Founding The Population Association of America was conceived on December 15, 1930 at a meeting in the office of
Henry Pratt Fairchild at
New York University. It was an offshoot of the American National Committee of the
International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) which had been formed in 1927 with
Raymond Pearl of
Johns Hopkins University as its first President. The History Committee identifies the following events in the timeline prior to the founding of PAA that were relevant to founding PAA: • 1922: Scripps sets up the Scripps Foundation for Research in Population Problems. This would later be renamed the Scripps Gerontology Center in 1972. • 1927: The World Population Conference is held in
Geneva, leading to the formation of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). • 1928:
Milbank Memorial Fund begins studies in population in
New York City. • 1929:
Guy Burch founds the
Population Reference Bureau in
New York City. • December 15, 1930: A small group begins to discuss forming the PAA in
New York City Town Hall. • May 7, 1931: The PAA is organized in
New York City Town Hall. • April 22–23, 1932: The PAA holds its first annual meeting in
New York City Town Hall. • 1935:
Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of then-U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt, attends the PAA's
Conference on Population Studies in Relation to Social Planning. Frank Lorimer produces the first issue of
Population Index using office space at Victor Building, which at the time also hosted the Population Reference Bureau. ==Journal==