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The National Association of Teachers of Speech (NATS)--now the Speech Communication Association--was founded in 1915. Speech teachers residing within the western part of United States had long wanted a regional association of their own. Only thirteen of the 350 members who registered at the 1928 National Association of Teachers of Speech convention in Chicago were from the West. In April 1929, during a meeting of the Pacific Forensic League held at the University of Idaho, W. Arthur Cable, assistant professor of public speaking at the University of Arizona, introduced his fellow faculty members to the idea of a Western regional association. They appointed him chair of a five-member organizing committee which included Earl Wells from Oregon State College as secretary, Frederick Orr from the University of Washington as treasurer, Lee Emerson Bassett of Stanford, and Charles Marsh of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Plans were drawn for an initial organizing meeting to be held for all Western States speech professionals in San Francisco during the Thanksgiving holiday of 1929.

The theme for this first organizing meeting of the proposed Western Teachers of Speech was "Cultural and Scientific Speech Education Today." It was held on the San Francisco State Teachers College campus. Cable was elected the association's first president, with Orr and Wells elected as vice president and secretary/treasurer. Minutes of that first convention reported that well over one hundred persons were in attendance. The records show that eighty-seven people were officially registered. These delegates came from seven of the eleven Western States solicited. Approximately twenty-five persons were in attendance who did not register. Although the program of the convention was designated especially for college teachers, and the large majority of those in attendance came from universities and colleges, many secondary school teachers attended--some coming from a great distance.

The second annual convention was held at the William Taylor Hotel in San Francisco from November 27-29, 1930. Minutes stated that "about 150 persons were in attendance, with 104 officially registered from nine states." The theme for this second convention was, "A Program of Speech Education in a Democracy." From the papers, speeches, and proceedings of these first two conventions, Cable compiled two books: Cultural and Scientific Speech Education Today (1929) and A Program of Speech Education in a Democracy (1930). Both published by The Expression Company, Boston.

As the impact of the national depression began to take its toll, attendance at committee meetings and conventions decreased between 1933 and 1935. Despite the poor financial condition of the association during this period, the regular printing of a Bulletin was started in February 1934 to keep membership informed of association developments. Three years later the Executive Council declared that an "enthusiastic response has greeted the announcement by the Western Association of Teachers of Speech that the former mimeographed News-Bulletin is to be replaced by a regular quarterly publication in printed form." This new publication was started in March 1937 and entitled Western Speech. Initial subscription rates were $1.50 per year.

Until the 1941 convention held in Salt Lake City's Newhouse Hotel, eight of the thirteen annual conventions were hosted in California: four in San Francisco, and four in the Los Angeles area. Two were held in Salt Lake City and one each in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. Because the 1929 constitution had not proposed a formal geographical allocation for future conventions, President Charles Lindsley and the 1941 Executive Council revised the constitution to allow for a more equitable geographical distribution around the thirteen western states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. The proposition was that "the sections or districts in which the conventions shall be held shall be as follows: 1942-Northern, 1943-Central, 1944-Southern, 1945-Central, 1946-Eastern, 1947-Central. Thereafter, the convention shall rotate in the same manner."

However, with President T. Earl Pardoe's notification by the U.S. Commissioner of Education that "...no major convention or gathering should be undertaken that does not contribute directly to the war effort," the 1942 convention was cancelled. Now, as the nation suffered through some of its most difficult months of the war, the Western Association was almost brought to a standstill. Foreseeing that an annual convention would be an impossibility, Pardoe sent a mail-in ballot to all active members during the spring of 1943. Earl W. Wells was subsequently elected and assumed his duties as president in June.

During 1944, active membership fell to fewer than 100 members and the very existence of the association hung in the balance. In order to prevent a further membership decline in the face of severe travel restrictions, three divisional conventions were planned for the spring of 1944 under the theme, "Speech in War and Reconstruction." Those members in the Eastern Division met during February in Denver, while members in the Northwest Division convened during March in Salem, Oregon. Unfortunately, members in the Southwest Division, scheduled to meet May 4-6 in Los Angeles were notified that the convention had to be cancelled. Mail-in ballots were sent to all active members. Horace G. Rahskopf was elected president and assumed his responsibilities in June.

