1816
Founding of the American Bible Society in New York City. Elias Boudinot was elected its first president.

1817
The American Bible Society made its first grant, giving 300 Bibles to the Steuben County Bible Society (Bath, NY). 

Bibles were distributed to the crew of the USS John Adams, thus beginning a Scripture grant program to the armed services a program that continues today.

The American Bible Society Library was founded.

1818
Quarterly Extracts, the predecessor to the present day publication American Bible Society Record, was issued.

The American Bible Society published the Delaware Indian/English parallel text of three Epistles of John. Translated by Christian Frederick Dencke, this work marked the first publication by ABS in another language.

1821
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1822
The American Bible Society moved to its first permanent home, 72 Nassau Street, in Lower Manhattan.

The American Bible Society received its first endowment, a $250 bequest made by Seth Warner.

1823
The American Bible Society sent a gift of $1,000 to the missionary William Carey to support his Scripture translation work in India.

1828
Former New York City Mayor Richard Varick was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1831
John Cotton Smith was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1833
The American Bible Society committed $3,000 to print and distribute Scriptures in China.

1835
A gift of $1,000 to the New England Institution for the Blind resulted in the first Scriptures for the visually impaired.

1836
The American Bible Society established its first permanent Foreign Agency in the Levant.

1841
Incorporation of the American Bible Society under New York State law.

1843
The American Bible Society issued its first charitable annuity.

1846
Managers authorized the sale of Scriptures.

United States Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen was elected President of the American Bible Society.

1846-1848
The Mexican War was fought, and the American Bible Society supplied over 7,000 Scriptures to U.S. troops.

1853
The American Bible Society relocated to Astor Place (in New York City).

1861-1865
The American Bible Society provided Scriptures to both the North and South during the Civil War.

1862
Luther Bradish was elected President of the American Bible Society.

1864
James Lenox was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1866
The American Bible Society celebrated its Jubilee Year.

1869
The transcontinental railroad was completed, thus creating new avenues of distribution for Scriptures.

1872
William Henry Allen was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1876
The American Bible Society exhibited a collection of historical Bibles at the Philadelphia Centennial.

1884
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1885
Enoch Lewis Fancher was elected the 12th president of the American Bible Society.

1893
The American Bible Society exhibited its rare book collection at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

1900
A conference on auxiliaries was called to evaluate current domestic fundraising, distribution and missionary practices. The meeting resulted in greater centralization for the American Bible Society.

1901
The American Bible Society established the Agency Among Colored People of the South. Located in Atlanta, this agency was headed by Dr. John Percy Wragg (1855-1936).

1903
Johns Hopkins President Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908) was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1904
The American Bible Society exhibited Scripture texts at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

1905
Frances Snow Hamilton (1863-1915) was appointed agent in Mexico, the first woman in American Bible Society history to hold that position.

1908
New York philanthropist Mrs. Russell Sage promised ABS $500,000 in the form of a matching gift, thus establishing the American Bible Society's first permanent endowment.

1909
Theophilus Brouwer (1827-1911) was elected president.

1911
James Wood (1839-1925) was elected president of the American Bible Society. Mr. Wood was the grandfather of James Wood (1927), the president and chairman of the American Bible Society's Board from 1986 to 1996.

1914
The American Bible Society distributed Scriptures to troops serving in World War I. It also launched a European War Fund Campaign for additional donations.

1915
The American Bible Society sent an exhibit of Bibles to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. It also sponsored the World's Bible Congress. This group brought together distinguished religious leaders from around the world.

Bible Sunday was first celebrated. The event, held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific Exposition, continues to the present day.

1916
The American Bible Society celebrated its centennial anniversary.

1918
Emma Baker Kennedy (ca. 1833-1930) and Helen Miller Gould Shepard (1868-1938) became the first female vice presidents of ABS. Mrs. Theodore Weston became its first female manager.

1919
The Advisory Council met for the first time. This group continues to meet today as the National Church Leadership Council.

Churchill Hunter Cutting (1842-1924) was elected the 15th president of the American Bible Society.

1922
The American Bible Society phased out on-site production.

1924
Edwin Francis Hyde (1842-1933), a former president of the Philharmonic Society of New York, was elected ABS president.

1931
J. Frederick Talcott (1866-1944) became president of the American Bible Society.

1933-1934
The American Bible Society sent an exhibit to the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. The display's highlight was a globe "designed to show the parts of the world in which the Bible, the gospels, and portions of the testaments have been translated and distributed."

1934
John Thomas Manson (1861-1944) was elected president of the American Bible Society.

1936
The American Bible Society relocated to 448-450 Park Avenue (southwest corner of 57th Street) in New York City.

1939-1940
The American Bible Society participated at the New York World's Fair with an exhibit entitled The Book for the World of Tomorrow. A time capsule sponsored by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company included a King James Version of the Bible.

1940-1945
The American Bible Society provided more than 7.4 million Scriptures to those serving in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. 

1945
The Board of Managers established the Department of Visual Aids responsible for production of steropticon slides, motion pictures and filmstrips, radio and television broadcasting, exhibits and displays.

1946
Founding of the United Bible Societies in Haywards Heath, England.

1955
The American Bible Society completed the publication of the Illustrated New Testament with over 500 images and maps.

1957
ABS introduced a finger-operated phonograph - a Finger Fono machine.

1959
The American Bible Society consolidated its domestic work by merging its District Offices into three Regional Offices located in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

1962
The Division of Women's Activities was created, and Inez Moser (1896-1987) was appointed its first director.

The Bible-a-Month Club was begun. Thirty-five staff agreed to contribute $2.00 per month each to support Bible distribution in a selected country of the world. The program continues today.

