Committees launch project to document ASME's most recent history

Diane Kaylor
ASME Public Information

Two of this year's Congress sessions could change the history of ASME International, or at least how its story will be told.

In preparation for ASME's 125th anniversary in 2005, the Committees on Past Presidents and History and Heritage jointly launched a modern history project, designed to capture stories about ASME from the past 20 years.

The project's success relies strongly on the involvement of those who have lived it. Panels have been selected for two topics — one on internationalism and one on codes and standards. These panels are intended to give structure to a broader discussion that will provide pointers to future historians and researchers.

This need to leave footprints appears to go against our grain as a future-looking profession, however. Historian Bruce Sinclair, author of ASME's Centennial History in 1980, discovered just how rarely engineers as a type consider leaving telltale signs of events, thus abandoning the interpretation of those events to non-engineers. "The connection between candid, original documents and balanced history is a fact engineers need badly to recognize," Sinclair wrote.

History-telling is further complicated by the acceleration in the pace of everyday living. The widespread use of high-speed transportation and telecommunication in the latter part of the 20th century created new trails, but left traditional traces behind. Things haven't just seemed to happen more quickly; in fact, they did, as modern technology — itself both a product and an enabler of change — provided the fuel for even greater change.

An interesting byproduct of these phenomena is that more history is being made over shorter periods, leaving less time to reflect on where we've been and how we got there. Cultural emphasis is almost entirely on preparing for tomorrow. If the lessons of history are important in learning for the future, then it is important for ASME to enhance its efforts to outline and record its modern history from 1980 to 2000.

A number of major events have involved ASME since the Society's centennial history was written more than two decades ago. Many of the individuals who participated in the events of the last quarter of the 20th century are still available to provide factual and interpretive observations through writings or interviews. While it may be premature to produce a second volume of Sinclair's Centennial History, ASME needs to begin collecting, assembling and summarizing the resource material that will be used to prepare the next comprehensive chapter in the history of ASME International.

Keys to the future begin with an overall look at major trends. Over the intervening years, the growth and global acceptance of ASME's codes and standards, and roughly in 1972, the growth of international conferences and a steady increase in offshore membership provided sure signs that ASME was rapidly becoming a global institution.

The Society made a clear commitment to internationalism by creating international correspondents, in 1985, and chapters or sections, in 1989; globalizing its mission-vision statements in 1993; adding the international suffix to its name in 1994; inaugurating a series of international workshops in 1994-96, and by creating the new international Region XIII in 1997. This will become an intriguing story worthy of being told.

The first panel meets during the Congress on Nov. 13 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss "ASME's Coming of Age Internationally." Chaired by Paul J. Torpey, who is an ASME past president, three presentations will precede a discussion: Arthur Bergles, P.E., who is also a past president of ASME and professor emeritus at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will lay the foundation of internationalism in ASME's earlier years. David Soukup, P.E., who is director of ASME Operations, then will point to events that demonstrate the acceleration of ASME's global growth from 1980 on.

The third presentation will focus on one of the most important aspects of these developments — the birth of Region XIII for members living outside of North America. That presentation will be given by the current vice president of Region XIII, Dirk Dauw, P.E., deputy general technical director at De La Rue Giori S.A. in Switzerland. A discussion on internationalism will be led by Gad Hetsroni, P.E., the first vice president of Region XIII who is a professor at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

The second panel will meet at 2 p.m. on Nov. 13 to discuss the streamlining and expansion of codes and standards. That discussion will be led by Richard Feigel, an ASME member who is vice president of engineering at Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co.

Three presentations will begin the discussion, starting with the 1972 Consent Decree and Hydrolevel, and how these two events reshaped Codes and Standards. One will be presented by Steven Charen, counsel for ASME International, and Reginald Vachon, P.E., president of United Information Technologies Inc.

Following this, Guy A. Arlotto, P.E., a consultant from Silver Spring, Md., will give personal perspectives on nuclear codes and standards. A third area of significance is anticipated in a discussion, "Beyond Public Safety and Technical Excellence: The Politicization of Codes and Standards and its Impact on Trade and Commerce," by Walter Mikesell, Jr., P.E, of Mikesell Associates.

For more information, contact the History and Heritage program through ASME Public Information: Diane Kaylor, ASME History and Heritage staff liaison, (212) 591-8159, or kaylord@asme.org.

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