The NSCDA in Washington is chartered to support the preservation of historic documents, artifacts, and buildings related to the early history of our nation.

This work is conducted by the Society’s Historical Activities Committee. Over the years, we have supported the preservation of several colonial-era letters from the nation’s founders and documentation of privately-owned historic portraits from the Colonial period.  The society professionally scanned early documents relating to the formation of the Washington Society in the Spring of 1910 and included the Articles of Incorporation, the State of Washington Certificate of Incorporation dated 7 April 1910.

Several years ago, a bequest from a Washington Dames made possible a new program: grants awarded to historic preservation projects undertaken by organizations invited to submit applications. Those awards have included support for historic homes (including the Pickett house in Bellingham, the Donald and Gilbert houses in Yakima, and the Schmidt house in Olympia), a historic Lighthouse on the Olympic Peninsula, document preservation at Spokane’s Museum of Arts and Culture, underwriting for conferences on the Centennial of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, barn preservation, and “Main Street” outreach in historic downtowns in Washington.  Additional grants were given to the Hartline School Preservation Assoc. to repair the entry doors, the Fort Nisqually Foundation to create a Family Activities Area, the Steamer Virginia V Foundation to repair and restore the cabin eyebrow, the Kitsap Historical Society Museum and Spokane Valley Historical Museum to purchase textile boxes for preserving clothing and quilts.