The national headquarters is Dumbarton House in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Edith Laurencin is the acting director since Carol Cadou's departure.

The organization was founded in 1891, shortly after the founding of a similar society, the Colonial Dames of America (CDA), which was created to have a centrally organized structure under the control of the parent Society in New York City.

The NSCDA was intended as a federation of State Societies in which each unit had a degree of autonomy.

Organized following the United States Centennial of 1876 and a Centennial of the US Constitution in New York in 1889, the NSCDA has worked in historic preservation, restoration and the interpretation of historic sites since its New York Society first undertook the preservation of the Van Cortlandt House in 1897.

In addition to its activities in museum work, the Society sponsors scholarship programs and other historic preservation, patriotic service and educational projects.