30.62 cu. ft. (8 record storage boxes) (43 document boxes) (1 12x17 box) (1 16x20 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1926-1988
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These records consist principally of incoming and outgoing correspondence of the Society's secretaries, 1926-1973, and manuscripts of notes and articles submitted to
Copeia, 1962-1967. Records of the treasurer and publications secretary are present to a lesser degree. Most of the material deals with some aspect of the publication of Copeia,
with occasional references to other aspects of Society business. The Society's early history, as well as the records of officers not directly responsible for production of
Copeia, are scanty or absent from this collection.
Historical Note:
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) promotes the study of its component disciplines. This objective is accomplished chiefly through publication
of the Society's journal Copeia. The Society has also long been active in the fields of ecology and conservation. The Society traces its origins to the publication
on December 27, 1913, of Copeia, No. 1. The publishers of this first Copeia were Henry W. Fowler, Dwight Franklin, and John T. Nichols, scholars at the American
Museum of Natural History in New York and at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The founders of Copeia regarded it as a means of advancing the study of
cold-blooded vertebrates and as a vehicle for publishing short notes in their areas of interest. By 1916 more than 30 numbers of Copeia had appeared. In that year the
Society was formally organized as an unincorporated association at a meeting at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and, in 1949, as a corporation located in
the District of Columbia. The Society has met annually since 1916, except during World War II. Affairs of the Society are administered by its elected officers, an executive
committee, and a board of governors, all elected as provided by the Society's constitution.
