In this episode of DAR Today Podcast, we spotlight the DAR Museum’s powerful new exhibition, Revolution in Their Words. Centered on the voices of ordinary people living through the turmoil of the Revolutionary era, the exhibit invites us to hear the thoughts, fears, sacrifices, and lived experiences of those too often left out of traditional narratives. Through this conversation, Curator Carrie Blough we reflect on why this exhibit matters to Daughters today. It expands how we understand service, sacrifice, voice, and memory in the founding of our nation, reminding us that the American story was shaped not only by famous leaders, but also by women, Black people, Indigenous people, and everyday families whose words still speak across time. This episode is also a call to chapters across the country to think deeply about the stories in their own communities. What voices in your local Revolutionary story still need to be heard? As we approach America 250, we encourage chapters to visit the museum, create local programs inspired by the exhibit, host reading circles, support patriot research, and engage youth and community conversations that help illuminate a fuller American legacy. This episode is dedicated with gratitude to Curator General Mrs. Renee Pace and Ms. Carrie Blough, curator of the exhibit, with special thanks to the National Vice Chairs and to the President General Mrs. Ginnie S. Storage for her continued support of this work.
A look at the DAR Museum exhibition: Revolution in Their Words with Carrie Blough !
Why this exhibit matters to Daughters and to the America 250 moment?
How firsthand words and lived experiences deepen our understanding of the Revolutionary era
A call for chapters to engage local history through programs, research, reading circles, youth activities, and community conversations.
DAR Musuem: https://www.dar.org/collections/museum
Revolution in their Words: https://blog.dar.org/2026/03/19/behind-scenes-revolution-their-words
Before America became a story, it was lived in real time by real people — women, Black families, Indigenous communities, free and enslaved people, soldiers, neighbors, and everyday Americans trying to make sense of a world changing around them. This month, we step inside the DAR Museum’s powerful new exhibition, Revolution in Their Words, where the Revolution speaks back through the voices of the people who lived it.
Welcome to the DAR Today Podcast, where we illuminate our legacy one episode at a time. As we move closer to America 250, we are being invited to look deeper — not just at the famous names and familiar moments, but at the lived experience of the Revolutionary era. The DAR Museum’s newest exhibition, Revolution in Their Words, helps us do exactly that.
This exhibit explores the period just before and after the War for Independence began. And it does something especially meaningful. It centers the words, the thoughts, and feelings of the people who were living through that turmoil through letters, poetry, diaries, newspapers, speeches, and other firsthand materials.
Visitors encounter a fuller, more human story of that era. So today we’re talking about why this exhibit matters, what visitors can expect, and how it expands the story of the American Revolution in a way that is timely, thoughtful, and deeply relevant.
To help us step inside this exhibition, we’re joined by someone who has helped shape how this story is being presented. This is a conversation not just about objects and cases, but about interpretation, voice, memory, and the power of letting people from the past speak for themselves. Our guest is Carrie Blough, Associate Registrar and Assistant Curator with the DAR Museum.
True
Her work helps bring the exhibition to life, and the DAR Museum’s programming also highlights her reflections on curating Revolution in Their Words, making her a wonderful guide for this conversation. So, Carrie, welcome to the DAR Today Podcast.
And we are going to have a conversation today about your wonderful exhibition here at our DAR Museum. We are so proud of you. I know my National Vice Chairs on this committee were really excited and really curated this program for us, and for me and you to have this conversation. So just as I’m excited, they are as well. So we just wanted to give you that grand welcome, and we’ll start our little conversation.
Carrie
It’s my pleasure to be here.
True
Thank you for taking the time. So we wanted to ask you, how did the idea for this exhibit develop, and what were the main goals?
Carrie
Well, I’ve always had a love of reading memoirs. As a historical researcher, I’ve used memoirs throughout my career to understand how people lived with their material culture, with their things, how they interacted with others, and just how they understood the world. And I love historical memoirs, and I also read memoirs of people today. I just find inner lives very interesting.
And when I started at the DAR, I was working in the museum, and I continue to work in the museum. And I started doing research in the Americana Collection. I wanted to see what kind of diaries were there, and I found a wonderful treasure trove. The first diary I read was by a soldier by the name of John Fisher, and that got me hooked on the Americana Collection.
And so as we were coming up to America 250, we were thinking about, what can we do? How are we going to commemorate this important time? And I had this idea. So the title popped into my head: Revolution in Their Words. And I wanted to understand this important time from their own perspective. So it’s the Revolution in their own words, but it’s also revolution in their words. They spoke fiery words of patriotism and liberty.
And so I wanted to explore this using these wonderful documents that I discovered in the Americana Collection at the DAR. And my main goal for the exhibit was to show visitors that there were regular, average, everyday people like me and you living their lives during this time and trying to make sense of it. And they wrote about it, they read about it, and I wanted to show visitors what they were writing, what they were reading, and what they were saying.
True
I love that, especially that part about the Revolution in their words, how that was an action — their actions were in those words. So I appreciate that.
