In 1972 Boyd Saunders from the University of South Carolina invited every printmaker that he knew in the South to meet at the annual convention of the Southeastern College Art Conference with the intention of forming a printmakers¹ organization. (At that time, college and university printmaking programs tended to be small, isolated and neglected.) The group that assembled in New Orleans, Louisiana for that meeting included Bernie Solomon, John O¹Neil and Boyd Saunders. They wrote and approved by-laws and in 1973 the Southeastern Graphics Council was officially chartered by the State of South Carolina as a non-profit organization.

Boyd Saunders served as the first president from 1972 through 1974. Bernie Solomon hosted the first annual workshop conference in 1974 at his home institution of Georgia Southern College. In 1978 the organization became the Southern Graphics Council and the first printmaker emeritus, Elizabeth Verner O'Neil, was selected.

Since 1977 Dr. Tom Dewey II and curator, Dr. Esther Sparks at the University of Mississippi have maintained an archive for the Southern Graphics Council. Prints from the collection are now accessible online and the University of Mississippi Museums stores and oversees the print collection and archives on behalf of the Southern Graphics Council.

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