The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) came about through a desire by members of various statistics groups to better coordinate efforts between the societies. Discussions between the American Statistical Association (ASA), the Biometric Society—Eastern North American Region (ENAR), and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) were initiated in 1958-1959. In order to study the possible organization of statistical groups, the ASA created the Committee to Study Relationships Among Statistical Societies (CONTRASTS) under the chairmanship of Frederick Mosteller.

After careful deliberation, another committee was assigned to draft a proposal for a federation of statistical societies which was presented at the 1961 annual statistics meetings. COPPS was born from this effort with charter members consisting of ASA, ENAR, and IMS, along with the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC) and the Biometric Society—Western North American Region (WNAR).

Initially, the Executive Committee was to be composed of the presidents of ASA, ENAR, and IMS, plus the secretary-treasurer of ASA with each president serving a four-month term as chair of COPSS. The idea of a rotating chair would not last long as W. T. Federer was elected Chair and Executive Secretary (1965-1972) at the December 1964 meeting. Since then, permanent chairs have been appointed to three-year terms.

During its first two years, COPSS created a number of committees to address issues facing the statistical societies. Some of the committees formed dealt with issues related to professional standards and activities, a brochure on statistics as a career, educational opportunities, organizational changes, scheduling meetings, standardization of symbols and notations, and a directory of statisticians.

COPSS also sponsors several awards including the Presidents' Award, the R. A. Fisher Lectureship, the Elizabeth L. Scott Award, the Florence Nightingale David Award, and the George W. Snedecor Award.

This collection (1961-1992) includes correspondence, meeting minutes, and reports related to the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). The records are rather incomplete; most of the materials cover just the first several years of the organization. One file contains meeting minutes and reports that corresponds to Lyle Calvin's Chairmanship (1986-1992) of COPSS. The collection also includes historical sketches of COPSS compiled by Ingram Olkin, Chair of COPSS in the 1990s.

Files related to the Committee to Study Relationships Among Statistical Societies (CONTRASTS) created by the ASA can be found in the American Statistical Association Records, MS 349.

This collection is arranged in chronological order.