Samuel Doak Chapter NSDAR to Digitize 102 Years of Records

L/R – Virginia Anderson, Gwen Blair, Gloria Beauchamp, Regent; Jane Hersch, Chairman of the Archives Committee, and member Sheila Rice – Photo submitted

The Samuel Doak Chapter NSDAR, in Morristown, Tennessee, has undertaken a project to digitize all 102 years of its records. This will include all applications, yearbooks, minutes, scrapbooks, and other items. The project is expected to take several years. To this end, the chapter formed a Heritage Committee consisting of Virginia Anderson, Gwen Blair, and Jane Hersch, Chairman.

The first item to copy was our charter dated January 11, 1911, which was badly faded and in danger of additional deterioration. To the delight of the Heritage Committee, Carolyn Rice Dean of Rice Dean Graphics of Morristown, daughter of member Sheila Rice, had made a digital copy which she had restored and graciously shared. Now the original is stored in an archival sleeve and the digital copy is stored off-site with our applications.

Our applications have been sorted by decade and alphabetized by member’s name. With the use of a digital camera, each application is photographed and placed in a computer file. A finding aid which accompanies the applications contains the member’s name, national number, date of approval, ancestor, and a link to the application. So far, the Committee has completed the decade 1910-1919, which contains 144 applications and supplements – all in “interesting” handwriting. The DAR Members Only site has been most helpful in deciphering names. These early applications read like a “who’s who” of early Tennessee history, including Doak, Sevier, Cobb, White, Ramsey, McClung, Cocke, Holston, Blount, and Donaldson – to name a few. Who knows what the following decades will reveal.