Founded on May 10, 1902, in the back room of Martinka's magic shop in New York City, the Society expanded under the leadership of Harry Houdini during his term as National President from 1917–1926.

Wherever he traveled, Houdini would give a lengthy formal address to the local magic club, making speeches, and usually threw a banquet for the members at his own expense.

For most of 1916, while on his vaudeville tour, Houdini, at his own expense, had been recruiting local magic clubs to join the SAM in an effort to revitalize what he felt was a weak organization.

Houdini dined with, addressed, and got pledges from similar clubs in Detroit, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cincinnati and elsewhere.

[3] Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and Magic Museum, Los Angeles[4][5] closed temporarily due to fire, contamination, and resultant litigation.

[7] The organization pays tribute to Harry Houdini, with a broken wand ceremony on the anniversary of his death (by the Jewish calendar)[8] at his grave in Machpelah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens, New York City.

published a definitive history of the organization entitled "Magic In America: The Story of the Society of American Magicians,"[9] primarily written and researched by David Goodsell, past national president and former longtime editor of M-U-M Magazine.

Ransom* 1910-11 Elmer P. Ransom* 1911-12 Charles Roltare* 1912-14 Henry Hatton* 1914-15 Lionel M. Homburger* 1915-17 Richard Van Dien* 1917-26 Harry Houdini* 1926-27 Bernard M. L. Ernst* 1927-29 Howard Thurston* 1929-30 Theodore Hardeen* 1930-31 James C. Wobensmith* 1931-32 Werner F. Dornfield* 1932-33 Bertram E. Adams* 1933-34 William H. McCaffrey* 1934-35 William R. Walsh* 1935-36 Julien J. Proskauer* 1936-37 Irving R. Calkins, M.D.

* 1937-38 Theodore T. Golden* 1938-39 Nate Leipzig* 1939-40 Eugene Bernstein* 1940-41 H. Adrian Smith* 1941-42 Richard Cardini* 1942-43 Herman Hanson* 1943-44 John B.

Handy* 1944-45 Warren E. Simms* 1945-46 Raymond F. Muse* 1946-47 Bert Allerton* 1947-48 Charles C. Slayton* 1948-49 John McArdle* 1949-50 Dr. Harlan Tarbell* 1950-51 Richard DuBois* 1951-52 Austin C. Gorham* 1952-53 Leslie P. Guest* 1953-55 William R. Greenough* 1956-57 Charles O. Schoke* 1957-58 Milbourne Christopher* 1958-59 Hugh R. Riley* 1955-56 Lloyd E. Jones* 1959-60 Thomas K. Hawbecker* 1960-61 William J. McCarthy* 1961-62 Neil C. Doren, M.D.

* 1966-67 John U. Zweers* 1967-68 Vynn Boyar* 1968-69 Edward A. Schuman* 1969-70 Forrest F. Sample* 1970-71 Bradley M. Jacobs* 1971-72 J. Gary Bontjes* 1972-73 Edward E. Mishell* 1973-74 Richard L. Gustafson* 1974-75 William P. Dunbaugh* 1975-76 Dr. Roy Kupsinel* 1976-77 Charles W. Brigham* 1977-78 Donald E. Lea* 1978-79 Roy A. Snyder* 1979-80 Bruce Fletcher* 1980-81 James Zachary* 1981-82 Henry Moorehouse* 1982-83 Herb Downs* 1983-84 Frank W. Dailey* 1984-85 Raymond M. Corbin* 1985-86 Cesareo R. Pelaez* 1986-87 David R. Goodsell* 1987-88 William E. Andrews* 1988-89 Robert A. Steiner* 1989-90 Fr.

* 1990-91 Margaret Dailey* 1991-92 Michael D. Douglass 1992-93 George Schindler 1993-94 Dan Rodriguez 1994-95 Dan Garrett* 1995-96 Don Oltz 1996-97 Craig Dickson 1997-98 Loren Lind* 1998-99 Gary Hughes 1999-2000 Harry Monti 2000-01 Jann Goodsell 2001-02 Warren Kaps* 2002-03 Ed Thomas* 2003-04 Jay Gorham 2004-05 John W. Apperson* 2005-06 Rich Dooley 2006-07 Andy Dallas 2007-08 Maria Ibanez* 2008-09 Bruce Kalver 2009-10 Mike Miller 2010-11 Mark Weidhaas 2011-12 Vinny Grosso 2012-13 Christopher Bontjes 2013-14 Dal Sanders 2014-15 Kenrick Ice McDonald 2015-16 David Bowers 2016-17 Jeff Sikora 2017-18 Dick Bowman 2018-19 Ron Ishimaru 2019-20 Steven Spence 2020-21 Dr. Joel Zaritsky 2021-22 Thomas Gentile 2022-23 Rod Chow 2023-24 John Sturk