The Daughters of the American Revolution

The DAR Building (the place where they would not let Marion Anderson sing) is always pointed out by the tour guides heading down 17th Street from the White House towards the monuments. And those of us who were in Washington before the completion of the Kennedy Center in the early 1970s remember DAR Constitution Hall as the home of the National Symphony Orchestra.

But who goes there today? Well, today (literally), I went there, to see the free DAR Museum.

I have the following to report.

First, I find the building itself downright spooky. None of the rooms are the right size, nothing is decorated properly, the halls are too narrow and don't go anywhere, the elegant stair case is hidden away. I have all sorts of complaints.

Including the weird inhabitants, who are largely middle aged women, modestly dressed, with 1950s hair styles, who have diagonal sashes in various colors, and a bunch of pins on their dresses, as if they were proud Russian communists.

Putting that aside, the museum (if you can get over its extraordinarily poor layout) has something to offer. First, there is only one large room, which contains three major things: First, a large collection of pottery and glassware from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, that is very interesting. Pieces are numbered, and then briefly identified in looseleaf books, not with wall signage.

The pottery/ceramic collection, for example, is divided into the following sections, with the guidebooks giving general information on ingredients and process: Tin glazed earthenware, white salt glazed stoneware, agate ware, dry based stoneware (that's the blue and green Wedgewood we are so familiar with), colored glazed ware, creamware, Chinese export porcelin and American and continenal porcelin.

In addition to this collection, there are some period furniture pieces and a collection of late 18th and early 19th century quilts, samplers and bedcoverings.

Then there are the period rooms, sponsored by several of the states and the District of Columbia. Although they are scattered about down meandering hallways, and themselves not well lit, they are of interest to those who have interest in such things. I think.

Finally, there is a very large and attractive library which concentrates in geneological material (several hundred thousand books alone), that is open to the public for a $6 a day fee.