We offer our sincere thanks to the Curator of the IBEW Museum in Washington, DC, Curtis Bateman, for his assistance with the exploration and discovery of the facts surrounding the Franklin Avenue boarding house that hosted our first convention. Curtis, a graduate of George Washington University, joined The Electrical Worker staff in 2008 and would become Curator in 2010. Curtis has spearheaded several improvements to the IBEW Museum, perhaps most notably was his work to digitize 125 years of our monthly journal so members could access our printed history with the click of a mouse. Here, in his own words, he shares why the IBEW story is...
Research
In their own words
We reached out to several IBEW International Representatives responsible for the Franklin house discovery and asked that they share thier story with us. The first submission comes from Mike Nugent. Brother Nugent, now retired, would move through many seats during his tenure with our International Office in Washington, DC, but the last one would lead to a discovery which would serve to upend much of the folklore surrounding our birth. What follows is Mike's accounting of the discovery, in his own words.
Buried Treasure
Images detailing old wall stencils exposed accidentally by plaster that fell away due to natural decay
Sands of time
Images that give some insight into the level of research done by IBEW Local 1 staff.