One of the oldest trade associations in the United States has a home at Hagley Library. Our American Iron and Steel Institute photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession: 1986.268) collection consists of photographs, research notes, audio, film, and video documenting the Institute and the history of the North American iron and steel industry.
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) was established under the leadership of United States Steel Corporation co-founder and chairman Elbert H. Gary (1846-1927) in 1908 after the Panic of 1907 brought an end to industry-wide consolidations. But its precursors date back to 1855, starting with the American Iron Association, which became the American Iron and Steel Association in 1864 following the American adoption of the Bessemer steel-making process.
This photograph, taken about 100 years later, was commissioned by the AISI for public relations and publicity purposes, and shows a steel-worker modelling flame and heat protection clothing also known as silvers due to the their metallic outer layer, which helps to deflect intense heat and protect against spatters of molten metal.
Given the long history of the AISI, the collection is a big one (though we certainly have bigger!), consisting of 39 boxes and 19 film cans of archival material. It has not been digitized in its entirety, but a generous sampling of the collection has been made available in our Digital Archives (you can browse it for yourself right here!).