American Genetic Association

The American Genetic Association (AGA), formerly the American Breeders' Association, is a USA-based learned society dedicated to the study of genetics. Founded in 1903, the organization publishes the Journal of Heredity.

The American Genetic Association (AGA), formerly the American Breeders' Association, is a professional organization founded to encourage the study of comparative genetics and genomics, and to promote the application of genetic and genomic methods to the documentation, conservation, and management of organismal diversity.

The American Breeders Association held its first meeting in 1903 to discuss the “new” science of genetics that arose from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel’s discoveries of the laws of inheritance. The organization was established “to study the laws of breeding and to promote the improvement of plants and animals by the development of expert methods of breeding.”

In 1914, the American Breeders Association broadened its scope and became the American Genetic Association. Today, the AGA’s interests encompass evolutionary diversity and genomics across taxa and subject areas, including conservation genetics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, gene function, and the genetics of domestication.

The AGA disseminates progress in these fields through its publication, Journal of Heredity. It supports research and scholarship through sponsorship of an annual President’s Symposium, special events awards, the Stephen J. O’Brien Award, and the Evolutionary, Ecological, or Conservation Genomics Research Awards.

The AGA is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated in Oregon, Federal Tax ID 53-0204656.

2016 marks the 106th year of continuous publication for the AGA’s Journal of Heredity. First published as the American Breeders Magazine in 1910, the name became Journal of Heredity in 1914, when the American Breeders’ Society became the American Genetic Association. Initially, the journal sought to communicate the principles of heredity to animal and plant breeders, with an emphasis on practical improvements. In its early years, Journal of Heredity was inevitably drawn into the debate over human breeding and eugenics, and included articles on this topic by David Starr Jordan, Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles Davenport, among others (e.g.,). In fact, the very first article published in the journal was by Alexander Graham Bell, entitled “How to Improve the Human Race.”

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