The National Industrial Council (NIC) was an informal organization sponsored by NAM through which associations of manufacturers could exchange or disseminate information regarding state and federal laws, legislation, or regulations affecting manufacturers. The NIC was organized in 1907 and reorganized in 1936. At that time, it represented a conference group of thirty-three state industrial associations, sixty-five citywide organizations, and seventy-eight national manufacturing associations.

In 1944, associations affiliated with NIC were classified into three groups: the State Associations Group (SAG), representing the thirty-five industrial states; the Manufacturing Trade Associations Group (MTAG), with representation from 160 of the country’s leading trade associations; and the Industrial Relations Group (IRG, later to become the Employer Association Group), with representation from 112 associations whose activities in their respective industrial communities were devoted largely to the establishment and the maintenance of sound industrial relations policies.

The NIC was deemed obsolete in 2007, having its work continued through the NAM Allies Group, State Associations Group (SAG), Employer Association Group (EAG), and the Associations Department. Researchers should refer to those series and subseries for material from the 1980s to 2000s.