“A dream that never came true”: the National Society for the Study of Communication in search of a center, 1951–1967

Abstract This article chronicles two little-known projects associated with the National Society for the Study of Communication—an outgrowth of the Speech Association of America and the predecessor of the International Communication Association—in the 1950s and 1960s. The Information Distribution Center (IDC) and the National Center of Communication Arts and Sciences (NCCAS) both aimed at indexing and disseminating communication research material and were considered central to the association and to the field. IDC and NCCAS aimed to hold the field and the association together, draw their boundaries, resolve problems, and integrate academic communities. As loci of disciplinary rituals, IDC and NCCAS offer a unique perspective on the history of the field and the association in their early days.