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Business View Magazine
The Toy Industry Association
100 years of service
On Friday, June 9, 1916 in New York City’s Herald
Square, Harry C. Ives of the Ives Manufacturing Cor-
poration called to order a meeting of 46 American toy
manufacturers. Their purpose: to establish a trade as-
sociation exclusively for toymakers.
According to hand-written minutes from that meeting,
the object of the discussion was to “improve the toy
industry in this country ... stimulate the use of toys by
giving publicity to American-made toys ... encourage
the custom of buying toys for [the] midsummer holiday
to have two seasons in place of one ... and be well-
equipped to protect [the] industry when the war is
over.”
There began the Toy Manufacturers of the U.S.A.,
which would later be renamed the Toy Industry Asso-
ciation (TIA).
Since that inaugural meeting, TIA has expanded and
evolved to support the needs of a rapidly changing toy
industry. From the impact of wars to the rise of the
technology revolution, the Association has adapted its
mission throughout the years to serve an ever-widen-