So this collection, right, the exhibition, it draws on diaries, letters, and documents, again, from the Americana Collection that you just mentioned to us, and it included so many items that had just never been displayed. So what does it mean to you to help bring these firsthand voices into public view this way?
Carrie
I have to say the word that comes to mind is thrilling. To read these documents and know that these people wrote these things for posterity, for people like us to come back to and try to understand how they were living — it was thrilling to get to show these, to be the first to show them in a lot of instances.
But I also do understand the gravitas of it, that I have a responsibility to try to accurately and equally show what they were talking about, and what they meant and how they felt, because it’s important not to assume that everybody felt the same way. And so this collection just has a variety of voices, and that was really exciting to draw on.
True
I love that. Let the documents speak for themselves, in a sense. That’s what we do as historians, right? It is. Yeah, yeah.
This exhibit, again, is arranged into these four cinematic sections: Words of Diplomacy, Words of the People, Words of Resistance, and Words in Print. So how did those themes help you organize and tell this story as well?
Carrie
The four themes came about naturally. As I was doing the research in Americana and then, of course, secondary sources, they all seemed to fall into one of these four categories. Although I have to stress, so many of them have overlap and could go into another category. A printed pamphlet that I feature in Words of Diplomacy could easily go into Words in Print, but I had a story to tell with it and it worked in Words of Diplomacy.
So they just sort of naturally came about, and very early on it was clear to me that I did not want to tell a chronological history of the war. I wanted to tell it thematically, because we were going back and forth and looking at people, all of their viewpoints.
True
Wow, that’s wonderful. So can you walk us through a little bit of those four sections and just share a little bit for our visitors and help them understand the Revolutionary era in a fuller way?
Carrie
Absolutely. So I started with Words of Diplomacy. Although when you come to see the exhibit, you can start anywhere and work your way through the exhibit at your own pace and whichever way you want. But I started with Words of Diplomacy because I thought, well, I want to stress the words of the ordinary people. I want to show that it’s important to show the words of the politicians, the big names, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, because they were the ones who were writing the fiery rhetoric that they were sending off to England, printing in the newspapers.
So they were writing the words that were then distilled down to the masses of people through newspapers, through speeches and pamphlets and all sorts of documents. So I thought it was important that we did have to talk about them. And they talked directly to the citizens. In Words of Diplomacy, John Hancock meets with citizens at a tavern, and he’s directly communicating with them, finding out what they want and talking to them. So that’s how that one sort of started it all off, that section.
And then, of course, I thought, well, Words of the People, that’s what I’m really focusing on. And that’s the average everyday people. What are they saying? What are women writing in their diaries? Us, yes. What are they writing in their diaries? How are they understanding this? And so I was able to use letters from the Americana Collection and just try to show that there were all these viewpoints from regular people.
And then the next section, I do have to talk about the soldiers. Of course, they are so important to us. They gave of themselves so generously in our cause for liberty and freedom. And so I wanted to talk about them, but not about the battles. I didn’t really want to talk about the battles. There are a lot of places that do that really well. I wanted to talk about how are the soldiers feeling when they were in camp, when they’re getting ready for a battle, when they were serving on picket duty. And these diaries tell us that.
And what wonderful words. And I always say this: I’m just so grateful that these men and women thought, I should write this down, and started keeping a diary. I’m so grateful for that. So Words of Resistance really focuses on what were the soldiers feeling and thinking, and how were they living their lives in the army.
Words in Print is a big section because the printed word was so big during the American Revolution. The media had such an influence over it. And I think we all can think of mastheads and “liberty or death” as these wonderful phrases that came about because of newspapers. And so I really wanted to focus on the words in print and how the printed word really influenced the war.
True
Yes, I really like that about the soldiers — how it is in the background, not just the selfless act and that signature that we put on to join up, but what goes on behind the scenes. And it just reminds me of my service and how there were so many things that took place during and after and before, and all those memories there are in these diaries, and especially about the women, you know.
So that part I really think a lot of people will enjoy, because it’s making it personal to them. You’re making them personal to us. They’re not just names on a paper. Of course, the newspapers tell us a lot, so I’m excited about that. So the — I don’t know — you’re really telling me a lot from different angles that I hadn’t really thought about.
True
I love “personal,” and that is a great way to look at this exhibit. I want people to understand this was personal to these people. You know, how would you have felt? So personal — that’s just a great word to use for this.
True
Yes, it is, because we know what goes on, but regular people don’t know the bonding and all the things that we have to do in camp. So this is really going to be exciting for me.
So the exhibit, again, uses staged vignettes like that tavern scene, a writing table, the soldiers’ camp scene, and a printing press. And why was it important to create that kind of visual and physical context built around these objects?
Carrie
That’s a great question. If you’ve looked at diaries and letters, you know that they can be kind of flat and could possibly get to be a little bit boring after a while. So I recognized immediately that we were going to need three-dimensional objects, scenes, to give the exhibit some life, a feeling of community, a feeling of being surrounded by things, even though it’s a lot of textual documents. They can be very beige and very boring. If you don’t want to read every single word of it, these vignettes were designed to help you see the context, imagine the space that the individuals who were participating in this war would have inhabited.
