| Quantity: | 7 boxes (ca. 2.0 cubic ft.) |
|---|---|
| Access: | Open to research |
| Acquisition: | Deposit: New York State Department, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, July 1957; accretion received from Mary Cordato, New York State Department, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, September 2014 |
| Processed By: | Manuscripts & Special Collections, October 2010; revised Michelle Fernandez, Student Assistant, State University of New York at Albany, August 2015 |
The Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW) is a fraternal organization composed of women who are direct descendants of Union Army veterans of the United States Civil War. Chartered in 1885 as the "The National Alliance of the Daughters of Veterans of the United States of America" in Massillon, Ohio, membership in the organization is limited to daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of any generation through lineal descent only, with a minimum qualifying membership age of 8 years. Prospective members are required to provide a complete record of their ancestor(s) military service in order to qualify.
The National Organization consists of all the Departments, Tents, Detached Tents, and Members-At-Large. Local groups, called Tents, are named for notable women of the Civil War era, such as army nurses who served in the Civil War or others whose patriotic deeds during the years 1861 – 1865 were recorded. In states with less than three Tents, the Tents are termed "Detached." When a state has three or more Tents, they become organized under a State Department. The New York Department of the DUVCW was established in 1893 in Binghamton, New York.
Among the organization's stated goals, as written in its By-Laws, is to "perpetuate the memories of our Fathers, their loyalty to the Union and their unselfish sacrifices for the preservation of the same, and to keep alive the history of those who participated in that heroic struggle for the maintenance of our free government." Activities include promoting the study of American history, particularly that of the Civil War era, advocating for the preservation of monuments, historic sites and records, and public observance and commemoration of various holidays and events. The National Organization of the DUVCW also provides the Grand Army of the Republic Living Memorial Scholarship to eligible college students who descend from a member of the Union Army.
The records consist of minutes of conventions (1912-1928); ritual books detailing various ceremonial activities; published constitutions; and membership record books containing biographical and genealogical information on members. The membership record books are from New York communities across the state, from Long Island to Western New York.
The ritual books include floor plans and details related to conducting meetings, ceremonies for installation of officers, proper display of flags, and funeral ceremonies.
The membership record books consist of one-page forms with the member's name, age, place of birth, place member lived at time of initiation, and date of initiation. Also included is military service information on the member's father: date he entered the military, his rank, the company and regiment in which he served, his rank at the time of his discharge and the reason for his discharge. Some forms are more complete than others. The initiation dates range from the mid-1910s through the mid-1940s. The forms in the membership record books of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, U.S.A., differ slightly from those in the books of the National Alliance Daughters of Veterans, U.S.A. (The DUV books provide space for listing members' grandfathers.) Eight of the ten books are indexed; the Kenmore and Oxford books are not.
The 2015 accretion adds significant material and extends the date range of the existing material well into the 21st century. Among the additional materials are both national and state rosters, constitutional documents, by-laws and history. Credentials of individual members and officers are included on forms filled out by hand, as well as New York Department convention journals spanning 1967-2013.
Also in the accretion are handwritten reports from State Department and local Tent historians and presidents, which provide detailed accounts of the organization's activities from the years 1959-1995. Handwritten ledgers of commissions and dispensations provide detailed financial information between the years of 1938-1977.
The following items from this record series were removed and cataloged separately: Journal of the ... Annual Convention of the New York Department, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 25 volumes (1925, 1927-1944, 1946-1951), J,369.16,D238,86-23070, and Journal of the ... National Convention of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 32 volumes (1918, 1920-1944, 1946-1951), C,369.15,N277,91-12441.
