About Us

Incorporated in 1971, the not-for-profit American Truck Historical Society was formed to preserve the history of trucks, the trucking industry, and its pioneers.

Just over a year later another fledgling group, the United States Truck Historical Society, was included to form the “new” ATHS. Shortly afterward, the American Trucking Association officially recognized the ATHS as the “duly authorized organization founded to record and develop trucking industry historical data.”

Originally headquartered in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, the Society began printing a newsletter for its members. In 1980 the newsletter was converted to a magazine called Wheels of Time.

The society flourished under the leadership of Harris Saunders Sr. (Saunders Truck Leasing), who became ATHS president in 1977. During his tenure, Saunders relocated the Society’s headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama, and hired his daughter, Zoe S. James, to oversee the group’s growing library, archives and membership. This was the beginning of a period of rapid growth for ATHS, with membership growing from 350 in 1977 to 1,000 in 1980, and 9,000 members in 1990.

Today, the ATHS is an international organization, with over 21,000 members in the United States, Australia, Canada, and 20 other countries worldwide.

In 2001, the ATHS purchased a 30,700-square-foot building and more than 9 acres of land in Kansas City, Missouri, to permanently house the Society’s headquarters and the Zoe James Memorial Library and White Archives.

The ATHS logo was designed to bring together elements of the trucking industry. The shield represents the shape of Federal Highway Markers; the wheel symbolizes the momentum of a great industry; the bold stripes signify the open road; and the colors -- red, white and blue -- are the colors of America.