VSDC History
Celebrating 100 years in 2027
We hope you will enjoy reading about the history of VSDC and browsing through our old newsletters, programs, and flyers. We are proud to say that our archival materials, including these, have a permanent home in The Library of Congress.
History of the Vegetarian Society of the District of Columbia by Keith Akers 1927-1984
The history of the Vegetarian Society of the District of Columbia divides itself into two parts: before Madge and after Madge. As I understand it, Madge Darneille first attended a VSDC meeting around 1968, though it consisted of quite elderly people and she wasn't much interested.
VSDC Thanksgivings
Since 1974, VSDC has held an annual Thanksgiving celebration, usually on Thanksgiving Day. You can browse through some of the old programs and check out a list of speakers. The celebration started off as a potluck in a church basement and has evolved into a gourmet banquet with more than 300 attendees. Along the way, it has been held in a variety of venues including on a boat cruising the Potomac River and virtually on Zoom.
VSDC Newsletter Archive
We have been able to assemble a fairly complete set of VSDC Newsletters dating back to 1984. We hope you'll enjoying looking through them to see the growth and evolution of the vegetarian and vegan movement in Washington DC area.
VSDC Historical Gallery
We hope you'll enjoy browsing through a variety of VSDC documents that we have assembled that help illustrate the history of the longest running veg organization in the United States.
