The establishment of a national organization and its attendant major journal, historians of science and of higher education maintain, have been crucial in the process of academic professionalization. During the late 1800s a number of professional organizations that exist today (e. g., American Physiological Society; American Psychological Association) were founded. The American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (1885) was one of the earliest. One of several purposes of the American Physical Education Review (1896), was to disseminate--and, it was hoped, encourage--research. In 1930, this function was taken over by the newly created The Research Quarterly, today known as the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. Both have performed a significant role in fostering graduate study and advancing research relevant to the field of physical education (now often called kinesiology, human performance, or one of several other designations). (Contains 132 notes.)