[1] The nine artists who, with Fleming, founded the Society were Otto Henry Bacher, Frank Vincent DuMond, Henry Hutt, Albert Wenzell, Albert Sterner, Benjamin West Clinedinst, F. C. Yohn, Louis Loeb, and Reginald Birch.

[4] During the World War I years, with Charles Dana Gibson as the acting president,[6] Society members worked through the Committee on Public Information's Division of Pictorial Publicity, creating many original poster designs, including James M. Flagg's US Army iconic recruiting poster of Uncle Sam,[3] as well as advertising of the massive War Bond effort.

[2] Photo journalism was impractical during these years[7] and eight Society members, commissioned Captains in the Engineers, were sent to France to sketch the war.

[2] During the 1920s and 1930s, the Society presented the Illustrator's Shows, featuring artists and their models as actors, songwriters, set designers and painters.

Society members visited veterans’ hospitals to sketch the wounded,[3] and these art works were sent to the families to boost morale.

The Illustrator's Jazz Band was formed to entertain the wounded,[10] and an ensemble by the same name plays at Society events up until the present.

In 1948, the Joint Ethics Committee, of which The Society is a member[12] developed the first Code of Fair Practice, which still serves today in addressing concerns of artists and art directors working in the graphic communications field where abuses and misunderstandings regarding usage rights and ownership of works of illustration and other works of art created for a wide range of public media.

[14] In 1959, the society hold its first Annual Exhibition, juried by Bob Peak, Bradbury Thompson, Stevan Dohanos, and others.

She updated the exhibition space, hired new staff, and instituted a slew of programs open to the general public.

[12] The Society's permanent collection, featuring pieces on rotational display throughout the building, includes nearly 2500 works by such artists as Norman Rockwell, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, James Montgomery Flagg, Bob Peak, and Bernie Fuchs.

[24] In recent years, the main galleries have played host to numerous acclaimed, contemporary, and popular exhibitions including: The Society also has a gallery on the second floor dedicated to MoCCA that frequently hosts smaller exhibits of comic book art.