The history of ASM is an interesting and diverse one. It began in October 1913,
when William P. Woodside, a tool steel salesman working for the Cadillac Motor Car Company
in Detroit, recognized the genuine need for the exchange of technical information among
his colleagues. To that end, he organized a meeting of 18 fellow heat treaters and
automobile people at the old Fellowcraft Club in Detroit. Those in attendance liked Bill
Woodside's premise, and the result was the formation of The Steel Treater's Club.
During World War I, the Club became The Steel Treating Research Society, and by 1918,
membership totaled 1,250. After the war, the approximately 200 members in the Chicago area
seceded, and formed The American Steel Treater's Society. They hired William Hunt Eisenman
as their business manager, and he embarked upon his most important mission--the
establishment of chapters.
By 1919, the combined membership of the Detroit and Chicago organizations had grown to
2,750, with 27 chapters around the United States. Both groups recognized the need for and
benefits of reconciling their differences, and in the fall of 1920 they merged together to
form The American Society for Steel Treating. As a compromise, Cleveland was chosen as the
national headquarters of the new organization.
During the 1920s, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the needs of the members were
extending beyond the field of steel treating alone. Alloying during the manufacture of
steel was becoming more important, and the quality and treatment of non-ferrous metals
began to attract the attention of engineers. Wisely reacting to the requirements of the
membership, the Society began to expand its field to include the complete range of
manufacturing processes for all metals.
There was, however, a reluctance to change the well known name of the Society, and the
American Society for Steel Treating was to remain the name of the organization until 1933
when--convinced of the membership's support for a more inclusive name--the Society became
the American Society for Metals.
Over the next several decades, ASM's membership and the number of chapters greatly
expanded, as did the Society's services to its members. Metal Progress (now Advanced
Materials & Processes) magazine became known as the preeminent technical publication
in the country, and the Society earned a reputation as a valuable source for technical
information through its books, handbooks, and national and regional conferences.
The 1950s proved to be a very important decade for ASM. In 1952 the Society established
the ASM Foundation for Education and Research (ASMFER) to provide scholarships to students
in colleges and universities that confer metallurgical degrees. In 1954 the Metals
Engineering Institute (MEI) was founded to provide continued technical training for ASM
members. In 1959 Allan Ray Putnam became Managing Director of the Society, a position that
he would hold for 24 years. Also in 1959, ASM moved into a dramatic new headquarters
building in Geauga County, Ohio, 25 miles east of Cleveland.
The semicircular, geodesic domed building, accompanied by a saucer-shaped Minerals Garden,
was built on several hundred acres of land donated to the Society by Mr. Eisenman.
In 1983, the Society expanded its technical scope beyond metals alone to include other
engineered materials--composites, plastics, ceramics and electronic materials. Also
expanded was the geographic scope as a means to gather vital technical information
wherever in the world it originates, and disseminate that information wherever it is
needed.
Over the next few years, new and expanded activities of the Society reflected that
expanded scope--periodical and reference publications, materials information, education
courses, and topical conferences and expositions.
In 1986, progress had been so substantial toward the stated goal of becoming the world's
Society for engineered materials that, after approval by the membership at the Society's
annual meeting, the organization officially became ASM International.
Today ASM International represents a global network of more than 44,000 members in 225
professional and student chapters.