About ARMA
For over half a century New York has been foremost in espousing the causes of efficient paperwork handling. The New York Chapter was founded in 1920 as the Filing Association of New York. We retained the name until the early 1950's, when the organization became the Records Management Association of New York, and we incorporated in 1955. The name change was indicative of the growing recognition of the professionalism of its members and broadened scope of their field. When the national organization was formed in 1956, we became one of the charter (and largest) members of the affiliation. Our name was changed in 1969, to American Records Management Association -- New York Chapter, Inc., to conform to the standard nomenclature of the national organization.
The Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA) was formed in November, 1955 by twelve New York City Records Administrators. Membership grew steadily to around 300 in 1966, with members located throughout the United States, Canada and a few other foreign countries. Because of the repeated requests, in 1966 other chapters were chartered in Washington, DC; Toronto, Canada; Tallahassee, Florida; Westchester/Fairfield; as well as the original New York Chapter.
In 1975, members of the American Records Association (ARMA) and the Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA) voted to merge and form a new organization to be known as the Association of Records Managers and Administrators. The new name maintains the acronym, ARMA. The new ARMA consolidates into one international group, those people providing professional leadership in records and information management. We became the Metropolitan New York Chapter.