The American Philosophical Association (APA) was founded in 1900 to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly activity in philosophy, to facilitate the professional work and teaching of philosophers, and to represent philosophy as a discipline. Having grown from a few hundred members to over 10,000, the American Philosophical Association is one of the largest philosophical societies in the world and the only American philosophical society not devoted to a particular school or philosophical approach. In 1999, in anticipation of its centennial, the APA authorised philosopher Richard T Hull to begin collecting and publishing the presidential addresses delivered over the course of the twentieth century. The first six volumes, covering the years 1901 to 1960, have now been published and are available exclusively from Prometheus Books. Besides the presidential addresses, each volume contains biographies and photographs of the APA presidents, a list of their birthplaces, a chronology of the APA, a list of presidents per decade, a list of universities and colleges closely associated with each president, and name and subject indices.
A total of eleven volumes are planned to complete the collection.