So the tavern scene — so much business was conducted in taverns in the 18th century as a whole, but especially during the war. Meetings were held there. And John Hancock loved to meet there. So that’s why I have that scene as the vignette for the first Words of Diplomacy section. And in it, we do feature a letterbox by John Hancock and some other items just to help you visualize the three-dimensional world that was around these people.
And then, of course, the writing desk. I knew when I was going to talk about Words of the People that Phillis Wheatley was going to be a primary person I wanted to talk about. And I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to see a desk, a table, and a chair that she would have sat at? And I’d love it if there was a way to see a window that she might have looked at while she was composing this beautiful poetry she wrote. And so that’s the vignette for Words of the People.
And of course, Words of Resistance is the soldiers’ tent. My dream originally had been to have a real tent that kids could go in and out of, maybe have some blankets and things like that. It didn’t quite work out for the exhibit, but our designers really came up with a great way to give you the feeling of a tent.
And then Words in Print — I really wanted to get an actual printing press, but they are very difficult to come by and move. So our wonderful designers again came up with a way, and they made a great graphic, sort of a silhouette of two men working at a printing press. And so that features prominently in the exhibit. And it’s very powerful to look — it goes all the way to the back and you see this printing press and you can see how important that was.
So these vignettes were just a way to bring some life into the exhibit and life into these words that were so important.
True
Yes, thank you for that. I feel like it kind of takes you there. Like you transport yourself in that visual context of being in a tavern and being in a mill where the printing press is. Like it just physically takes you there for a moment. So I like that interactive tool that you all have come up with for this exhibit.
So in Words of Diplomacy, visitors, like I said, they encounter that tavern scene and John Hancock’s signed 1770 letterbox that you spoke of. So what do objects like this help visitors understand about the world of political discourse in this period?
Carrie
That’s a great question also because we communicate so differently today than they did in the 1770s. And John Hancock’s letterbox is a great way — it’s fairly small, it’s only about nine inches wide — it’s a great way to show that our words weren’t transmitted on a device, a small device we can put in our pockets. Back then they were transmitted handwritten, on paper, folded up, and mailed.
And then John Hancock stored his in this letterbox. It’s one of two or three remaining of his letterboxes. This item in particular, I think, is a great way to show that words were more tangible in the 1770s at this time. Communication was not instant, and every word mattered because you got this one chance to send a letter right now, and then things could change in the time that that letter was delivered. And things did change. And so I think this letterbox is just a great way to show that our words were much more tangible.
True
I’m there with you, but there was a saying my dad used to say: “Your word is your bond.” So I can kind of see where that was your statement. Like my dad would say, “Is that your statement?” You know? Yeah. So I can kind of see that.
And I do understand that that was our only communication, and that those words, like you said, every word mattered in those letters at the time. That’s what is important here for us to remember about that letterbox.
Carrie
Absolutely. And your father’s saying is so correct, because his letters are what we have now. The letters of Samuel Adams and John Adams, they are what we have now to understand how these men wrote and disseminated the words of the Revolution. So those words were lasting.
True
Yes, and thankfully we still have that here. So I wanted to ask, because we’re always — you know, personally, in my own way of thinking — that we always try to balance or think about these well-known figures like John Hancock. How does this exhibit’s larger goal of centering ordinary people and broader voices — how do we do that?
Carrie (18:02.004)
That was one of my main goals, was to center the average person, the ordinary people, the regular people like you and me. What were they saying?
And so in Words of Diplomacy, we hear from John Hancock, and then the rest of the exhibit is the words of everyone else — Native Americans, African Americans, free people. I tried to include as many as I could. You know, there’s only so much space and I had to cut some of it. I’m always so sorry about that. But I didn’t cut the really important ones. The rest of the exhibit is really from the mouths and the letters of the average people. So that’s how I was able to really focus on them.
Carrie (18:46.26)
Right, because we know that the exhibit includes material from Phillis Wheatley, including her published work. We just want to know, how does her presence add to the story, and why was it important to you, Carrie, to include her voice in this exhibition? And again, how do you help visitors take away from encountering her work in this type of setting?
Carrie (19:12.146)
Phillis Wheatley, I knew right away, was going to play an important role, as I mentioned earlier about the vignette where she would be writing her poetry. She was an amazing poet, an amazing woman of letters, and she was also an activist. Her poems on George Washington and the Boston Massacre — I mean, they made her a target of the British Army. She could have been captured for the words she wrote, but she didn’t hesitate. She wrote these words. She had these feelings, this goal for liberty, in so many ways.
She pushed boundaries, and so many authors like her were pushing boundaries. People of color were writing things that were, you know, putting them at risk of capture and defying the king and doing all of these acts of defiance that really are the foundation of the American Revolution. And so it was so important to include her.
