This articles describes the beginnings of the American Montessori Society (AMS). The AMS was founded in 1960, in Greenwich, CT. Its small office was located above a bakery. Founder Nancy McCormick Rambusch described the stresses of the young organization, one that was "trying to keep ahead of the mounting mail and unanswered telephone calls, succeeded in generating the image of IBM while actually operating a taco stand" (Rambusch, 1977). During the first 2 years of AMS, there were many issues with teacher training, but even more crucial was extreme financial difficulty. As the Montessori Movement grew, and AMS documents accumulated, an archives center was envisioned for the collection and preservation of all these materials, with the goal of sharing the organization's best practices. Today, the AMS celebrated its 60th anniversary and has 14,800 individual members, 1,461 school members, and 95 affiliated teacher training programs.