On November 27, 1839, five men held a meeting at the Rooms of the American Education Society at No. 15 Cornhill in Boston, Mass., to organize a statistical society. Its purpose, as stated in its first constitution, was to "collect, preserve, and diffuse statistical information in the different departments of human knowledge." Originally called the American Statistical Society, the organization`s name was changed to the American Statistical Association at its first annual meeting, held in Boston on February 5, 1840.
Today the American Statistical Association (ASA), one of the oldest professional associations in the United States, is preparing to celebrate its 160th anniversary. ASA`s membership, consisting of professional statisticians and data analysts, continues to work at meeting the founders` goals. As stated in its current constitution, the Association`s objectives are "to foster statistics and its applications, to promote unity and effectiveness of effort among all concerned with statistical problems, and to increase the contribution of statistics to human welfare. The [ASA] is a nonprofit organization and achieves these objectives by conducting meetings, producing publications devoted to statistical methodology and its applications, and making available information concerning the science of statistics and its contributions. It also cooperates with other organizations in the advancement of statistics, stimulates research, promotes high professional standards and integrity in the application of statistics, fosters education in statistics, and, in general, makes statistics of service to society."