The African Studies Association of the United Kingdom held its first Conference at the University of Birmingham from 14 to 17 September, 1964, when about a hundred members came together with a number of guests and observers, including representatives of the African Studies Association of the United States, the Africa-Studiecentrum of the Netherlands, the Scandinavian African Institute, and the German Afrika Gesellschaft. Most of those attending the Conference were accommodated at University House.

The Conference opened on the evening of 14 September with a speech of welcome by the Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University, Sir Robert Aitken, and a Presidential Address by Dr. Margery Perham, C.B.E., President of the Association.

It was decided during the Fifth Panafrican Congress on Prehistory and Quaternary Studies, held at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in September 1963, to follow the example of the Inventaria Archaeologica edited by the International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, and to publish similar illustrated cards devoted to pre- and protohistoric closed finds and type-series from the African continent. The series is to be called Inventaria Archaeologica Africana (I. A. A.). It was thought by members of Congress that it might be possible in this way to have rapidly in condensed and standardized form, the most significant results of new excavations. As only very few specialized journals are prepared to take even preliminary excavation reports, this method was suggested as being both convenient and rapid to publish new material. On the other hand, important old material, already published in scientific periodicals, could possibly be redrawn and uniformly re-issued in the series.

To implement this resolution, Congress appointed a committee consisting of Messrs. L. Balout, J.D. Clark, O. Davies, R. Inskeep, J. Nenquin and M. Posnansky. Since these persons are also members of the Standing Committee on Terminology, the necessary close collaboration between those two bodies is guaranteed. It was further decided that all matters relating to the practical side of editing the material should be centralized by one person, so as to ensure a maximum of uniformity in section drawing, general presentation of the cards, etc. The Patrimoine du Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale at Tervuren (Belgium), through its Chairman Prof. Ir L. Cahen, very kindly offered to provide the financial backing necessary for this enterprise.

The Boston University African Studies Program inaugurated a program for the United States Government in June 1959 when an orientation and training course for International Cooperation Administration (the predecessor of the Agency for International Development) career personnel to be assigned to African posts was undertaken. A special staff was appointed to administer the program under the direction of the Director of the African Studies Program. In 1961 the Development Research Center was formally established within the African Studies Program with responsibility for administering contract activities. John D. Montgomery, who was in charge of contract activities from 1960 to 1963, was succeeded as Director of the Development Research Center by John L. Fletcher, Jr., Professor of Government at Boston University. Other members of the Center's staff have included Edouard Bustin, Associate Research Professor of Government; Wilbert J. LeMelle, Assistant Research Professor of Government; John W. Sommer, Research Assistant; and Claudia W. Moyne, Research Associate. Regular staff members of the African Studies Program also participate in the work of the Development Research Center by delivering lectures and giving informal instruction.

During the period of the first contract, 140 career employees studied at Boston University. The program for the first group of employees included seven months of study, part of which was at Boston University and part in Europe and Africa. For the second group of employees, trained in 1960, a shorter period of study included work in Boston as well as a European phase at Oxford, London, Brussels, and Paris. For the third group there was a seven-week's program conducted entirely in Boston. Subsequent groups received four weeks of instruction in Boston. In addition to the lectures and published written materials, the course also included the study and discussion of special case studies in technical assistance and group exercises in the design and analysis of foreign aid programs for selected countries.