Holding It Together: National Welding Month

April 14, 2025

In 1996 the American Welding Society designated April National Welding Month. This honors the trade and the skilled laborers who perform it. Many of the buildings we live and work in contain welds within their structures. Besides these, we encounter welded products throughout the day whether we realize it or not. So, let’s focus on some imagery from the IHS digital collection that features welders.

Welding tank and torch being carted by the man in the at Cincinnati Car Corporation, Cincinnati, ca. 1920, some of the welding gear donned by the women workers during World War II, Indianapolis, 1943, and the helmets and other eye safety devises available from the Safety Eyewear Service at U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Crane, Ind., 1953. IHS, P0376; Bass Photo Co Collection, IHS, cropped; IHS, cropped from newsletter.

A variety of equipment is needed to accomplish the task of welding. This includes not only the gear for creating the welds but also for protecting yourself while doing the work. An example of the physical equipment can be seen in the top left photo showing an employee carting welding equipment at the Cincinnati Car Corporation. Personal protection equipment (PPE) such as gloves, welding helmets, and aprons can be seen on some of the women in the top right and bottom left photographs. The eye safety squad from Crane is seen in the bottom right image. This squad not only supplied PPE to U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot employees but also sterilized, repaired, and did other work with this important gear.

Worker repairing tracks, Terre Haute, 1932. Workers at Crane, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, 1971-1994. IHS, cropped; IHS, cropped from newsletters.

Welders in the wild can be found doing a variety of work. Images such as the track worker, Walter, repairing a connection in Terre Haute near Preston Tower, are few and far between in our digital images unless you count those found in our digitized newsletters. I found the Crane Surface Warfare Center newsletters  (Bursts & Duds, The Commodore, and The Link) to be particularly rich with imagery of welders as well as information about various welding practices and welders working at Crane. Company and organization newsletters generally tend to be rich resources about specific individuals that work in the company or are otherwise affiliated.

While we likely have other industrial images in our collection that highlight the important work of welders, those will be a bit more difficult to locate. Given the importance of work in industry, I’d expect to find more in our industrial and business collections, as well as those related to construction. The search will continue.

Be sure to check out all the great content on the IHS blogsite.

Amy Vedra is the director of reference services. She is currently reading her way through the Great American Reads list.

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