Founded on July 28, 1944, the Association for Intelligent Information Management ( AIIM) is celebrating 80 years of community, innovation, and excellence.
AIIM's official birthdate is Friday, July 28, 1944 when our original members first met at the Essex House in New York City.
Archives at the University of Michigan show that four companies attended the first meeting. They represented roughly 13 other companies who bought into the creation of an association. The live vote came from the four companies that were at the meeting:
The Microfilm Corporation - Carl F. Lezius, President
University Microfilm, Inc - Eugene Power, President
The Microstat Corporation - Mach Lehman, Treasurer
Graphic Mucrofim Service, Inc - Franklin M Morgan, Executive VP and Richard W. Batchelder, Technical Director
Holbrook Microfilm Services and the Microfilm Recording Co were expected, but were unable to attend at the last minute. The agenda of the meeting was to to confirm there was a need for an Association, create bylaws, and confirm the membership.
AIIM was incorporated in the State of Michigan in 1945 as the National Microfilm Association. In 1975, the Association's name was changed to the National Micrographics Association. As the industry expanded and the technology changed, so did we! In 1983, the membership voted to extend the purpose and scope of the Association and changed its name to Association for Information & Image Management (AIIM), and in 1994 the membership believed that AIIM's focus should become more global, hence adding International to our name.
On March 2, 2018, the articles of incorporation were filed to change the name to Association for Intelligent Information Management.
We created a shareable timeline to celebrate some of our favorite milestones from AIIM's long, rich history. Much of this timeline is based on documents found in the Power Collection for the Study of Scholarly Communication and Information Transfer in the Special Collections Library, a priceless collection at the University of Michigan.
AIIM is indebted to former AIIM Board Member, AIIM Fellow #117, longtime member, and unofficial AIIM historian Ed LoTurco for helping to develop this timeline.
Become a part of AIIM's future by becoming a member. You'll gain access to exclusive content, member-only virtual conversations, and our private online community. Team memberships are available.