Our Chapter Officers requested this brief paper to focus on the early Greater Washington D.C. Chapter of AREA (later to become the National Capital Chapter), while another brief review will examine the Greater Washington DC Chapter of ARMA.

A.R.E.A. (Association of Records Executives and Administrators) was founded by 12 Records Administrators from New York Corporations and City Government Agencies in November, 1955. Their purpose was to create a nonprofit organization to facilitate exchange of information on Records Management. Their active programs included:

An Annual Conference , Paperwork Management Awards , Literature Awards
Scholarship Grants , The quarterly "Records Management Journal" , Special Study Committees
Professional Placement Assistance , Training Seminars , Chapter Meetings with Speakers and
Special Tours

The first Annual AREA National Conference was held in White Plains, NY in 1958. The DC Chapter hosted four AREA Conferences (1967, 1970, 1972 and 1974). By 1975, AREA had 600 members with 5 Chapters in NY City, Washington, DC, Tallahassee, FL, Westchester, NY/Fairfield, Conn., and Toronto, Canada, and the AREA "Records Management Journal" had more than 1,000 subscribers worldwide.

The Greater Washington DC Chapter of AREA was chartered in December, 1966. AREA members came from both Government and non-government offices and were primarily the senior Officers and Managers of their Records Programs.

The Washington Chapter had more than 200 members and the great majority came from Federal Agencies because of the vigorous encouragement from National Archives and Records Service (NARS) which was responsible for the Federal Records Management Program.

From 1966 to 1975 the Chapter Presidents were:

Tom Pugliesi
Ev Alldredge
Don Simon
Joe Gorman
Vince Bosak
Frank Malone
Ben Oliver
Edna Falbo

Besides successful programs locally, the DC Chapter members were active as National Officers, Directors and Editors.

In 1975 National AREA together with National ARMA (American Records Management Association) provided several thousand dollars to officially establish the Institute of Certified Records Managers, after several years of assisting in various phases of developing the CRM Examination and Administrative Organization. Five AREA and five ARMA officials made up the first ICRM Board of Regents.

Many merger discussions failed in the past, but the successful ICRM joint venture encouraged AREA and ARMA to work harder to combine their Associations. National Presidents Ben Oliver (AREA) and Gerald Brown (ARMA) worked the hardest. Naturally, many others also were involved. Finally, the renamed ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators) was established in mid-1975, and the "AREA Journal" was combined into the "ARMA Quarterly" while the membership and other assets were merged.

However, not everything was merged. ARMA Headquarters permitted two Chapters to continue in DC: the National Capital Chapter (old AREA) and the Greater Washington DC Chapter (old ARMA). Some local members belonged to both Chapters. More and more non-government personnel joined the National Capital, and their efforts made for greater success than ever. Their Treasury grew as did their Seminars and Conferences and their donations to ICRM and ARMA Headquarters. In 1977 they won the ARMA National "Chapter of the Year Award" under President Betty Hall Fimiani and they co-hosted the ARMA National Conference in DC in 1978. By 1983 the Chapter had 35 CRM's (10% of all CRM's worldwide).

The 1975 to 1983 National Capital Chapter Presidents were:

Jerry Brentlinger
Betty Hall
Hal Hooper
Jim McGlasson
Hank Schauer
Henry Smith
Romayne Potosky

In 1983 the diligent efforts of Chapter President's Romayne Potosky and Rita Holt and their dedicated Committees finally (despite many futile attempts in prior years) did merge the two Washington, DC ARMA Chapters. The new Greater Washington DC Chapter has been increasingly successful and all old and new members may be proud of it.

• Tribute to Rita Holt