The history of the people and events that shaped the present day National Cotton Variety Test are presented. Recommendations of both the 1959 founding committee and the 1983 ad hoc review committee are cited and compared. Emphasis in the current program is on research use instead of strictly varietal performance. The routine of processing, analyzing and publishing the annual report is presented. Progress on archiving for research use of the accumulated data since 1960 is presented. Past and future research uses of the data are discussed.