The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) was founded in 1847 by a group of railway and manufacturing engineers with the mission to ‘give an impulse to inventions likely to be useful to the world’. The IMechE amalgamated with the Institution of Automobile Engineers (IAutoE/IAE) in 1947 and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (ILocoE/ILE) in 1969. The archive holds all the existing records.

The archive also holds important collections such as the personal papers of engineers, engineering company records, engineering drawings and photographs. A selection of key items and objects is available on the Virtual Archive. Archive material is available to view in the Library by appointment with the Archivist ([email protected]).

Collections on Ancestry cover IMechE, ILE and IAE membership records. Records like these can tie into occupations in the census, railway records, passenger lists and trade union records, as well as revealing biographical details and work patterns over time.

• membership proposal forms for IMechE (1847–1938), inclining typescript (c1890-1938);
• register of members of IMechE (1847–1938);
• membership records including proposal forms for IAE (1907-1938);
• membership index cards of ILE (1915–1938).

Administrative records for IAE, ILE and IMechE and post-1938 membership records can be viewed in the Library.

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