Everett Smith (1892-1991) was elected ABS president.

1964-1965
The American Bible Society held a special exhibit entitled Good News for a New Age at its headquarters at 450 Park Avenue in New York City. The exhibit coincided with the New York World's Fair. At the close of the New York World's Fair a time capsule was buried by members of the World's Fair Organizing Committee. Among the contents of the capsule was a Revised Standard Version issued by ABS.

1965
Centralized warehouse facilities were opened at 186 Parish Drive, Wayne, N.J.

1966
The American Bible Society celebrated its 150th anniversary.

The American Bible Society published the New Testament in Today's English Version, a translation written in common English language.

Dios Lllega, a translation designed to reach the newspaper reading level of the Spanish-speaking world, was published.

The American Bible Society relocated to its present location at 1865 Broadway.

1967
Edmund F. Wagner (1898-1989) was elected president of the American Bible Society.

The Department of Women's Activities inaugurated Scripture Courtesy Centers.

1973
Jesse Pratt (1909) became the first African American woman to serve on the American Bible Society's Board of Mangers.

1974
The Good News for New Readers program was inaugurated.

1976
The Good News Bible was completed.

1979
Alice Ball was named general secretary, the first woman to achieve this position in the history of ABS.
Dios Habla Hoy, the complete Bible in the Spanish Popular Version, was released.

1982
The American Bible Society sent an exhibit to the World's Fair held in Knoxville, Tennessee.

1984
The American Bible Society provided more than 4 million Scriptures for distribution to athletes and spectators at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

James Wood (1927) was elected president and chairman of the Board of the American Bible Society.

1987
This year marked the first printing of Chinese Bibles on the Amity Press in Nanjiing.

1989
A special appeal drive, "Gifts of Love," was launched. This program aimed to secure Bibles for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

The Rev. Dr. Bryan M. Kirkland was appointed the first president and chief executive officer of the American Bible Society.

1990
The Gospel of Mark was released in modern Navajo.

The Life of Christ was introduced in the American Sign Language Translation.

Eugene Habecker (1946) was appointed president and chief executive officer of the American Bible Society.

1991
The Contemporary English Version (CEV) New Testament was published.

The American Bible Society provided the military in the Persian Gulf with 300,000 compact Bibles with camouflage covers.

The American Bible Society celebrated its 175th anniversary.

1992
A four-year, $23.5 million commitment was made to Bible work in the Commonwealth of Independent States and former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Out of the Tombs, a translation of Mark 5.1-20, was produced and sold in video format.

1993
A partnership was formed with 4HIM, a popular contemporary Christian singing group, as part of the Society's Artist Relations Program.

1994
The video, A Father and Two Sons, based on Luke 15.11-32, was completed. In 1995 this product was available in CD-ROM format.

Video and CD-ROM versions of The Visit, based on Luke 1.39-56, were completed.

1995
The Contemporary English Version was completed.

1996
The American Bible Society distributed Scripture resources at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

The American Bible Society pledged to distribute 5,000 Scriptures to African American and interracial churches destroyed by fire bombings.

1998
The American Bible Society completed the renovation of its headquarters at 1865 Broadway. The New York firm of Fox & Fowle Architects supervised this project.

1999
The American Bible Society published the African American Jubilee Bible.

2000
The Learning Bible in the Contemporary English Version was published.

2001
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, the American Bible Society distributed more than one million Scriptures and offered downloadable portions free of charge to those affected by the tragedy.

2003
The American Bible Society produced a pocket-sized military Bible, developed jointly with the aid of Catholic and Protestant chaplains from all branches of the armed forces.

2004
Following the tsunami disaster, the American Bible Society, in cooperation with the United Bible Societies and partner Bible Societies in Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, provided a host of Bible resources to people in the affected regions.

2005
The American Bible Society sent nearly a million Bibles and Scripture portions to those who survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The 26-year translation project of the New Testament in the Gullah language was completed.

The American Bible Society formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to give a free Bible to each of its new homeowners in the United States.

2006
To commemorate the 190th anniversary of the American Bible Society’s founding, there was a Bible Read-a-Thon, a round-the-clock continuous reading of God’s Word, outside our corporate headquarters in New York City. Over the course of six days, more than 400 people took turns reading the Bible aloud from cover to cover in 26 languages.

A new television series, American Bible Society Presents, airs weekly on more than 400 cable systems around the country.

The Hispanic/Latino Ministries area launched a national advocacy campaign, La Biblia Es Mi Guía (The Bible is My Guide) to engage, encourage, and motivate Latinos to read the Word of God.

2007
The American and other national Bible Societies launched an international direct-to-consumer mobile Internet site http://wapbibles.com for delivering the Bible to mobile phone subscribers.

The Book of Ruth in the Inupiaq language was published and distributed. The Lakota Bible translation team completed and distributed The Gospel of Luke in Lakota on a 2-disc DVD.

The American Bible Society released a new album, A Fuego Con La Palabra (On Fire with the Word), as part of our ongoing Hispanic/Latino Ministries Scripture advocacy campaign. The album, a joint venture between the Bible Society and the Latino Christian music label CanZion Group, features original songs from top Christian reggaetón artists and is supplemented by a DVD with interviews of the album's artists, music videos and an audio version of John’s Gospel.