[1] Membership in ILAS is open to all mathematicians and scientists interested in furthering its aims and participating in its activities.

[2][3] Its genesis occurred at the Combinatorial Matrix Analysis Conference held at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, May 20–23, 1987,[4] hosted by Dale Olesky and Pauline van den Driessche.

[9] The inaugural meeting of ILAS took place at Brigham Young University (including one day at the Sundance Mountain Resort) in Provo, Utah, USA, from August 12–15, 1989.

[10] The organizing committee consisted of Wayne Barrett, Daniel Hershkowitz, Charles Johnson, Hans Schneider, and Robert C.

[11] Much additional support came from Don Robinson, Chair of the BYU Mathematics Department, and James R. Weaver, ILAS Treasurer.

[12] There were 85 in attendance at the conference from 15 countries including Olga Taussky-Todd, a renowned mathematician in Matrix Theory.

[18] ELA is a platinum open access journal, meaning that it is free to all: no subscription and no article processing fee or page charges.

ELA is an all-electronic journal that welcomes high quality mathematical articles that contribute new insights to matrix analysis and the various aspects of linear algebra and its applications.

[19] ILAS also produces and distributes IMAGE, a semiannual electronic bulletin founded in 1988 with Robert C. Thompson as its first Editor.

[20] IMAGE contains: essays related to linear algebra activities; feature articles; interviews of linear algebra experts; book reviews; brief reports on conferences; ILAS business notices; announcements of upcoming workshops and conferences; problems and solutions; and news about individual members.

[21] Hans Schneider, 1987–1996 Richard A. Brualdi, 1996–2002 Daniel Hershkowitz, 2002–2008 Stephen Kirkland, 2008–2014 Peter Šemrl, 2014–2020 Daniel B. Szyld, 2020–present ILAS collaborates with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications (IWOTA).

As part of the agreement, and to encourage interaction between ILAS and SIAG/LA members, the two societies do not hold conferences in the same year.

[27] The collaboration with AMS started in late 2020 with the establishment of ILAS as a partner in the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM).

[28] The first Israel Gohberg ILAS-IWOTA Lecturer was Vern Paulsen at the 2021 IWOTA Lancaster UK meeting.