A legacy of making meaning.
Championing craft and craftspeople since 1939.
1939
Aileen Osborn Webb forms the Handcraft Cooperative League of America.
Led by Aileen Osborn Webb, an affiliation of craft groups called the Handcraft Cooperative League of America is formed to develop markets in metropolitan areas for rural craftspeople. This same year, the American Handcraft Council, a separate organization formed by Anne Morgan (a friend and neighbor of Webb) incorporates in Delaware.
1940
The Handcraft Cooperative League opens America House.
America House was opened by the Handcraft Cooperative League of America as a cooperative retail outlet for affiliated craft organizations in the United States. It opened in October 1940 at 7 E. 54th Street.
1941
The Handcraft Cooperative League publishes first magazine.
The Handcraft Cooperative League of America publishes the first issue of a magazine, then untitled, and sends it to all craftsperson consignors of America House. In 1942, the magazine is named Craft Horizons. Its name is changed to American Craft in 1979.
Founding of the American Craft Council.
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The American Craftsmen’s Cooperative Council, the predecessor of the American Craft Council, is formed when the American Handicraft Council merged with the Handcraft Cooperative League of America.
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The Cooperative Council initiates the American Craftsmen’s Educational Council. The Council is granted a provisional charter by the Board of Regents on behalf of the Education Department of New York “as an educational association to provide education in handcrafts and to further and stimulate public interest in and appreciation of the work of handcraftsmen.” (An absolute charter is issued in 1948.) America House moves to 485 Madison Avenue and provides space for the expanding activities of both Councils.
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The Regents of the University of the State of New York grant permission to shorten the name of the American Craftsmen’s Educational Council to American Craftsmen’s Council (ACC), and to amend the purpose to “provide that the corporation may own and operate a museum.”
1966
ACC holds its first craft fair.
Marking a “first” in our history, the ACC Northeast Regional Assembly sponsors “Confrontation,” a craft fair and conference, at Stowe, Vermont. The fair is repeated the next year at Mt. Snow, Vermont. As the Northeast Craft Fair, it moves to Bennington, Vermont in 1969, to Rhinebeck, New York in 1973, and to West Springfield, Massachusetts in 1984.
1969
The American Craftsmen's Council becomes the American Crafts Council.
ACC holds its sixth national conference at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico June 7–13, where the exhibition “Young Americans 1969” is previewed at the University of New Mexico Art Gallery before a national tour. For the first time, entries for the competition are juried by slides rather than by actual work. During the conference, the ACC hosts its 26th annual meeting, during which members vote on the board recommendation to change the name of the American Craftsmen’s Council to one more encompassing: the American Crafts Council.
1975
ACC honors first Fellows.
ACC honors 17 men and women who have contributed significantly to the American craft movement. Called Fellows of ACC, they are inducted into the Academy of Fellows at the Council’s annual meeting held simultaneously in New York and San Francisco by telecommunication. An ACC committee nominates additional Fellows in 1976, and in subsequent years the Fellows themselves elect their peers.
1977
ACC holds first Baltimore show, today known as American Craft Made Baltimore.
Northeast Craft Fair, Ltd., an ACC subsidiary, sponsors the first Winter Market in the Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland, with 300 craftspeople. Later in the year, the subsidiary’s name is changed to American Craft Enterprises, Inc. (ACE).
2010
ACC relocates to Minneapolis.
After 67 years in New York City, the American Craft Council moves its headquarters and library to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Council hosts the second convening in partnership with Penland School of Craft.
2015
ACC launches emerging artist programming.
In order to encourage early-career artists to participate in in-person marketplace events, ACC develops programming to provide highly subsidized booth fees, tailored exhibitor support, and marketing and public relations initiatives.
2020
ACC hosts its first online marketplace.
In response to the early lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACC launched a series of online Craft Week events in 2020 and 2021 showcasing makers in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Baltimore.
Take part.
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Support makers, celebrate the handcrafted, and get American Craft delivered to your home with a membership to the American Craft Council.