The American Cryonics Society was first incorporated in 1969 in San Francisco as the Bay Area Cryonics Society (BACS); its name was changed to the American Cryonics Society in 1985. The founding of the company followed over two years of organizational meetings by cryonics activists. Signers of the founding charter included two well-known Bay Area physicians, Dr. M. Coleman Harris, and Dr. Grace Talbot. The 1969 incorporation date makes it the oldest cryonics society still in existence. The Immortalist Society (IS), with which the American Cryonics Society works closely, is a successor to the Cryonics Society of Michigan whose founding predates that of the American Cryonics Society.