About CDA
Our History
In 1904, an early member of our society, Julia Delafield, described the origins of the Colonial Dames: “The founding of the Society was very natural and simple. In April, 1890, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer and Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner were spending the day with Mrs. Archibald Gracie King at her home at Weehawken; after luncheon, when walking on the Bluff, near the spot where General Hamilton fell in the fatal duel, Mrs. Van Rensselaer said: ‘Let us found a patriotic society of women, descended from Colonial ancestry.’.
May 23, 1890
May 23, 1890
First Women's Colonial Lineage Society
Our Foundation
Shortly after Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, and Mrs. Archibald Gracie King walk the historic Weehawken Bluff and propose founding “a patriotic society of women descended from Colonial ancestry,” The Colonial Dames of America is officially organized on May 23, 1890, and then incorporated on April 13, 1891.
1892
1892
Designed by Tiffany & Co.
Our Insignia
The CDA insignia is designed by Tiffany & Co., helping to establish the Society’s distinctive identity. The CDA badge was based off the seal adopted in 1892, showing a “Colonial Dame” plus the words “The Colonial Dames of America” and its motto “Colere Coloniarum Gloriam,” which translates from Latin as “to preserve the ideals of the Colonies.”
1894
1894
Rare books & bookplate
Historic Collections
The CDA Bookplate, designed by founder Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, is now part of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s collection. Since its earliest days, CDA has built a distinguished collection of historic and rare books and undertaken important publishing projects. Between 1898 and 1902, the Society compiled and released the five-volume “Letters to Washington, and Accompanying Papers”—the first published collection of correspondence written to George Washington.
1892-1898
1892-1898
The Society expands
New Chapters Form
In 1892, Chapter I - Baltimore is established, marking the Society’s first official expansion beyond New York. Chapter II is then chartered in Philadelphia in 1895, followed by Chapter III in Washington D.C in 1898. Each of these early chapters have helped preserve and support notable historic sites, including Hampton National Historic Site, Lemon Hill, the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, the Abner Cloud House, and the George Wythe House in Williamburg.
1901
1901
Continued expansion internationally
The Society Grows Overseas
CDA officially becomes an international organization with the founding of Chapter IV - Paris in 1901, later followed by Chapter X - Rome (1930) and Chapter XI - London (1930). These international chapters have preserved American history abroad, with projects including the Arboretum at the Franco-American museum of Blerancourt, the American Library in Paris, the replica construction of Lafayette's frigate L'Hermione, the Old Protestant Burying Ground in Rome, the Mount Vernon Garden at Claverton Manor, the American Museum in Bath, Sulgrave Manor (ancestral home of the Washington family), and Benjamin Franklin's London home.
1924
1924
Establishing CDA Headquarters
Saving a Historic Building
CDA purchases its first official headquarters building, saving a building constructed in 1799. It was originally built as a carriage house, and later converted into a day hotel in 1826—catering to city dwellers seeking fresh air and leisure just beyond the urban center. After passing through different families for several decades, the building was purchased by Standard Gas Light Company (today’s Con Edison) in 1905 to house the caretakers of the large storage drums erected behind the house. Today, the old carriage house is one of the oldest remaining buildings left in Manhattan, thanks to its preservation by The Colonial Dames of America.
1939
1939
Opening to the Public
Museum Debuts
After extensive restoration, the headquarters building opens to the public as the Abigail Adams Smith Museum, just in time for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The museum was originally named in honor of Abigail “Nabby” Adams Smith, who with her husband, Colonel William Stephens Smith, owned the land in 1795 on which the carriage house was later built. Renamed the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum in 2000, the museum interprets the building's time as a day hotel in the 1820s-1830s - the last surviving day hotel in New York City.
1951-1954
1951-1954
Book Awards + Hearst Fellows
Scholarly Initiatives
In 1951, the Society established a book award program. Each year, CDA's Book Award Committee reviews books of merit that chronicle American history, life, and material culture and bestows an Annual Award, in addition to a Citation to a second well-received book and a Young Readers Award. Past winners include David McCullough, Ron Chernow, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Thomas Fleming, and others. Also in the 1950s began the Hearst Fellowship, funded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Since 1954, two Fellows complete a research and writing fellowship related to the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum’s interpretation of New York life (1826-1833) and present their research at an annual symposium.
1960s-1970s
1960s-1970s
Historic designations & garden design
Society Expansion
In 1967, the building next door to the museum was purchased, expanding the full headquarters “campus” to include the museum, the Society’s offices, the Abigail Adams Smith Ballroom, and the adjoining 18th-century gardens. The museum building itself was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967. It was then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The following year, the Dames hired Alice Recknagel Ireys, a renowned landscape architect, to redesign the gardens into a recreation of a 19th-century garden. CDA continues its support of notable historic preservation projects, including donating objects for the 1962 White House Restoration under First Lady Jackie Kennedy. By the end of the 1970s, CDA had nineteen chapters across the U.S. and in Europe.
2025 and Beyond
2025 and Beyond
A Joyful Mission