High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Society of Archivists (SoA) was the principal professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2010 the Society amalgamated with the National Council on Archives (NCA) and the Association of Chief Archivists in Local Government (ACALG) to become the Archives and Records Association (United Kingdom and Ireland), otherwise known as the ARA. It was originally founded in 1947 as the Society of Local Archivists but changed its name to the Society of Archivists in 1954 due to its membership expanding beyond archivists working in local government.