Travel for any activity not related to the war effort was restricted in the final months of the war. Even the smaller divisional meetings instituted during the early months of 1945 had to be abandoned. Alan Nichols of the University of Southern California (USC) was elected by mail ballot in June 1945. As soon as the Commissioner of Education relaxed travel restrictions, two conventions were organized. The first was planned for Los Angeles in April with the second scheduled to convene the following November in San Francisco. In the business meeting of the 14th Annual Convention held April 19, 1946, Mabel F. Gifford was elected president. Arthur Cable also announced that NATS had changed its name to the Speech Association of America (SAA). Cable proposed that Western Association of Teachers of Speech similarly change its name to Western Speech Association (WSA).

The April 1946 convention brought together more than 200 speech professionals, including most of the prominent names connected with the association since its founding. Due to Earl Wells's previous membership drives and other recruitment efforts, the year closed with a membership totaling 488. The subsequent 1947 convention was a combination of the Speech Association of America (SAA), American Educational Theatre Association (AETA), American Speech Correction Association (ASCA), and Western Speech Association (WSA). This four-organization convention was held, among other reasons, to stimulate growth among the participating associations.

Recruiting and convention efforts improved the association's 1947 financial picture. The year commenced with a balance of $375 and closed with $772 after paying almost $2,000 in convention, publication, and administrative expenses. The Constitution Revision Committee, consisting of Earl Wells and Arthur Cable, was able to make changes to the constitution which were adopted by the general membership. This was also the first year of the new Curriculum Committee under the guidance of Joseph H. Baccus from California's University of Redlands. The committee was challenged by the Executive Council to identify definitions, limitations, and the general scope of the speech field within which future work could proceed.

During 1948-1949 the association reached its first membership peak of 518. However, this figure soon dipped when members began joining professional organizations more capable of fulfilling their specialized interests. At the national level, the drama teachers had built the American Educational Theatre Association into a strong organization that stood apart from the Speech Association of America. Speech correction specialists had established their separate identity through the American Speech and Hearing Association. From national associations such as these, a growing number of regional and state affiliates were soon spawned, and their developing strength constituted a threat to the unity of the Western Speech Association.

However, it was through specialized interest areas that many association leaders were produced. Kathleen Pendergast and Ruth Jackson of speech correction became presidents in 1957 and 1964 respectively. William McCoard and Johnnye Akin from oral interpretation were presidents in 1953 and 1959. John Wright from drama presided throughout 1962, and Upton Palmer and Larry Mouat from public address were presidents in 1958 and 1960. Fortunately, the loss of members from the drama and speech correction areas was counter-balanced by a surge of new members entering the emerging fields of mass communication and interpersonal communication. Therefore, the association remained at approximately the same level of membership until the late 1970s.

In 1958 Upton Palmer was elected president. His major contribution to that point was as executive secretary from 1952 to 1954. He and his wife, Frances, helped put WSA on a solid financial foundation. Utilizing the Palmers' financial procedures, John Wright, Joe Wagner, and Earl Cain, executive secretaries from 1955 to 1963, were able to increase funds to more than $28,000. One of the Palmers' many successful policies was that each nominee for a leadership position would be financially supported by their institution. This policy helped defray administrative expenses. Thus, the major focus of all leaders during this time period was upon the association's financial stability. The IRS approved WSA's exemption from federal income tax as a business league under section 501.c.6 of the Internal Revenue Code on July 17, 1958.

In 1963 Wright, McCoard, Wayne Eubank, Alonzo Morley, and Palmer organized the Executives' Club for those having previously served as president, vice president, executive secretary, or editor. In 1975, the eligibility rule was modified to include any member who had served on the Executive Council.

The association's second attempt to switch their convention from the Thanksgiving period established in 1929 occurred in 1964, when President Joe Wagner held the San Francisco convention in March. Other than the war years, Oregon's August 1956 convention was the only previous attempt to schedule a more convenient time for the Association's speech professionals.

