Carol brought together people involved with books, inspiring them with a sense of common purpose.  By January 1979, the chapter enjoyed 82 members.  Insightful about the workings of a volunteer organization, Carol served only a single year as president before passing the torch. She understood that to remain viable, the chapter needed to stand on its own..

The inclusion of Baltimore posed some challenges. In the early days, programs were paired, held in both cities.  This proved to be a drain on the board’s energies, so in the mid-80’s Mary Berghaus Levering, President 1984-1988, allowed the Baltimore programs to lapse, and resuscitated membership in Washington.  She encouraged co-sponsorship of programs as a means of increasing WNBA’s reach as well as enhancing the contacts members could make.  Mary also instituted networking brunches and oversaw the founding of Signature, a newsletter to inform members about programs and other events of interest, from that pre-email era.

Over the years WNBA-DC held stellar programs, including co-hosting with Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) an evening with Azar Nafisi in conversation with Jackie Leyden of NPR.  We’ve offered programs on such current topics as self-publishing, publicity and promotion in the internet era, copyright issues, and blogging.

In 2025, the DC Chapter expanded to include Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, and Philadelphia as the Mid-Atlantic Chapter.