The DVAA has a long and illustrious history dating back to July 1976 when the club was formed by Bill Shuman, Don Parker, Steve Mairoto and Donna Shuman out of the defunct pieces of the club’s progenitor: The Association of General Celestial Observers (AGCO).

In the years since the DVAA has had a storied existence; thousands of group and individual observing sessions, more than 200 Astronomical League awards, visits to all sorts of interesting places—observatories, planetariums, dark-sky sites, museums and more; on five different continents—some 500 General Meetings, eclipses marveled at on land, sea and air, myriad star parties, countless Messier Meetings and Solar Saturdays, hundreds of top-notch talks given by both professional and amateur speakers, science performed, papers written, professionals worked with, ideas shared, questions asked, education given, lifelong friends made, the wonder and majesty of astronomy shared with countless thousands, a community well served.