In 1967, another constitutional revision removed the section counselors from the Executive Council and created interest groups to serve the growing need for specialized areas among the membership. The counselors were now called program coordinators and given the responsibility of developing convention programs for their assigned interest group. Although additional areas were added later, the initial interest groups were: rhetoric and public address, oral interpretation, speech correction, speech education, drama, behavioral sciences, radio-television-film, junior college, secondary school, freedom of speech, organizational and interpersonal communication.

From 1929 until 1967, the Executive Council devoted at least 10 percent of its convention programs to speech correction/voice science. On several occasions, they assigned as much as thirty percent. But at the 1968 convention, the speech correction group had ceased to exist as a formal unit and shared only one program with the speech education group. In subsequent years speech correction contributions faded from the convention program except for the occasional topic that served both speech education and speech correction areas. As speech correction disappeared, forensics began to increase to as much as twenty percent of the program schedule in 1969. Oral interpretation, always a popular interest area, also continued to increase in convention programs--from one program chaired by Bassett in 1929 to seventy-five percent of the program time in 1970. The drama/theatre area experienced a reduction in participation during this period of time.

In 1970, the general membership approved a change in name from Western Speech Association to Western Speech Communication Association by a mail-in vote of 221 to 67. Two other constitutional amendments were also ratified. The first permitted the 1972 annual convention to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, which was out of its regular geographical rotation around the thirteen western states. The second designated the immediate past president as WSCA representative to the SCA nominating committee.

Although an informal news Bulletin was first established in 1934, it was replaced with the more formal Western Speech journal in 1937. Since the two publications were similar in purpose, an informal channel of communication was again established in April 1973 with the first printing of the WSCA Newsletter.

As association membership continued to increase and interest areas became more diverse, each annual convention's program became more congested. Program planners and interest groups competed to satisfy the needs and desires of their own followers. However, at the 1974 Newport Beach, California convention, first vice president Eldon Baker reduced the proliferation of programs by urging quality rather than quantity. He also initiated the hands-on concept of workshops which added a new dimension to the previous paper-reading format. It was at this point in the association's history that its records were collected by archivist John Wright.

Members at the 1975 Executives' Club banquet recommended that the Executive Council appoint a committee to plan the publication of a history of the association. Accordingly, it was decided that the Summer 1978 issue of the Western Journal of Speech Communication should be dedicated to such a history. Donald Cameron wrote on "Association Leadership," Robert Kully and Fred McMahon discussed "Association Conventions," Thomas Nilsen wrote about "WSCA Publications: A Retrospective View," and Wright listed the "Officers of the Western Speech Association 1929-1977." The Journal's fifty year history of WSCA was an effective prelude to the association's anniversary commemoration. The year 1978 became even more prominent with the absence of an annual convention, preparatory to the 1979 permanent convention change from November to February.

The sporadic growth of the association during its first 50 years placed increased responsibility on the volunteer position of Executive Secretary. Commencing with Palmer's presidency in 1958, the Executive Council suggested that all applicants for the executive secretary position have sufficient secretarial support from their own institution. By the time Robert Hirsch assumed office in 1979, this request had become a requirement.

Three important events occurred during the 1980s for the association. First was the introduction of a new journal entitled Communication Reports in 1988 for data-based research. Editor Joe Ayres's evaluation of the publication's first three weeks of operation stated, "Communication Reports has received fifty-one manuscripts as of 1/27/88. Of those fifty-one, seven have been accepted for publication (a 14 percent acceptance rate); thirteen have been returned for revision, twenty-four have been rejected, and the remaining seven are currently being reviewed." Secondly, the association changed its name to Western Communication Association. On November 18, 1989, the Executive Council met to poll its members. Seventy-four percent voted to change the Association's name to Western States Communication Association. The third event was the decision to move the overflowing archives from the Baccus home to a more formal storage site. At the 1989 Spokane convention, the Executive Council selected the University of Utah as the permanent repository to receive and house the Association's archives.

The WSCA archives are now housed in the Manuscripts Division of the University of Utah Marriott Library. Special thanks is given to archivists W. Arthur Cable, Earl W. Wells, John W. Wright, Gertrude Baccus, and David Jabusch. Their combined efforts are responsible for the existence of this association's collection. Without their persistent work to collect, store, and maintain the records, this collection would not be available to researchers studying the many facets of the Western States Communication Association.