39.5 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (77 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1948, 1954-1994
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These records include correspondence, documents, and committee records documenting the operations of the Society, its officers, and committees, as well as dealings
with organizations in related scholarly disciplines and various learned societies. The collection also contains a photograph collection and some memorabilia of various officers
and committees. A complete set of newsletters is included, as are spreadsheets and database compilations done by Society historians listing all the individuals who contributed
much time and effort to the workings of the Society from 1956 to 1990.
Historical Note:
The Animal Behavior Society was formally established as an independent organization during the 1964 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) in Montreal, Canada, although its earliest records date from the work of predecessor organizations, beginning in 1948. The Society was an outgrowth of the Section
of Animal Behavior and Sociobiology (established in 1956) of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), and the Division of Animal Behavior (established in 1958) of the American
Society of Zoologists (ASZ). They in turn stemmed from the ad hoc Committee for the Study of Animal Societies Under Natural Conditions (CSASUNC) organized by John Paul Scott
and colleagues (1947) following a postwar (1946) Bar Harbor conference on Genetics and Social Behavior, supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
With the establishment of the Section of Animal Behavior and Sociobiology (SOABS) within the ESA, the eventual development into the Animal Behavior Society was virtually
assured. The Section issued newsletters to its members on a regular basis, replacing occasional newsletters distributed by CSASUNC.
In 1958, the Division of Animal Behavior (DAB) was established within the ASZ. The ASZ Division and the ESA Section functioned as a single entity, with overlapping membership,
a common set of by-laws, and a single slate of officers. The joint DAB/SOABS organization then joined forces, in 1958, with the British Association for the Study of Animal
Behaviour to sponsor the journal, Animal Behaviour. David E. Davis was named American associate editor. Archives of the journal are not included in this collection;
instead they are maintained at the University of Akron, Ohio.
By 1963-1964, it was clearly time to consider the establishment of a new and completely independent society. The final steps were taken at the winter (1964) AAAS meeting
in Montreal, Canada; and the Animal Behavior Society was formally created.
