The Society of Illustrators is a nonprofit founded on February 1, 1901, by a group of illustrators and businessman Henry S. Fleming to promote the art of illustration and hold exhibitions. Headquartered on Manhattan's Upper East Side since 1939, it operates the Museum of American Illustration, which opened in 1981 and holds a permanent collection of roughly 2,500 works by artists including Norman Rockwell, Howard Pyle, and James Montgomery Flagg. The Society has recognized achievement in the field through its Hall of Fame since 1958, with Rockwell as its first inductee, and its Hamilton King Award since 1965, alongside student scholarship competitions established in 1981. In 2012 it absorbed the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, broadening its mission to include comics and expanding its programming to include the annual MoCCA Festival.