From 1908 to 1912, two organizations claimed to be the legitimate IBEW.

One side was led by Frank McNulty, an inside wireman who was elected grand president in 1903. The secessionist faction was led by James Reid, a district vice president who convened a special convention in 1908 to remove McNulty from office and install himself in his place. His deputy was James Murphy, and the affair came to be known as the "Reid-Murphy split."

When neither group recognized the legitimacy of the other, the unity of the IBEW was cast into a four-year struggle marked by confusion and animosity before unity and brotherhood eventually reigned.

The IBEW Museum at the International Office in Washington, D.C., has many artifacts that document this tumultuous period. These include convention photos, executive correspondence and court documents. Two of the primary sources have been The Electrical Worker and the Convention Proceedings of 1908 and 1911, as they provide direct insight into the mindset of McNulty and his staff during the split.

However, they tell only half the story. The secessionists held their own conventions in 1908 and 1911 (producing proceedings from each) and published their own Electrical Worker from 1909 to 1912. Copies of these documents have been held in the IBEW archive for over a century, but they have rarely seen the light of day. Starting this month, they are being digitally scanned to preserve this trove of history.

This project will allow researchers and staff to delve deeper into this divisive yet formative period in IBEW history. Once the documents are text-searchable, it will make cross-referencing easier than ever. For instance, in March 1910, an arbitration committee was formed by the American Federation of Labor to try to broker peace between the two IBEW factions. The official Electrical Worker published a summary of the committee's report, but the Reid version contains the report in full.

Similarly, both versions contain letters sent to their factions' respective leaders by Samuel Gompers, founder of the AFL, in May 1911 as the arbitration was facing collapse. While the letters to McNulty have been carefully cataloged, Gompers' letters to Reid so far have not. Digitization will help the IBEW fill gaps in the historical narrative by revealing more shared references like these. The entire project should be complete by the end of the year.

In some ways, the Reid-Murphy split was a result of organizational growing pains for the IBEW. The union was only 17 years old, and the electrical industry was expanding faster than most experts thought, forcing many branches to compete with one another.

An end to the struggle came through court action. In 1912, a lawsuit was filed against Reid, and his 1908 convention was ruled illegitimate. Reid appealed the case to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1913, but it produced the same result. McNulty immediately published a peace accord, inviting all members and locals to rejoin with no repercussions.

By the start of 1914, more than 100 locals ultimately returned and the IBEW was once again a single union of hearts and minds.