DC History Center
801 K Street Northwest
Washington, DC
Thursday-Friday, 12pm-7pm
Saturday-Sunday, 12pm-6pm
Founded in 1894, the DC History Center deepens understanding of our city's past to connect, empower, and inspire. As the only community-based nonprofit focused on the District’s history, our vision is to reach into all eight wards to preserve and elevate the stories of Washington's diverse people, neighborhoods, and institutions.
Following the success of the pilot Who Lives Here—a three-part video series for TikTok and Instagram highlighting the historic Black women-owned properties of LeDroit Park—the DC History Center and Briana Thomas are excited to announce the continuation of the impactful and educational series. The second season of Who Lives Here features four new episodes …
Continue reading ““Who Lives Here: A Case for Equal Space” Video Series”
It began with an idea, and became a force. For 50 years, what started as the First Annual Conference on D.C. Historical Studies has been a volunteer-run, community-driven annual event that has grown from a one-day series of presentations in 1974, to a three-day meeting of the minds in 2024. From the first few conferences …
Continue reading “Whence We Came: A Glance Back at 50 Years of DC History Conferences”
The DC History Center is excited to welcome Dania M. Jolley and Frank Leone to its Board of Trustees. Dania M. Jolley brings a wealth of experience as the Deputy Chief of Staff and Cultural Affairs at Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for Washington, DC. Events DC is tasked with generating economic and …
Continue reading “The DC History Center Board of Trustees Welcomes Dania Jolley and Frank Leone”
Join the DC History Center and The People’s Archive for a history book talk with Gregg Hecimovich, about “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts." “For an enslaved person, the fact that she could read and write was extraordinary. That she had escaped with a manuscript in her suitcase is astonishing.” In 2002, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. shocked the literary world with “The Bondwoman’s Narrative,” a 301-page novel written—he claimed—by a formerly enslaved woman: Hannah Crafts. But who was Hannah Crafts, really? How had she...
As a private, nonprofit organization, the DC History Center relies on generous gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations to support our mission. In times of upheaval and uncertainty, we rely on history to guide us.
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At the DC History Center, we tell the diverse stories of our nation’s capital to a broad community of learners. We seek to bring people together to satisfy their curiosity, learn each other’s stories, and develop respect for the larger community in which we live.