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The following is the main content for the page.History
On this page:
Chapter History
The Society for Technical Communication (STC) traces its roots to the Society of Technical Writers (STW) in Boston and the Association of Technical Writers and Editors (ATWE) in New York. Both groups were founded in the United States in 1953. These organizations merged in 1957 to form the Society of Technical Writers and Editors (STWE). This group merged with the L.A.-based Technical Publishing Society (TPS) in 1960 to become the Society of Technical Writers and Publishers (STWP). In 1971, the organization's name was changed to the Society for Technical Communication.
For more information about the Society's history, see the STC History page.
The Washington, DC Chapter was founded in 1955 and received its charter in December. Unfortunately, the records from our beginnings as a chapter are lost so we don't know who the founding members were or where they held their first meeting. We are able, however, to honor our associate fellows, fellows, and distinguished chapter leaders here from records we've collected for this site from chapter members, STC records, and STC publications.
Honors and Recognitions
Society-level honors recognize STC members' outstanding contributions to the Society and the advancement of the technical communication profession.
Individual Society-level honors include Exemplars, and the elevation of membership levels to Fellows and Associate Fellows of the Society. The Society also honors distinguished service to members of chapters and special interest groups (SIGs). Chapters (communities) and SIGs participate in Society competitions for their newsletters, publicity campaigns, and achievements for the year.
The following pages record the chapter's known history and achievements by individual members and the chapter.
- Individual honors
- Chapter honors and achievements
We Need Your Help
The Chapter History Committee is collecting information to include on this page. We are contacting senior members to try to fill in our missing history. If you have any information about the chapter's early years, please send it to so we can add it to the site.
If you have pictures you'd like to add to our Album of chapter photo archives or information that will fill in the blanks, please send e-mail to
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