1977

Kathy Hatch

  • SCA incorporated in Vermont
  • The first official meeting is held on March 27 in Harrisville, New Hampshire
  • Watch interview with SCA founders Arthur Krim and Kathy Hatch

1978

Sept 1978 News Journal

  • NewsJournal first published in September
  • Second annual meeting held at Columbia University’s School of Architecture in November

1979

  • “Commercial Archeology: Architecture, Advertising, and the Automobile,” first such university course, taught by Chester Liebs at Boston University’s American Vernacular Summer Institute
  • Annual fall conference in Washington, D.C., includes tour of Route 1 between the nation’s capital and Baltimore

1980

All Night Diner Tour Guide

  • All Night All-Night Diner Tour in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in April. Download Guide
  • Annual fall conference in Philadelphia
  • SCA administrative archives is established

1981

  • Society of Architectural Historians affinity group session, “The Future of the Recent Past,” held in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation annual meeting in New York
  • Annual fall meeting and tour scheduled for Miami’s Art Deco District

1982

  • June meeting at Boston Architectural Center, followed by a field trip to Nantasket Beach amusement park in Hull, MA
  • Annual fall gathering in Washington, D.C., includes a neon theme and “Diner Days” weekend
  • SCA has 120 members

1983

  • First Wildwood, New Jersey, meeting in June results in a “Wildwood Workbook”

1984

Baltimore Walking Tour Guide (1984)

  • Annual meeting in Washington, D.C., concludes with a visit to Glen Echo Amusement Park
  • SCA sponsors Baltimore Walking Tour. Download Guide

1985

  • Art Deco Commercial Architecture, 1920-1950, a symposium held in Washington, D.C.
  • First membership directory published

1986

  • Tour of Route 1 from Boston to Maine, postponed from late 1985 due to Hurricane Gloria, is conducted

1987

  • Happy 10th birthday party held at Museum of Transportation, Boston

1988

  • “Americans and the Automobile” fall conference at the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. Download Guide

1989

  • “Its Only Yesterday: The Automobile-Related Environment of New York State” co-sponsored by SCA, Historic Preservation Planning Alumni of Cornell University, and Historic Albany Foundation in June. Download Guide
  • See 30th Anniversary Pop-Up Tour

1990

Highways to History Guide (1990)

  • Papers from the 1988 conference published as Roadside America: The Automobile in Design and Culture, edited by Jan Jennings
  • Fall “Highways to History” conference held in Pittsburgh to commemorate 50th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Download Guide
  • SCA has 600 members

1991

Big D Conference Guide (1991)

  • Big “D” SCA conference Dallas, TX, Iowa State University’s College of Design holds “Lincoln Highway Corridor: Design to Construction of the Roadside Landscape” conference, co-sponsored by SCA. Download Guide

1992

  • SCA board attends a tour of the Dixie Highway in Kentucky. Highlights included a visit to Harland Sanders’ Cafe and Museum and an overnight stop at Wigwam
  • A conference is planned for Los Angeles but canceled due to the riots in the city

1993

Del-Val Tour Guide Cover

  • Newly re-established Lincoln Highway Association awards SCA its first annual Meritorious Achievement Award at the former’s charter conference in Bedford, PA; “Delaware Valley Diner Tour” held in June
  • Visited verdant Delaware Valley from June 17-19, 1993 to learn about (and enjoy the fruits of) the quintessential American diner experience. Download Guide

1994

Badlands Tour Guide Cover

  • “Granite Faces and Concrete Critters: Automobile Tourism in the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota” SCA conference, in the fall. Download Guide

1995

  • More than 800 attendees at multi-track, SCA co-sponsored “Preserving the Recent Past” international conference held in Chicago
  • Second edition of SCA bibliography, Mike Jackson compiler, published in conjunction with conference
  • Premiere issue of quarterly SCA News (SCA’s Newsjournal is split into two publications – SCA Journal and SCA News)

1996

  • “Life in the Past Lane” SCA conference, Los Angeles, CA.

1997

Oasis in Wildwood, NJ Neon Sign

2001

Indianapolis Conference

2004

2008

Alburquerque Group Shot

2010

Odyssey in the Ozarks

2011

2012

Wildwood Daze Program

  • 35th anniversary of SCA celebrated at “Wildwood Daze” conference in Wildwood, New Jersey, September

2014

St. Petersburg Brochures

2015

North Jersey Diner Tour

2017

Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinaati

2018

Blobfest

  • SCA members and guests traveled to the Philadelphia area for a terrifyingly terrific 2018 tour! We joined the crowd at Blobfest, an annual festival commemorating the original 1958 camp classic, THE BLOB. We then headed west along the historic Lincoln Highway through Amish Country to the quirky Haines Shoe House. Our weekend wrapped up with a special SCA-exclusive tour of Philly’s best commercial architecture
  • 2018 also gave us a hard hat tour of the new TWA Hotel at NYC’s JFK airport

2019

Dells Postcards

2020

2021

Rick Kilby

2022

TWA Group Shot

2023