The records of the Michigan Association of Speech Communication are comprised of documentation primarily generated by members of the organization's executive committee carrying out their functions as officers of this professional association. As such, the bulk of the materials are in the form of minutes, financial reports/budgets, topical files on various association activities, committee reports, conference planning material, and association publications such as newsletters and membership directories. Although the coverage of the materials spans the period 1940-1997, the majority of the records were produced between 1970 and 1990. The record group is arranged into five series: Administrative Materials, Executive Council, Printed Material, Conferences, and Topical Files.
In 1925 twenty-nine speech teachers from around the state of Michigan gathered to discuss the viability of creating a professional organization to represent the various levels of their profession, ranging from elementary and high school teachers to instructors at the junior college, "normal" college and university levels. Thus was born the Michigan Association of Teachers of Speech. From these modest beginnings the association grew rapidly in membership, claiming 254 members by 1940 and reaching a peak of 460 members by 1968. In the period 1925-1950 the organization began a gradual expansion of its activities, and the scope of its influence on the profession, both within the state and nationally, increased concurrently. This rapid development was accomplished in part through affiliations with larger organizations such as the Central States Speech Association and the Speech Association of America (1932), the Michigan Schoolmaster's Club (1925), and the Michigan Education Association (1950).
The most significant contribution of the association during this era was the creation of its first curriculum guides in 1935. These guides, then called "Courses of Study," were designed to standardize the teaching of speech communication in the state and resulted from the findings of a "barnstorming" tour in which association members traveled to representative schools in the state to survey the condition of speech instruction. Their discovery that many speech teachers were "under-prepared" for their tasks resulted in the construction of these curriculum aids, which have undergone several revisions and are still published currently, providing a major source of income for the association.
The period 1950-1975 represents perhaps the "golden age" of the organization. This era was characterized by a steady increase in membership accompanied by recognition within the profession as perhaps the most influential and successful of all the state speech associations. The organization's first significant action during this era was changing its name to the Michigan Speech Association (MSA) in 1950. This new title was designed to reflect the increasing diversification of its activities and membership (student memberships were added at this time), and to safeguard its position on the "cutting edge" of the field. Some notable accomplishments of this period included the addition of new association publications, further revisions of the curriculum guide, establishment of independent conference programs, efforts at standardizing teacher certification requirements, and implementation of a job placement program. The publication of the Bulletin (the association newsletter) in 1949 and the Journal (a compendium of in-state scholarly articles in the area of speech communication) in 1966 represented perhaps the most important achievements of the time. Also, the constant battles over certification resulted in a 1968 requirement that speech teachers at the secondary level should have a B.A. in speech and an M.A. within the first five years of teaching, thus further enhancing the professional standards of the discipline. The establishment of annual conferences, independent from those of larger organizations such as the MEA, provided an influential forum for the discussion of new ideas, concepts, and research in the field, and opportunities to focus the membership on policy goals.
The years from 1975 to 1992 were marked by a creeping identity confusion both within the profession and the association itself. Membership dropped to a plateau of 200-250 members in the late 1970s. By the late 1980s membership had declined to less than 40% of the eligible professionals statewide. This substantial decrease in membership was accompanied by growing discord within the association as to whether the discipline should be taught as a liberal art, a social science, or as skill training. The field also experienced growing integration with related subject areas such as psychology, sociology, political science and communications. The increasing inter-disciplinary nature of undergraduate and graduate studies in speech was an outgrowth of decreasing funding of speech departments in the 1980s, as well as a reflection of current trends in the university community. The association's perception that its name had thus become outdated resulted in another change in 1983 to its current form, the Michigan Association of Speech Communication (MASC). With this name change the membership hoped to ally itself more closely with general communication studies to maintain the academic viability of the discipline.
