Founded in Philadelphia in 1896 as a clearing house for technical and practical foundry information, the American Foundrymen’s Association (renamed American Foundrymen’s Society in 1948) (renamed American Foundry Society in 2000) has grown to an international organization with 53 local chapters and 28 student chapters in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its’ more than 13,000 members today include leading casting technologist and operating people all over the world.

The Society’s first Annual Convention was held in 1896 at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, when the Philadelpha Foundrymen’s Association and the Western Foundrymen’s Association (Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa) invited the nation’s foundrymen to join them in forming a national technical society.