I had to borrow something for the exhibit to illustrate her. And so I was so set on getting a copy — an original copy — of her 1773 book of poetry that she wrote as a Black woman, which is absolutely amazing. And I’m so honored to be able to have that and to bring it and to show you. And so we have that on display from the American Antiquarian Society. And when you just look at that, that’s that book that she published. And it’s very touching to be able to see that and to bring her to life for people, to think she was a real woman.
I learned about her in high school many years ago, and so she stayed with me all my life — that this woman, how did she do this? It’s really amazing. And so then to finally now be able to see her original book of poetry is really exciting.
True (20:53.686)
I know, I can’t wait to see that. Just the guts that she had — like, I don’t know. Sometimes it makes me think, would I have had the strength and courage to just really be sincere and outspoken at the same time like that, and especially a woman of color during this time period?
So I really appreciated that you included her. And like you said, we’ve been hearing about her since high school and college, and then she kind of dropped off my radar. And then when I joined DAR, you’re reminded again of history right there in the making, and you’re bringing this into real time for us and bringing us back there.
There. Yeah.
Carrie (21:34.51)
You said it. You came back to her because she was always there in the back of your head. It’s this woman of incredible strength who is so representative. There were so many other women of color whose voices we don’t have, but who were also trying, trying their hardest for freedom. And so she is representative. It’s a lot to put on her shoulders, but she is a strong woman. Oh yes, I’m so glad.
True (22:00.098)
I know. I think that, again, for all women, when they’re out there hanging up the laundry or cooking over this hot kettle stove in the fire, you know, her words are probably going and resonating in all these little hollers and cities and communities. You know, it trickles down like you were saying earlier about the word, how it trickles down to us ordinary people.
So, you know, you’re bringing me back there and making me think about all of this. And I’m sure that our listeners and our Daughters, this is just going to be exciting.
Yeah.
Right. That’s great. Thank you.
True (22:39.318)
Yes. So including the Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence that was borrowed for this exhibition, and the materials again, like you were saying, from the American Antiquarian Society — hopefully I said that word correctly again — and that powder horn from Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. So how did these loans, my goodness, deepen the story that you were able to tell?
Carrie (23:04.618)
You know, whenever we do work on exhibits, often you have to think about loans because we don’t have everything to tell the stories that we need to tell, that we should be telling. So a book like Phillis Wheatley’s is a story we need to be telling, but we don’t have anything from her. So that was right at the top of my list.
I had originally wanted a copy of the Declaration of Independence that had been printed by Mary Katharine Goddard. And I contacted, several years ago, six institutions to try to borrow it, and nobody would allow it. They were either displaying it themselves or it wasn’t in good enough condition. She was a printer from Baltimore, and her name is the only woman’s name to appear on the Declaration of Independence. So I thought that would be great.
But the next opportunity came as the William Stone engraving. This engraving was printed in 1976, so only 50 years ago, on the original plate that William Stone had engraved using the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. So it was important to me to have something — a very important copy of the Declaration of Independence — because those are the founding words of all the words. Those are really important words. So I really wanted to include that, you know?
But then the powder horn — I was really trying to find objects that were three-dimensional that had words on them. And so the powder horn has wonderful engraved words on it — “liberty or death” and some other very, very highly patriotic things on it. So I wanted it not to be just all flat stuff, and to see that people used their words in so many different ways, also on three-dimensional things, not just paper.
I had wanted to borrow a reproduction after Dunmore’s Proclamation. The Virginia Gazette included an article about the Ethiopian Regiment and said that they were wearing shirts that had “Liberty to Slaves” painted on them. And a historian made one, and I tried to borrow that, but that didn’t work out either. But we have a great graphic of it. None exist, so it would have been just a reproduction, but we have it reproduced on the wall because these three-dimensional things, I think, really help break up your vision of the flat paper stuff.
Yeah, so the loans really helped deepen it in letting us tell stories that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to, and to give the exhibit more visual appeal.
Yes, it does.
True (25:33.71)
Good, good. So from a curatorial standpoint, I just wanted to know how bringing objects from DAR’s own collection alongside these materials from other institutions — how did that look to you, to bring those two together again?
Carrie (25:53.07)
And like I said before, it’s really important to try, when you’re trying to flesh out the stories you’re trying to tell in the exhibit, to find the best ways to tell them. And we don’t always have the things we need to do that. And so then you have to know what’s out there, too. You know, to find a powder horn, I had done research at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on their powder horns a few years ago because I’m curator of militaria and things like powder horns. And so I just wanted to check out their powder horns, and I saw this one and I never forgot about it because it had such great words on it.
So it’s important to know what’s out there to know how to make your stories more dynamic with things you have in your own collection and things you may want to borrow.
True (26:41.486)
Right. So a lot of those documents — well, you’ll explain to us how they undergo conservation before going on display. So can you just explain to us a little bit about that process and, of course, why does it matter so much in an exhibition like this? Like, for instance, the John Hancock letterbox from 1770.
Carrie (27:03.768)
Conservation is a very important aspect of the exhibition design process to consider because some things, and a lot of these documents, we could not display because they were in very bad shape. They were not stable. And so we had to assess them all beforehand and in plenty of time to have the conservation work done and then make sure they made it to the show on time.
