The Popular Culture Association (PCA) was founded in 1969 as a spin-off of the American Studies movement. Some members of the American Studies Association felt that the organization had become elitist in its approach to cultural studies (which, it should be noted, has since mitigated). There was little room for material culture, popular music, movies, and comics, and so the Popular Culture Association was created to further the study of popular culture. The founders of the PCA were Russel B. Nye, who served as President; John G. Cawelti, Philip G. Durham, and Marshall Fishwick, who served as co-Vice Presidents; and Ray B. Browne, who served as Secretary/Treasurer. The first national meeting of the PCA was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, April 8-10, 1971 with just a handful of sessions. Today, the annual meetings are held in cities across the United States and Canada, and have grown to over 2,000 participants and 500 sessions. As early as 1971, regional chapters of the organization formed and have included groups in the Far West, Great Plains, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, the Pacific, the South, and the Southwest and Texas. Today, many of the regional groups also hold annual conferences. As an offshoot to the Popular Culture Association, the American Culture Association (ACA) was formed in 1978. The ACA was founded in order to include traditional studies of American literature, the arts, history, and to study American culture and its influence on other cultures. Both national organizations, as well as many of the regional chapters, have published newsletters throughout their existence. The Popular Culture Association Newsletter (PCAN), published out of BGSU, first appeared in October 1971 and was published until the mid-1990s. A second newsletter, Popular Culture Methods, devoted to popular culture pedagogy, was published from August 1972 until it merged with PCAN in 1977. The American Culture Association published a newsletter sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1994, Peter Rollins founded the H-PCA/ACA discussion network and went on to establish a website for the national organizations in 1995. These entities have essentially taken the place of the PCA and ACA newsletters. It should be noted that most of the regional chapters also have their own websites. The Journal of Popular Culture, which began publication in 1967 by the BGSU Popular Press, is a venue for scholars in the area of popular culture to publish their research. This peer-reviewed journal is now published by Blackwell Publishers and is the official publication of the PCA. The Popular Press began publishing the Journal of American Culture in 1978 as the official publication of the ACA. In the Spring of 2000, the name of the publication was changed to the Journal of American and Comparative Cultures, and is now also published by Blackwell Publishers. Some of the regional chapters also publish their own scholarly journals.
From the guide to the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Archives, 1969-2005, (Bowling Green State University - Browne Popular Culture Library)
