American Anthropological Association
learned society
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological (or physical) anthropologists, linguistic anthropologists, linguists, medical anthropologists and applied anthropologists in universities and colleges, research institutions, government agencies, museums, corporations and non-profits throughout the world. The AAA publishes more than 20 peer-reviewed scholarly journals, available in print and online through AnthroSource. The AAA was founded in 1902.
History
The first anthropological society in the US was the American Ethnological Society of New York, which was founded by Albert Gallatin and revived in 1899 by Franz Boas after a hiatus. 1879 saw the establishment of the Anthropological Society of Washington (which first published the journal American Anthropologist, before it became a national journal), and 1882 saw the American Association for the Advancement of Science established an anthropological section. Boas and other anthropologist discussed the possibility of creating a single national society already in 1898, but fears that it might damage the AAAS caused a long discussion. In 1901 the AES and ASW sent members to attend the meeting of the AAAS anthropologists in Chicago in which discussions continued and there was general agreement that a national society should be formed. Boas advocated a restricted membership of 40 "professional anthropologists", but the AAA's first president, W. J. McGee, ensured that membership would be open to everyone with an interest in the discipline. At its incorporation, it assumed responsibility for the journal American Anthropologist, created in 1888 by the Anthropological Society of Washington (ASW).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “American Anthropological Association” is learned society. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through American, Anthropological and Association, not as a finished interpretation.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2588602. VIAF identifies the subject as 124322039. The Library of Congress control number is n79061234. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1899, 1879 and 1882.
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This entry incorporates text from “American Anthropological Association” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.