Today's DAR
Back in October, DAR staff closed out a busy year of genealogical conferences by sponsoring the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS)’s 46th annual conference! On the weekend of October 9-11, DAR Staff Genealogists and DAR Library Staff attended the AAHGS Conference in a very rainy Charleston, SC. I was pleased to serve as part of the group both representing the DAR as Platinum-level Sponsors and exhibiting at our booth, where we got to meet old and new friends to discuss genealogy, history, and, of course, the DAR. As always, it was a pleasure connecting with so many DAR members and potential members there!
Attending the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Conference
This year’s conference was especially important since it was the first in-person AAHGS conference since before COVID. The theme of “Tracing African American Ancestry: Building, Witnessing, & Shaping the Americas”, was particularly poignant for me as itis so deeply connected to the work I’ve been involved in with the DAR’s Patriots of Color (POC) Database. This Database is the result of over 40 years of ongoing work to identify African American, Native American, and multiracial Patriots’ service, whether they’re an established DAR Patriot or not. Many researchers can trace family members back to the 1700s but may not know about a relative’s service. The POC Database helps to close this gap on the journey to DAR Membership.
Related to this effort, after over two years of collaboration, we were able to meet the staff from the 10 Million Names project for the first time! While we’ve collaborated over emails and video, we hadn’t yet had the opportunity to meet face-to-face and it was such a joy to connect in person. Read more about DAR’s collaboration with this important project on the DAR website, and view the DAR database on the 10 Million Names website.
Of course, no trip to Charleston would be complete without some truly wonderful food! The Library staff was doubly excited at the annual Awards Luncheon, which besides a delicious meal included the 2025 International AAHGS Book Awards, leading us to several new volumes to add to our collections.
In attending conferences like these, the DAR Staff aims to build connections as well as broaden our genealogical skillset. It was an honor to represent the DAR at AAHGS, and I am already looking forward to next year!
