The history of the American Society for Indexing (ASI) must begin with the founding of the (British) Society of Indexers. SI's founding father was G. Norman Knight, barrister and indexer, who sent a letter to the (London) Times, on 28 Dec 1956. "Sir: It is proposed to form a Society of Indexers ... If any of your readers who are interested will kindly communicate with the undersigned ..., they will be sent particulars ..." He had been a freelance indexer for the previous thirty years, but was "not acquainted with a single other person who worked in this field". In response, "letters came pouring in".

SI was inaugurated at a meeting in March 1957. As of January 1958, it had about 100 members, of whom 4 were from the U.S.

In March 1958 the first issue of SI's official journal The Indexer appeared, including congratulatory messages from the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan (of the Macmillan publishing family) and The Times ("here is a necessary body if ever there was one"). The journal has continued publishing twice yearly since then. In the first years, there are occasional notices of American members. John Askling and John Cook Wylie were titled Corresponding Members, and Robert Palmer and Theodore Hines contributed articles.

By 1967, at the 10-year mark, SI had 261 members. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Alan Greengrass (an SI member) was pursuing a library school degree at Columbia University, New York City. Mary Flad, a fellow-student, suggested the need for a professional organization of indexers. A press release brought about a meeting on 24 April 1968, chaired by Dr. Theodore Hines, a professor at the library school.

By that time, SI had 31 individual members and 7 institutional members in the United States. Robert Palmer was corresponding member. He visited the UK in September 1968 to meet with officers of SI. Among topics of discussion were dual membership and terms of a formal affiliation.

The first formal board meeting was convened by Ted Hines on 18 November 1968. (This is ASI's birthday, and holiday.) At that meeting, Alan Greengrass was elected president pro tem, and Jessica Harris (a student at Columbia University) became secretary. Robert Palmer drew up the ASI constitution, and was appointed ASI's liaison with SI.

Soon after, Norman Knight wrote "The SI can but feel sincerely flattered ... We welcome the initiative shown by the American indexers..." ASI still retains ties with SI. It is formally a cosponsor of the Indexer. There is also reciprocity of some membership benefits.

The first annual general meeting of ASI was held on 16 June 1969, at 7 p.m., at the CUNY Center in New York City. About 75 persons attended. Since only a small number of mail ballots for the ratification of the constitution and for the election of officers had been received by the time of the meeting, it was decided by the meeting to postpone the counting of the ballots until all had been received. ASI had 146 members to date, but only 52 ballots had been received.

Among the many topics discussed at the meeting were: relations with SI, aims and qualifications of prospective ASI members, standards and remuneration for indexing, a newsletter, a register of indexers, educational activities, and an awards medal.

Later that year, the mail ballot ratified the constitution, all but unanimously, and officers were elected for the 1969-1970 year: a President (Dr. Charles Bernier); a Vicepresident (President elect), Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, and six Directors.

ASI began publication of a Newsletter in 1970, edited by Alan Greengrass. In 1971 appeared two Guidelines, on employment of freelancers and on index evaluation. In October 1971, terms of affiliation between SI and ASI were agreed on. Territories of membership were delineated, with ASI given exclusive right of solicitation of new members in the United States and Canada. The Indexer was to be the official organ of both SI and ASI, though SI retained the prerogative of appointing the editor. Jessica Harris became corresponding member to its editorial board.

ASI's first all-day meeting was held in NYC in spring 1972. The officers in 1971-72 kept their places, and so served double terms until 1973. Again, the 1973-74 officers served double terms until 1975. Undoubtedly this made for continuity of policy. In order to put the membership list in a regular order, and to establish regular mailings, president Barbara Preschel appointed Peter Rooney as ASI's first executive secretary. Rooney used computer programs devised for the Modern Language Association membership to maintain the ASI list. He received a stipend for these duties, during the period 1973–1978.

It is interesting to note that annual dues were initially $10, raised shortly to $15, and were prorated through the year, viz., $5 for 1/3 of a year, $10 for 2/3, and $15 for the whole year.

Official sponsorship was important. The following institutions were vital in contributing office support and officers: Xerox Corp; University Microfilms; The New York Times.

A revised constitution appeared in 1974. The first ASI Register of Members, distributed to members and publishers, was printed in 1974. Other publications appeared, including a Survey of indexing courses compiled by James Anderson.

The annual meeting of 1976, held in Chicago, was the first meeting of ASI outside New York. The Chicago Chapter was the first regional chapter. In 1977, the membership stood at 327.

The Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada was founded on 12 June 1977. The bilingualism of Canada was praised by John Gordon of SI, as giving "the possibility of moving out of the English-speaking limitations ..." By 1979, IASC had 115 members.

ASI established its H.W. Wilson Company Indexing Award in 1979. The amount of the award was $500 (currently $1000). The first award went to Hans Wellisch for the index to his own The Conversion of Scripts. Wellisch continued with many more articles in The Indexer, and his later authoritative book Indexing from A to Z (1991).