So we started this last year, and I worked with a few conservators because we had so many documents, and since they had not been displayed before, a lot of them needed to be conserved. And the John Hancock letterbox — I found that early on in my research. It was in terrible shape because it was stored underground. It was buried underground when the British were occupying Boston. John Hancock had his man, Isaac Cazneau, hide things. And we have a portrait miniature of John Hancock that came with this letterbox, this collection, that says these are in bad shape because they were stored underground at this time.
And so we looked at that and said, there’s no way — the pieces were falling off. And so our collections manager, Anne Ruta, was able to find a great conservator, Anna Knaebe Schwartz, who specializes in letterboxes. She conserved the letterboxes of George Washington. So we thought, she’s going to know what she’s doing. And she absolutely did. And so thanks to her, this document box can be shown now and people can come and see it, and we don’t have to worry that pieces are going to fall off of it and it will lose its integrity.
And one of the other important items we had conserved was the John Binns copy of the Declaration of Independence. John Binns — yeah, it’s wonderful. He was a printer from Philadelphia and he wanted to be the first one to make a copy of the Declaration of Independence. He didn’t make it. Somebody beat him out. But his was by far the most elaborate, decorative, beautiful copy of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration, the words are in the center and it’s surrounded by the state seals and all the signatures, and it’s just beautifully done. It’s from 1819.
And ours was donated along with so many of these other items, I think in 2015 or 16, by a member. We are so grateful for that. It was in bad shape because it was 200 years old and it was dark brown and it had some areas of loss. And its conservator, Morgan Browning, did an amazing job cleaning it and restoring it, and it’s absolutely beautiful and it just shines in the exhibit, and we’re so thrilled to have it there.
True
Right. My goodness, I’m just so excited. Like, in a couple of weeks when I go and I can just be alone and have some personal time and just go through all of this after our conversation, it’s just going to be even more meaningful.
So, you know, this is years of research and planning and all this collaboration between museum teams and exhibition designers. So what has it meant to see all this work finally come to life in the gallery for you?
Carrie
I’ll tell you, it was emotional. That’s the primary word that comes to mind. And I did get a little teary-eyed when it was done. And I also got a little scared because, as I said before, this is a great responsibility to tell these stories. And I want to make sure that visitors get it and visitors feel these connections and find these connections in it and have a better understanding of the time. So it was emotional.
It was exhausting, you know, to go through having researched for probably three years and then to finally have it come to fruition and then hope that people enjoy it and get something out of it.
True
Right, I can understand that. Was there a part, when you saw all of that, what was that moment that truly felt real for you?
Carrie
You know, during the week of installation, they were putting up the graphics. We have a lot of graphics in this exhibit. Those were coming up and it still wasn’t real. But then toward the middle of the week, we closed the first vitrine, the first case. We put the lid on it and sealed it. And I’m like, wow, this is happening. And that closing of that first case, that is absolutely what did it.
I took a picture and I sent it to other staff members. I’m like, my gosh, the first case is closed. It’s really happening.
True
That was so sweet, Carrie. You know, when I was going over this and doing some research, I just kept thinking, I wonder what it was that just was so real. Because I know how when anyone goes through some of these personal accomplishments, it looks like it is on paper, but then when you’re there and feeling it and touching it and you’re going through all this process, I can’t even imagine what that felt like for you.
That way we all can appreciate all your hard work and your dedication for this. You know, I feel like this exhibit is a rare opportunity for both DAR members and the public. Carrie, do you have any closing words on the design of the exhibit?
Carrie
Yes. You know, we worked with a wonderful exhibition design team called Howard + Revis. And we started out working on the process last year, and I explained my ideas for this exhibit to them. And they really ran with it. And they understood immediately that it could be kind of boring. And so they understood that they needed to help make it lively.
And we worked together finding wonderful graphics that show great community scenes, people interacting with each other, people engaging. And they also created these wonderful silhouettes of people — soldiers, regular people, people in a tavern, women spinning, women doing their daily activities. And they just really bring this exhibit to life. When you look in, you kind of do a double take — is there a person in there? But there’s these silhouettes, and they really make you feel like you’re a part of a community when you’re in it.
So I was thrilled with their ability to take my ideas and turn them into something three-dimensional and interesting. And they were great guides to help me find the things that were needed, the pieces that were needed, to make this come to life.
True
Yes, I know. I mean, I don’t know. Can you tell us, how does this really feel for you that all this is coming to fruition like this and you have your final dream and destination now with this project?
Carrie
I’ll tell you, some days I think, uh-oh, what’s next? What do I have to work on next? It’s done. You know, it takes a minute for it to settle in that it’s done. And I’ve gone down to the exhibit a few times and just looked around and thought, wow, this is it. It’s finally done.
My father and my sister came to the opening, and I was just so happy they were there. And they loved it. They loved meeting everyone I work with, and they loved seeing the extraordinary collections of the DAR from the museum and the Americana archives.
