About the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

History: Founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and other scholar-patriots who helped establish the new nation, the Academy provided a forum for academics, members of the learned professions, and leaders from government and business to work together on behalf of the democratic interests of the republic.

Mission: The Academy is an honorary learned society and independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems, the results of which are disseminated to a broad public through publications, conferences, symposia, and the Internet.

The work of the Academy: The Academy’s work is carried out by its members and other experts—distinguished leaders in the humanities, the sciences, the arts, business, and public affairs.

Together, they engage in four major activities:

• Providing the long-term analysis of critical social and scholarly issues
• Fostering public scholarship and the exchange of ideas through meetings, conferences, symposia, and publications, including the quarterly journal Daedalus
• Mentoring a new generation of scholars in the humanities and social sciences through the Visiting Scholars Program, and in the sciences through the Hellman Fellowships in Science and Technology Policy
• Honoring distinction in every field and profession

• the humanities and culture
• science and technology policy
• global security
• social policy and American institutions
• education

Publications: The Academy publishes the quarterly journal Daedalus, the quarterly magazine Bulletin, books, white papers, reports, and Occasional Papers resulting from projects and studies. (Academy Publications)

The American Academy’s Role in the Humanities and Social Sciences: The American Academy is among the oldest non-partisan policy research centers in the nation. Its members include leaders in the sciences, business, and public affairs as well as the humanities and social sciences. The Academy has been instrumental in the creation of some of the nation’s leading humanities institutions including the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council on American Overseas Research Centers, and the National Humanities Center.

In 1998, in response to growing concerns about the state of the humanities in America, the Academy organized an Initiative for Humanities and Culture. The Initiative supports and promotes a greater role for humanists in communicating the significance of their research and teaching to a wider audience. Through research, data collection, publication, and outreach, the Initiative for Humanities and Culture contributes a national perspective on the changing nature of humanistic learning and works to advance and strengthen the humanities in our schools and universities and in society more broadly.

Drawing on leaders from the social sciences, the Academy’s program on Social Policy and American Institutions carries out studies aimed at bringing thoughtful policy solutions to pressing problems facing key national institutions. Academy projects have examined challenges facing the judiciary, the criminal justice system, the media, the modern corporation, and immigration policy.