The history of the ironworkers union spans over 100 years. In fact, the book that I'm using as my primary reference is the Ironworkers 100th Anniversary 1895-1996: A History of the Iron workers Union, printed in 1996 by the International Association of Bridge, Stuctural and Ornamental Iron Workers. It's very in depth, has lots and lots of cool pictures and written by General Vice President Raymond J. Robertson. So when I saw it in The Ironworker magazine, I sent in for it right away. Then I discovered that it's being used in the apprenticeship as a text in the required history course. Now I have two copies. So you'd think that writing a short description of history would be pretty simple with a copy in each hand. But if at any point I've gone astray, or have excluded something major, please feel free to e-mail me.

(oh, and also, I've seen a couple of copies for sale on e-bay, in case you wanna get it for cheap.)

But the again, "An Informal History of the Iron Workers" is an even shorter pamphlet. Apparently it was reprinted in phamphlet form from "The Iron Worker" by the Field Ironworkers Apprenticeship Training Program of California-Nevada. The reprint was from a series celebrating the 75th year of the International.