When Jimmy Griffin asked me to reflect upon the founding of the Society, I compared the assignment to beating a dead horse. Then it occurred to me that most of you here tonight were high school students or younger, when Vol. 1, No. 1 of American Antiquity was in press 32 years ago this month. Throughout your professional lives you have accepted the Society as the natural focus for archaeological contacts and interests. Yet there was a time when it was only a dream; when a number of us worked hard to make it become a reality.