(equivalent to today's Board of Governors) this photograph includes 15 past presidents of ASME. Photo given to ASME by Mrs. F. S. Cannon, the daughter of past president William F.M. Goss.  But note the number of stars in the US flag and see if you can answer our riddle!

Left to right, standing: Erasmus D. Leavitt, Jr., ASME past president (1883-84) and honorary member; Charles W. Hunt, ASME past president (1898-99); George W. Melville, ASME past president (1899-1900) and honorary member; Samuel T. Wellman, ASME past president (1901-02); William H. Wiley, ASME treasurer from 1894 to 1925; Milton P. Higgins, vice president 1901 to 1903.

Left to right, seated at the table: James M. Dodge, ASME past president (1903-04); Frederick R. Hutton, ASME secretary from 1883 to 1906, and ASME past president (1907-08); John E. Sweet, ASME past president (1884-85), principal founding member, and honorary member in perpetuity; Henry R. Towne, ASME past president (1889-90) and honorary member; Oberlin Smith, ASME past president (1890-91); Charles H. Morgan, ASME past president (1900-01); Charles E. Billings, ASME past president (1895-96); John Fritz, ASME past president (1896-97) and honorary member; Worcester R. Warner, ASME past president (1897-98) and honorary member; Charles H. Corbett; Samuel S. Webber; James Christie; William F. M. Goss, ASME past president (1913-14); Robert C. McKinney; D. S. Jacobus, ASME past president (1916-17) and honorary member.

A 1903 Riddle?  

A discrepancy in the date of this meeting is posed by an observant guest to the site: There are 46 stars on the US flag, and after Oklahoma was made the 46th state in 1907, the 46-star flag flew officially from 1908 to 1912. At the time this photograph was supposedly take in 1903, the 45-star flag (official 1896-1908) had every other row as eight stars alternating with seven across, for six rows. The middle row here has eight, as does the center row in the 46-star flag.

This photograph was published three times by ASME, in its 1915 and 1980 history books and its centennial anniversary issue of the monthly magazine. The first issuance was captioned as "Past Presidents at a Council Meeting in Auditorium, 12 West 31st Street." The second issuance identified the many presidents at a 1903 Council meeting. The caption provided above uses names provided along the bottom of the photograph, as it is reprinted in the October 1980 issue of Mechanical Engineering.

Several things point to a date prior to 1907. The head of the table is presided over by James Mapes Dodge, who served as president in 1903, with Frederick R. Hutton to his left, who was Secretary until 1906. While Hutton became president in 1907, thus explaining his appearance thereafter, Calvin Rice who became Secretary in 1906 is not shown. Nor are there any presidents whose terms follow Dodge's with the exception of Hutton and Goss (both of whom can be explained). Up until 1915, the omission of others would have included such prominent presidents as Frederick Taylor (1907-1908) and George Westinghouse (1910-1911).

Second, the meeting is being held in the auditorium of the 12 West 31st Street offices (1890-1906), according to the photograph's caption in the 1915 ASME history by Hutton. Text then indicates the photograph was taken two years before the move (which occurred from the end of 1906 to mid-1907), which places it in the 1904-1905 range, but roughly. Also supporting a year prior 1905, the headquarters was not used as meeting space in 1905 and 1906 since the membership had outgrown it. In the early days of the society, all the winter annual meetings were held in New York and the summer annual meetings elsewhere, limiting it to a winter annual meeting. It was not recorded in the histories that Council meetings other than this were held, although every summer and winter meeting was accounted for.

The Council, then, consisted of nine managers and six vice presidents, the president, and treasurer (plus the Secretary, a position equivalent to today's executive director). If this is a Council photograph, indeed, then the absence of Ambrose Swasey may be significant. He served on the Council as a vice president in 1900-1902 and as president 1904-05, skipping 1903.

The Council members shown, not otherwise described as a past president (excluding treasurer Wiley), are accounted for only during the 1902-1903 overlap of terms (within the 1900 to 1907 time frame). Goss and Higgins were only on the Council for terms that ended in 1903, with the exception of Goss's return to serve as vice president (1909-1911) and later as president. Christie only served 1902-1904, as vice president.

Just as another post-1907 check, of those serving only as managers or vice presidents prior to 1915, only McKinney (1905-1907) and Goss served in any Council capacity between 1907 and 1915. This, plus the presidential omissions in such a case, reduces the probability of the location being in error and then the likelihood of a later year representing the Council, with former members invited.

The Riddle: The year 1903 appears if not on target, then closer to right than after 1907. Why then a flag with 46 stars? Anyone with an answer should contact Wil Haywood.  (Please note that we have no answer to this, and we will share any theories with you as we get them.)