So it’s just so thrilling to look at this and see that I get to work with these amazing documents and objects and staff members who help bring this to life. I just hope other people see this. I hope this brings more attention to the documents because people should know that the DAR has wonderful collections and has truly done the job of preservation of this incredible time period.
True (34:44.61)
I’m glad. I know our four founders would be so proud, and that’s what their intention was exactly with the conservation and preservation of things. And I’m thrilled for you all. I know a lot of times we say, well, what’s the next thing? But I feel like just sit in this for a while and just enjoy it. Don’t worry about what’s coming next. Just take the full effect of all that has happened with this exhibition.
And again, we are so proud of you and we’re so happy for you and your family and your colleagues and the museum and everyone involved. So thank you again.
Carrie
Thank you for such kind words. It truly means a lot coming from you. I really do appreciate that.
True
Carrie, it means a lot to me too, coming from you. So we’ll see you soon. And I know that we’ll probably have to have you back on again. And I hope you don’t mind if I have to ask you, because we’re in this season of America’s birthday.
Carrie (35:46.734)
This is our time. Yeah. Every minute counts, yeah.
Yes.
Yes, show up and show out.
Yes, I said.
Carrie (35:55.083)
Absolutely, I’ll be here for you.
speaker-0 (35:57.356)
Okay, thank you, Carrie.
Curator General our Liaison Mrs. Renee Pace (35:59.958)
As Curator General, it is my pleasure to be a part of the museum team and support the work of our curators and behind-the-scenes teammates as we bring meaningful exhibitions like Revolution in Their Words to life. This exhibit invites us to listen more closely to the people who lived through the Revolutionary era through their written words. It reminds us that history often becomes richer and more meaningful when we take advantage of the opportunity to put ourselves in their place, to imagine holding those military diaries, to see ourselves receiving letters from a loved one.
I am grateful for the scholarship, stewardship, and care, along with the leadership, that made this exhibition possible. And I know it will inspire Daughters and visitors alike to reflect more deeply on the legacy we share. Under the leadership of our President General and her theme, Illuminate Our Legacy, this exhibition represents a meaningful and timely effort to broaden our understanding of the people, voices, and experiences that shaped our nation.
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If this conversation has stirred your curiosity, make plans to visit the DAR Museum and experience Revolution in Their Words for yourself. This exhibit opened on March 27 of this year as part of the lead-up to America 250. And it offers a chance to encounter the Revolutionary era through the voices of the people who lived it — not only the celebrated, but also the overlooked.
Whether you’re a Daughter, a history lover, a teacher, a student, or just someone wanting to better understand the many layers of America’s founding, this exhibit is worth seeing. And as Daughters, this matters to us because Revolution in Their Words expands how we understand service, sacrifice, voice, and memory in the Revolutionary era.
And it reminds us that the story of America’s founding was not shaped only by the well-known names of history, but also by ordinary people whose lives, words, and experiences matter. This is a lived experience. So for chapter members in every state, this exhibit offers a powerful example of how we can look deeper, listen more carefully, and help tell a fuller American story.
And it also leaves us, Daughters, with an important question. And I want you all to think about this and go back to your chapters and your communities. What voices in your community’s Revolutionary story still need to be heard? What stories are waiting in those letters, local records, family papers, church histories, cemeteries, and your community’s memory?
What people have been present all along, but they weren’t always included in the telling? Right? So this is an invitation to you, to your chapters. Let this exhibit inspire local programming, meaningful conversations, plan a museum visit, host a reading circle using letters, diaries, or historical writings, or even a photo, because I know personally those can tell a thousand words and spark a story.
Organize Patriot research events. Make sure that you get your youth activities included in all of this, or just community conversations that connect the local history to the broader American story. So for America 250, this is our opportunity not only to remember the past, but to help illuminate it more fully, more honestly, and more completely for those who come after us.
Haley (39:50.126)
I’m Haley Lancaster, National Vice Chair and writer for the DAR Today Podcast, and I’m so happy to be bringing you the With the Chapter segment featuring Manor House Chapter of the Washington, D.C. Society.
Since 1986, the American Girl books have taught generations of students about different eras of American history, illuminating the ways that young people and girls have made important contributions to our country. And many women of a certain age, including myself, longed for or treasured the beautiful historical dolls that partnered with each book series.
Valerie Tripp wrote books for the characters of Samantha Parkington, Molly McIntire, Felicity Merriman, Josefina Montoya, and Kit Kittredge. In March, she was a guest of the Manor House Chapter and was recognized as a Woman in American History by the chapter. I’m joined today by Chapter Regent Arisa Damron.
So Arisa, you are a librarian by profession and trade. So can you tell our listeners why the American Girl books are so important to a generation of women?
Arissa ! (40:47.788)
I think the American Girl doll books came out at this really pivotal time in American history where girls were starting to really look to see themselves in stories. We weren’t just reading fiction books about characters, specifically boy characters. We wanted girls who reminded us of ourselves, but weren’t just mirrors, right? We wanted sliding-glass-door books as well.
