Caroline Scott Harrison, First DAR President General

• 

  Southern Woman Named DAR President General

• 

  Silver Arrow, the symbol of the Dillon administration in the form of a pin.

*Note: During the Watkins administration, the President General and other National Officers began to be referred to by their own first names, rather than their husbands'.

Honors

A memorial to the Daughters of the American Revolution's four founders, at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on April 17, 1929. It was sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a DAR member.

See also

In Spanish: Daughters of the American Revolution para niños