| Box | Volume | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Organizational Records, 1935-1953 (printed documents) | ||
| 1 | 1 | Ritual of the Daughters of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1935) |
| 1 | 2 | Ritual of the Daughters of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1953) |
| 1 | 3 | Constitution of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1934) |
| 1 | 4 | Constitution of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1937) |
| 1 | 5 | Constitution of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1941) |
| 1 | 6 | Constitution of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 ([Massillon, Ohio?], s.p., 1944) |
| Minute Books, 1912-1928 (manuscript) | ||
| 1 | 7 | Minutes of Convention: 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 |
| 1 | 8 | Minutes of Convention: 1918, 1919, 1920 |
| 1 | 9 | Minutes of Convention: 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 |
| 1 | 10 | Convention Records for 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928 |
| National Alliance Daughters of Veterans, U.S.A., Membership Record Books, ca. 1921-1939 (manuscript) | ||
| 2 | 1 | Abigail Remington Flagler Tent No. 12, Lockport, N.Y., ca. 1921-1935 (Includes "transfer cards" for three women) |
| 2 | 2 | Lucretia Garfield Tent No. 32 [30?], Albion, N.Y., ca. 1916-1938 |
| 2 | 3 | Jenny Wade Tent No. 34, Rome, N.Y., ca. 1920s |
| 2 | 4 | Virginia Grosvenor Stevens Tent No. 52, Dunkirk, N.Y., ca. 1921-1938 |
| 2 | 5 | Isidore Van Annam [Arnam?] McVey Tent No. 59, Franklinville, N.Y., 1923-1939 |
| Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, U.S.A., Membership Record Books, ca. 1926-1945 (manuscript) | ||
| 3 | 1 | Lavinia H. Chase Tent No. 76, Palmyra, N.Y., ca. 1926-1939 |
| 3 | 2 | Celia Dewey Seamans Tent No. 79, Pulaski, N.Y., ca. 1926-1945 |
| 3 | 3 | [Anna G. Maxwell] Tent No. 87, Oxford, N.Y. , ca. 1930s |
| 3 | 4 | [Mary A. Safford] Tent No. 103, Edmeston, N.Y., ca. 1930s |
| 3 | 5 | Helen Brainard Cole Tent No. 104, Kenmore, N.Y., ca. 1934-1941 |
| Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, New York Department, Accretion | ||
| Foundational Documents and Membership Rosters (printed documents) | ||
| 4 | 1 | Constitution of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1921-1961 |
| 4 | 2 | History of New York Department, 1893-2005 |
| 4 | 3 | New York Department Roster, 1951-1960 |
| 4 | 4 | New York Department Roster, 1960-1967 |
| 4 | 5 | New York Department Roster, 1967-1974 |
| 4 | 6 | New York Department Roster, 1974-2003 |
| 4 | 7 | National Roster, 1960-1968 |
| 4 | 8 | National Roster, 1969-1979 |
| 4 | 9 | National Roster, 1980-1988 |
| 5 | 1 | National Roster, 1988-1997 |
| 5 | 2 | National Roster, 1998-2003 |
| 5 | 3 | Misc. List of Civil War Daughters (typed with handwritten notes) Federal Flag Code, 1976 |
| National and Local By-Laws and Procedures (printed documents) | ||
| 5 | 4 | New York Department By-Laws, 1930-1977 |
| 5 | 5 | Lecture on Ritual and Floor Work, 1940 |
| 5 | 6 | National Department General Orders, 1965-1975 |
| 5 | 7 | Constitution and By-Laws, 1983-1984 |
| 5 | 8 | New York Department By-Laws, 2004-2011 |
| 5 | 9 | New York By-Laws by District (1-8) |
| 5 | Loose in Box | Journal of the One-Hundred Twelfth National Convention, 2002 |
| Notes and Reports | ||
| 6 | 1 | Listings of Personnel, Officers, and Relevant News Clippings, 1924-1950 (looseleaf notebook) |
| 6 | 2 | Dispensations Issued, 1938-1977 (composition notebook) |
| 6 | 3 | Commissions, 1939-1975 (bound notebook) |
| 6 | 4 | Department Historian Reports, 1954-1963 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 5 | Tent Historian Reports, 1959-1970 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 6 | Tent Historian Reports, 1971-1980 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 7 | List of Delegates and Officers, 1960-1984 (looseleaf notebook) |
| 6 | 8 | Credentials of Members, 1963-1968 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 9 | Credentials of Members, 1969-1971 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 10 | Credentials of Members, 1973-1977 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 11 | Department Presidents Reports, 1966-1979 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 12 | Department Secretary Reports, 1968-1971 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 13 | Tent President Reports, 1972-1995 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 14 | Relief Committee Reports, 1975-1989 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 15 | Report of Installing Officer, 1975-1991 (handwritten on printed forms) |
| 6 | 16 | Living Memorial Scholarship Fund Guidelines, 1976 (printed documents) |
| 6 | 17 | IRS Forms, Notice of Employer Identification Number (printed documents) |
| Convention Journals (printed documents) | ||
| 7 | 1 | New York Convention Journals, 1967-1976 |
| 7 | 2 | New York Convention Journals, 1977-1980 |
| 7 | 3 | New York Convention Journals, 1981-1984 |
| 7 | 4 | New York Convention Journals, 1989 |
| 7 | 5 | New York Convention Journals, 1995-2003 |
| 7 | 6 | New York Convention Journals, 2004-2011 |
| 7 | 7 | New York Convention Journals, 2012 |
| 7 | 8 | New York Convention Journals, 2013 |