The major conceptual and empirical advances in the field of child development and in the Society for Research for Child Development (SRCD) as a professional organization over the last 70 years are examined. First, despite reasons for some skepticism, it is argued that both the field and organization have achieved significant progress. Second, several issues that need more attention in the future are noted. These include the need for a culturally diverse approach to child development, an interdisciplinary approach to the field, and increased attention to interdomain links. Finally, the value of a multisite, multi-investigator collaborative model as a complement to an individual-investigator paradigm for developmental science is emphasized.