So we would utilize these books. These came about around the same time as the Dear America books, or at least they got really popular around the same time with this resurgence. And they allowed women and girls a chance to get lost in history, to explore something that so often in textbooks felt like a boy thing, right? History was very full of boys and war and men doing stuff and famous inventors and men who did things.
And the American Girl books allowed girls to be the protagonists, allowed girls to be the heroes, but imperfect heroines nonetheless. They felt real. They felt like girls that we knew, girls that we were, girls that we went to school with, and girls that we aspired to be.
Haley (41:51.458)
So how did you make contact with Valerie and were able to get her to come in person to your chapter house?
Arisa (41:57.868)
Yeah, so this is one of those meeting programs that really shows me that no one thinks the way I think. My chapter loves American Girl doll books. It started a few years ago — and the dolls, obviously. It started a few years ago when I found a DVD of the four American Girl movies that had some really big names in them. There’s a Felicity movie, a Kit movie, a Samantha movie, and I found this DVD of all four and I was like, guys, we should have a movie night.
Then we had to find a DVD player. Then we enjoyed the Felicity night to start, and people came out. They brought their dolls. We dressed them up. We braided their hair. It was such a lovely night, and it really kicked off an American Girl renaissance in our chapter. We ended up having movie nights for all four nights. We read a book called Dolls of Our Lives that looks at the impact of American Girl dolls.
And so when I knew I was hosting the State Officers of the Laizer administration in their second year at the Manor House Chapter meeting, I really wanted a speaker that was kind of impressive, that was going to be interesting, but also that spoke to who Manor House was. We are currently the chapter — as of this recording — with the most juniors nationwide. We are a chapter that is vibrant and young and fun, but we still do what DAR asks us to do and rise to the occasion. And I think that really perfectly fits with the American Girl dolls.
So I reached out, as a millennial will do, on LinkedIn to Valerie Tripp. I had already been in contact with the woman who wrote the Addy books, Connie Porter, about something for a library task. And I was like, wait a minute, these are people too. I think we often forget that the people behind our favorite books and characters are people who would love to tell you about this thing that they worked on and put so much blood, sweat, and tears into.
And so I reached out on LinkedIn, and luckily heard back. I had also found her email via the Yale alumni directory. Valerie is also an alumna of Yale, which is also my alma mater, and it’s in the alumni directory. And she was in there, and that’s — you know — I reached out on LinkedIn, and then when I was cross-checking in the Yale alumni directory, I realized she was local to the DMV area. So that allowed us to kind of amend our ask and say, hey, you know, we always have hybrid meetings. We are happy to have you via Zoom. It’s 7 p.m. on a Tuesday. Put on your pajamas, totally understand.
But if you wanted to make a little drive, we would love to host you with some DAR china. And luckily she was able to make it.
Haley (44:27.916)
Wonderful. So I had the pleasure of being able to listen in on Zoom for your meeting, so thank you so much for having me. But I know what my favorite moment was. What was your favorite anecdote that Valerie shared that night?
Arissa
I think hearing her talk about the origin of the American Girl dolls. I’m 30, so I was not there in the ‘80s, and I didn’t actually have my own American Girl doll growing up. I grew up with the books, but not the dolls. And so hearing her kind of talk about her role in this original germination, right? These stories and these dolls really blossomed hand in hand with each other, right? They knew it wasn’t just that we were going to have a doll with a backstory. They knew that books and fiction and stories about these characters were an integral part of that experience.
And as a librarian who obviously loves books and stories, I think that was the most interesting part for me, was hearing kind of her research projects, going to Williamsburg, how they fully envisioned these dolls and these stories as characters, not things to sell, but characters for the girls to connect to. And I think that’s why 30, 35 years later, we’re all still interested in caring about and talking about these dolls and these characters.
Haley (45:38.424)
So you also recognized her with the Women in American History Award. And for our listeners who do not know, this comes from the American History Committee that asks for chapters to find a woman to honor by taking into consideration women who have made a contribution or a difference in their communities. These could be women who are historical figures or people who are currently alive and worthy of recognition. And women should be recognized for intellectual, educational, social, religious, political, scientific, or cultural innovations or contributions. And it can be DAR members or non-members.
So what makes Valerie a perfect fit for this honor?
Arissa
Personally, I love looking at authors as not only program speakers, but award honorees. Authors not only are interesting people in their own right, but what they do with their skills, with their talents, with their time, really can change our culture. Valerie Tripp is a great example of that.
She is not someone who has won a Pulitzer Prize or any of these big awards, but her books have impacted more girls than any Pulitzer Prize winner. I will bet you that. Her books have a wide reach, were circulated in every library in this country, right? And I think have also impacted a generation of girls not only to be writers and readers, but also to be history makers themselves, to do the brave thing, to go out of their way and try something new.
She’s also probably shaped a generation of historians — women who went and got master’s degrees in history or PhDs in history because they really loved learning about a period through these American Girl books. Valerie is also a Yale graduate of the first coeducational class at Yale. So Yale did not allow women in until 1969. Valerie enrolled in that first year and was a 1973 graduate of Yale University.
