International Association of Siderographers

The International Association of Siderographers was organized as the Association of Steel Plate Transferrers on January 11, 1899, in Washington, D.C. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) granted the organization a national charter in March 1901. At that time, the organization's membership was limited to transferrers working for the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but individuals associated with private firms in Philadelphia and New York were soon recruited, and a New York local was established on February 21, 1902. Four years later, union officers requested a new national charter, which the AFL issued on June 22, 1906.

The Association achieved international status in 1915 with the organization of the Ottawa, Canada local. In the summer of 1922, the organization applied to the AFL for a change in title. The request was approved by the AFL executive committee on June 25, 1922, and on July 20, a new charter was issued to the union under the name "International Association of Siderographers."

Siderography refers to a process for producing engraved steel plates for printing currency that was invented by Jacob Perkins in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The members of the Siderographers made the steel plates from which currency, stamps, stock certificates, and other securities were printed. The application for the national charter filed with the AFL in 1906 stated that the jurisdiction of the union covered:

"all steel plate transferrers, those that can practically operate a transfer press and apprentices thereto accepted by our association as members. Also the cleaning or burnishing of dies and plates or the dressing of rolls or the hardening of same."

The International Association of Siderographers was the smallest union in the AFL-CIO for many years. Membership reached a peak of approximately sixty-five members in the 1950s. Retirement and advances in technology eroded union membership through the years, and total membership declined to eleven by 1987. By 1991, membership was reduced to a total of eight, and the International Association was dissolved shortly thereafter. Remaining members of the union who were still active transferred to machinists' or engravers' locals.

From the guide to the International Association of Siderographers records, 1899-1991, (University of Maryland Libraries)