Tales from the Archives: Digitized Continental Congress Annual Proceedings and Online Resources

We are happy to announce that the NSDAR annual Proceedings were recently digitized and are now available on DAR’s member website. The NSDAR publishes annual Proceedings each year as a record of DAR’s Continental Congress. The Proceedings are a record of what occurred at this meeting. They routinely contain the reports of DAR national officers, committee chairmen, and state regents, as well as the results of DAR elections and any resolutions that were passed by the Congress. The Proceedings is a valuable resource that documents DAR activities, shows how DAR has changed and evolved, and highlights the historical events that shaped the DAR.

The NSDAR archivists have been working hard to create digital resources for patrons researching DAR history. We are building a collection of online archival resources to help members and others who are not able to conduct research at the DAR Headquarters in Washington, DC. This proved helpful during the many closures and travel restrictions during the pandemic.

In addition, researchers can access the NSDAR Archives public portal to search portions of the NSDAR Archives collections. In this search portal are items that are open to the public, such as photographs and documents that chronicle DAR history. The entire Photograph Collection is in this catalog. Low resolution or access copies of digitized items are here as well. Here a researcher can find copies of items digitized for online exhibits, social media, or other projects. We have been working toward adding digital versions of Continental Congress Programs to accompany the newly digitized DAR Proceedings. From this same landing page, researchers can search the DAR Americana Collection.

We hope that you find these online tools helpful. If you have any questions, please reach out the NSDAR Archives at [email protected].