So not only is she someone who has shaped girlhood for so many of us, her own girlhood was shaped by being the sort of trailblazer in the first coed class at Yale. And I think those really go hand in hand. As a Yalie, I often talk to people about, you know, we have lots of Yalies who become president and do great things. And we also have Yalies who impact thousands and millions of girls. And Valerie is one of those people, right? Valerie’s impact through these books is more than half of her Yale graduates alongside her — the people who go into consulting, who go into government, things like that. Awesome. Great. She wrote a children’s book series that has shaped generations.
Haley
And I’m, you know, as I said before, I’m one of those girls who treasured my doll. I got a Samantha, and then I was there when Felicity was announced. And by then I was already a C.A.R. kid, so I was so excited and thought, that’s my jam. And I know that if I was there, I would have been there with my dolls as well, because even at my ripe age, I have no shame in getting out my dolls and having fun.
So what was it like to be in that room with all those books and all those dolls and the woman herself?
Arissa
It was so quintessentially Manor House in that we’re coming in with brownies and a couple babies and toddlers and dolls and books. And it just felt really energetic. Our chapter house is pretty small, if you’ve ever been in D.C., but it was so alive.
I think the way — so Valerie came in person, and not everyone who was coming in person knew that she was going to be there in person. You don’t want to jinx it. You don’t want to make it weird. You want to make sure everyone’s comfortable. And you could feel the energy in the room really shift when this woman they didn’t know came in, and this murmur slowly got around of like, that’s her, that’s her, that’s her. And people were really shy at first, like, how do I approach this person? Because she feels like a celebrity to us, right?
This is a woman who just drove in her car to come visit us at the Chapter House and took the elevator like the rest of us. But she feels like a celebrity to us, right? She’s someone you would see walking on the street who just looks like another woman of her age. But in our building, right, she is a celebrity. She is our program speaker. She is someone we are all excited to see.
It was really great. She agreed to sign books. She signed someone’s Felicity doll on the foot, which was really cute. It was so fun. I went out of my way a couple of weeks ago — I was in an area with a lot of Half Price Books — and I knew with so little notice, people might not have the chance to get their stuff from home, especially D.C. is a very transient city. Not everyone has their childhood book collection accessible. So I went around and I got about a dozen, two dozen, of the American Girl books that Valerie had written to give to people who were attending so they could get those books signed.
And everyone lined up and took their time. And she took time with each and every one of them, signing their books, talking to them about their memories, taking pictures with their dolls. It was just a really lovely way to sort of end the night, end the day, end the week, end any time. And it was going to be one of those memories I cherish as Regent.
Haley I think that this was a really great opportunity to show what can happen when you just ask. And it was really great to see how excited and reinvigorated your chapter was. And I think that’s inspiring for other chapters to see what’s possible.
Arissa
Absolutely. I, as a former Vice Regent, love picking a program speaker. I think it’s a really exciting opportunity to show new people to your chapter, introduce new ideas and concepts, introduce new nonprofits they might like to work with. And authors make amazing program speakers. They are the author of a book. They would love to talk to you about it, I promise.
Haley
Thank you so much, Arisa, and to the Manor House Chapter for your work. To learn more about the Women in American History recognition, visit the American History Committee page. There you can see a complete list of all women honored. Consider how your chapter can illuminate a woman whose story deserves light and recognition.
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The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a nonprofit, nonpolitical service organization open to women 18 years and older who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. Founded in 1890, the Society is dedicated to three timeless pillars: historic preservation, education, and patriotism.
Since then, more than one million women have discovered purpose, passion, and community through DAR membership. Our Daughters come from diverse backgrounds and walks of life, yet we all share a common bond: a direct connection to an ancestor who contributed to securing the independence of the United States of America.
Again, membership is open to all women, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can trace and prove their lineage to a patriot of the American Revolution. Together, we honor our past, serve our communities, and illuminate our legacy for future generations. For more information about joining the DAR, go to dar.org.
You’ve been listening to the DAR Today Podcast. As we continue to illuminate our legacy in America 250, may we keep making room for the stories, voices, and truths that broaden our understanding of the past.
This episode is a special tribute to our very own Curator General, our liaison, Mrs. Renee Pace, and to Ms. Carrie Blough, whose work on Revolution in Their Words helps us hear the past with greater clarity and compassion. We just want to thank you both for the way you steward history so thoughtfully.
Our special guests for our segment “What Are Chapters Doing?” — April of Manor House Chapter in Washington, D.C. And especially to my National Vice Chairs, thank you for your steady support and faithful work behind the scenes.
We also want to thank our President General, Mrs. Storage, for her continued support and encouragement of this work. Her vision helps make space for stories like these to be shared and for the DAR Today Podcast to continue highlighting the people, our programs, and purpose that connect us to our mission and to America 250. Thank you for your leadership and for believing in the power of this platform.
Until next time, keep listening for the voices that history is still revealing.