[1] Its members comprise horticulturists, botanists, gardeners, plant breeders, and nursery owners.
[1] The AIS was founded in January 1920, at a meeting hosted by the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG).
[2] Organizing efforts were led by horticulturist John Caspar Wister (first AIS president); James Boyd, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, who chaired the founding meeting; A. C. Beal, head of the NYBG's Department of Horticulture; iris breeder siblings Grace Sturtevant and Robert Sturtevant (first secretary of the AIS); horticulturist Louisa Boyd Yeomans King of the Garden Club of America; horticulturist Ethel Anson Peckham, who managed the Bronx Park Iris Trial Gardens; garden book author Louise Beebe Wilder; Mary Helen Wingate Lloyd, creator of an "iris bowl" garden in Pennsylvania; and others.
[3] In 1971, an American Iris Society Foundation was established to foster research to improve the genus, to stimulate interest in the plant, and to sponsor publications about irises.
[5] The New York Botanical Garden holds an archive of records relating to the founding of the AIS.