In 1865, at Boston, Massachusetts, a society for the study of social questions was organized and given the name American Social Science Association. The group grew to where its membership totaled about 1,000 persons. About 30 corresponding members were located in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. It published annually the Journal of Social Science.

Members of the group worked in five departments:

• Education and art
• Health
• Trade and finance
• Social economy
• Jurisprudence

In 1898 the society founded the National Institute of Arts and Letters which developed into the American Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member honor society; its goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Located in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan in New York, it shares Audubon Terrace, its Beaux Arts campus on...

.

See also

• American Association for the Promotion of Social Science
  American Association for the Promotion of Social Science
  The American Association for the Promotion of Social Science was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, by several high-profile academics. Officers in the first years of the society included William B. Rogers, Thomas Hill, George S. Boutwell, Francis Lieber, Erastus O. Haven, Mary Eliot Parkman, David...
  
   (est.1865), predecessor to the ASSA

Further reading

• Free public libraries: suggestions on their foundation and administration, with a selected list of books. Pemberton Square
  Pemberton Square (Boston)
  Pemberton Square in the Government Center area of Boston, Massachusetts, was developed by P.T. Jackson in 1835 as an architecturally uniform mixed-use enclave surrounding a small park. In the mid-19th century both private residences and businesses dwelt there...
  
  , Boston: American Social Science Association, 1871