LASA's constitution and bylaws were drafted and on May 12, 1966 it was incorporated in Washington, D.C., as a legal, tax exempt organization, "non-profit professional body created by scholarly area specialists to meet their particular and growing needs.
In April 1958, Howard F. Cline, Director of the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress (1952–71) and the ACLS organized a conference to explore the creation of a coordinating body for Latin American area studies.
In 1959, the ACLS and the SSRC formed the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies, which ultimately led to the founding of LASA as an organization.
At the 1992 LASA Congress in Los Angeles, scholars specializing in Brazil founded the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA).
[8] LASA publishes an interdisciplinary scholarly journal, the Latin American Research Review (LARR) founded in 1965 by a consortium of U.S.