Aid to Artisans was founded in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts by James S. Plaut, former Secretary General of the World Crafts Council (WCC), and his wife Mary. Working through ATA, their goal was to give artisans practical assistance selling their products thus providing them with sustainable streams of income. With this in mind, ATA began importing high quality crafts and selling them to museum stores in the United States under the assumption that this was the most fertile market for handcrafts.