The Japan Indexers' Association was founded in Tokyo on 3 June 1977.

ASI official news continued to be reported regularly in The Indexer. In 1983 this journal also began publishing synopses of the ASI Newsletter.

ASI celebrated its 15th birthday at its 1983 annual meeting, and it mourned the death of its founder, Theodore Hines. There were 490 individual and 5 institutional members, and 3 chapters. The 1983 Register listed details of 320 indexers.

Dorothy Thomas was president in 1983. At that time, ASI was basically a New York City organization. Thomas successfully promoted the expansion of ASI as a national organization, with chapters and conferences in various cities. This initiative was so successful that at present NYC area membership is only about 10 - 15% of the national total.

In 1984 Hans Wellisch was elected president. He desired to reincorporate the society in Maryland, and after an election battle, won narrowly. The constitution was also slightly amended. (Later amendments have occurred, yet the basic framework is still that of the 1968 constitution.)

In 1984 the Electronic Publishing Project (from which the SGML markup language originated) was set up, and ASI was designated a stake-holder. ANSI standards on indexing were developed.

In 1986 ASI had six chapters. The first 60 issues of the Newsletter (for 1970-83) were indexed. A Guide to Indexing Software was compiled by Linda Fetters.

The 21st Annual Meeting was held in San Francisco in 1989. Already the Golden Gate chapter had hosted a chapter meeting attended by 120 members and guests.

The 100th Newsletter appeared in 1990. The membership in 1990 was 776. ASI installed a telephone answering machine monitored by two volunteers.

The first Website and use of the internet was in 1991. Nancy Mulvany hosted WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link), an online conference on indexing and an email service.

In 1993 was founded the China Society of Indexers.

The Newsletter was renamed Key Words in 1993. The "key" logo was adopted, and the motto "Indexers know where to put it." ASI's 25th anniversary was celebrated with a conference attended by all previous ASI presidents.

In 1994 the ASI board cast a "no" vote on the NISO draft standard on indexes, on the grounds that the standard did not specifically regard traditional indexing. In 1994, ASI set up the Hines Award, "to recognize that individual who has shown continuous dedicated and exceptional service to the Society". The first award was presented to BevAnne Ross, a month before her death.

In 1995, a permanent administrative office was headquartered in Texas, and membership was around 1000. It suddenly shot up to over 1300 after an article in Money magazine suggested that indexers earn excellent livings. The resultant stress and expense on the administrative office in Texas caused the resignation of the officers, followed by the establishment of a new administrative office in Phoenix.

The office went online, and ASI established a web site on the Internet. The indexers' discussion group, INDEX-L, appeared.

Volunteerism had always been (and remains) important to the running of the Society, but from time to time ASI had retained a part-time, itinerant membership secretary. This proved unsatisfactory, since every time the secretary moved, the official address of the society moved.

In 1999, Sandi Schroeder as president realized that a professional management company would make life easier for ASI. There exist companies that specialize in serving as the office staff of small organizations. After a nationwide search, two companies were identified. The winner was the Resource Center, based in Colorado. They continue to serve ASI in exemplary fashion. Their services include membership maintenance, mailings, and setting up conventions at hotels several years in advance.

In 2000, the kohlrabi was designated as the official vegetable of ASI (because "no one knows who we are, or what to do with us). The Order of the Kohlrabi, with its special gold pin, was instituted in 2003.

This brings us to the present. The membership is 676 as of this writing, including 6 institutional members. The current drive is to bring more benefits to members. A correspondence course, based on SI's successful course of many years, was inaugurated in 2006. Most recently, a program of insurance has been proposed. ASI expects to soon offer competitive medical, disability, and liability insurance in all the 50 states.

The attached chronology lists, for each year, the president and the official address of the society. A Web annex, to be found on www.asindexing.org, will also list officers, conferences, and key events of each year.

Note on sources

There have been other histories of ASI, notably:

• American Society of Indexers: Oral History, Volume I, compiled by Dorothy Thomas, (c) 1995 by ASI
• History of the Indexing Societies (7 articles in The Indexer), by Hazel Bell, covering the years 1958 - 1995

The author conducted interviews with several of the earliest members; and borrowed invaluable early documents from Robert Palmer.

Many of the facts in the present article are compiled from official notices appearing in The Indexer from 1968 to present. Unfortunately, from about 1995 onward, notices of ASI activities have not appeared in The Indexer on a regular basis, which will make difficulty for future historians.

It is said that the archives of ASI have been deposited at University Microfilms (UMI), thus making them inaccessible for practical purposes. It is also said that a large volume of the early records was lost in the course of mailing them from one president to the next. Some checking into these claims is recommended.

ASI Presidents and Mailing Addresses

(c) 2007 Peter Rooney