What History and Archival Resources Are Available on the AAA Website?

The American Accordionists' Association (AAA) website, ameraccordionists.org, maintains a dedicated history section that gathers past presidents, competition champions, commissioned music, and memorial content in one place. It is most useful if you are researching the organization's development, looking up a specific past officer or champion, or tracing the AAA's role in accordion competitions and festivals. The material is archival rather than comprehensive: it reflects what the AAA has chosen to publish, so treat it as a starting point rather than a complete record.

Main history and archival sections

The site's navigation lists several distinct resources under its history and news areas:

• AAA History — narrative articles on the organization's past.
• Past Presidents — profiles of former AAA presidents.
• Champions — records of competition winners.
• AAA Music Commissions — works the association commissioned.
• Lifetime Achievement Award — recognition of long-serving figures.
• Memorials — tributes to members who have died.
• Articles — a broader collection of historical writing.
• Past Events — records of earlier festivals and activities.
• Newsletters — back issues that document activities over time.
• Youtube Videos and Interviews — recorded material featuring performers and officials.

These sit alongside current-event pages such as the festival listing and competition pages, so the same site serves both current members and historical researchers.

What you can actually look up

The history pages support a few concrete research tasks:

1. Tracing leadership. The Past Presidents section lets you follow the sequence of AAA presidents. The site's own news content illustrates the kind of detail available — for example, a message from the current president notes that Mary Tokarski served as AAA president from 2015 to 2018, that she represented the United States at the Coupe Mondiale in Belgium (1971) and France (1973), and that she came from a family of accordionists including siblings Julie Kasprzyk Cardona and Walter Kasprzyk, who performed as the "K" Trio.
2. Checking competition outcomes. The Champions section records winners, which is useful if you want to see who has placed in AAA competitions over time.
3. Finding commissioned repertoire. AAA Music Commissions documents works written at the association's request — relevant if you are programming or studying accordion repertoire.
4. Reading organizational history. The AAA History articles and Articles section provide longer-form background.
5. Reviewing past events. Past Events and Newsletters give a chronological view of festivals and activities.

How to use it effectively

Start from the site's main navigation and open the history-related links rather than searching the whole site. Because the content is organized by category (people, competitions, music, events), the fastest route depends on your question:

One practical caution: the site mixes current announcements with archival material. Recent news items — such as the 2026 AAA 88th Festival scheduled for August 13–16 in Pennsylvania, or the note on Mary Tokarski's passing — appear alongside the history sections, so check dates when you are trying to establish a timeline.

Who this is for

These resources suit accordion historians, students researching competition lineages, members looking up past officers or honorees, and anyone writing about the AAA's institutional record. If you need primary documents, financial records, or a complete membership roster, the public history pages will not cover that; they are a curated overview rather than an archive of raw records.