I can trace my ancestry back to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, which would make me eligible for membership in Daughters of the American Revolution.
I haven’t heard much about the organization, other than there being issues with racism, 80 years ago. I was looking over the website for one of the local chapters. Really? Children’s etiquette tea?
Is anyone a member, and if yes, what do you think of the organization? Are you an active member? What does your chapter do?
My wife can trace back to Myles Standish.
Back in the day she was asked to join, she declined.
Relevant NYT article on DAR here.
Saw that yesterday, which is what got me thinking about DAR again. That looks like a wonderful step forward for DAR. I’m more wondering what DAR does today, that would make it of interest to me.
I know one woman who was a member of DAR and dropped out because she felt it to be irrelevant. Her daughter never had any inclination to join.
DAR participates in historical preservation projects, genealogy, scholarship programs and it’s a great place to meet women who have similar interests. They have a lot of chapters though so I imagine your experience with DAR will be dependent on which chapter you are a part of.
Technically I’m a member. I don’t think much of them. They gave me bupkis for school and I’m not really interested in any of their activities. The historical preservation and genealogy stuff is kind of neat, but if the local chapter was anything like the relative who was heavily involved in it, they were nobody I would have talked to for fun.
I expect that, like a lot of organizations, it depends on where you are. This was out in the desert southwest, where there’s not much of European extraction that predates the Civil War, and most of that is Spanish and religious. They might be a lot less stuffy and more fun in New England, where there’s so much history right out in the middle of the street you can trip on it if you’re not looking where you’re walking.
My mother was in it, so I guess technically I could join. I think they still do scholarships. In fact I’m pretty sure they kicked in a piddling amount for my college education on the condition that I neither burn nor wear a flag. Really I have no idea what they do. I thought of them as just another place to keep women like my mother under the illusion they were busy–like garden club, bridge club, etc. I am pretty sure I would not have any similar interests with the DAR today, and I KNOW I didn’t back then.