The Historical Significance of the Salamander and Its Relationship
with Asbestos and the Asbestos Workers
Thomas B. Lemmon
April 15, 2003
Tom Lemmon
International Association of Heat and Frost
Insulators & Asbestos Workers
The Historical Significance of the Salamander and Its Relationship with Asbestos and the Asbestos Workers
Trademark recognition means so much in today’s society. It is seen everywhere. It appears that everyone has some sort of logo or look that attempts to set them apart from the rest. If one was to take the time to look at all the logos used by the building trades within the AFL-CIO, they would notice that most logos have some sort of direct connection between that trade and their logo. In almost all cases, the connection is obvious, whether it be a tool of the trade or the actual materials that are used by their craftsmen in their daily efforts. Without question, those union workers would hold the “bug,” logo or icon precious and dear to their hearts. The same goes for the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers and their beloved Salamander.
Typical rank and file Insulators / Asbestos Workers have, over time, lost touch with their symbolic use of a salamander perched on top of a pipe with a raging fire below and no longer have a clear understanding of the rich history that comes along with it. Unfortunately, the reason why it was chosen has faded with time. Moreover, the meaning, however rich in history, is somehow lost on the membership.
I believe that a greater understanding is needed to remind the tradesmen of their longtime association with the salamander and its association with asbestos. My hope is that I might possibly provide an increased sense of pride and ownership among the members, especially once they know that the roots of their history are very deep.
For this reason I have conducted an in-depth and thorough
search for the original meaning that prompted the Knights of Labor’s
Salamander Association, as well as the AFL-CIO’s International Association
of Heat and Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers, to continue in the historical
of use of the salamander, known for its alleged ability to live in fire, as
an icon. Interestingly, the tumultuous path the salamander has taken is almost
as long as recorded history itself.
The Historical Significance of the Salamander and Its Relationship with Asbestos
and the Asbestos Workers
After seeing a salamander perched upon a pipe over a raging
fire as part of Asbestos Workers logo, most people ask “Why are you
barbequing that lizard?” What does that have to do with insulation and
/ or asbestos work? I have been asked this question for years and have asked
it myself just to hear the myriad of answers that the membership comes up
with. Typically, the answers range from the “I haven’t got a clue”
to long and protracted explanations of the salamander’s alleged miraculous
ability to withstand both heat and frost.
In 1985, I read a book on the asbestos industry called Outrageous Misconduct;
The Asbestos Industry on Trial by Paul Brodeur. It discussed how Asbestos
Workers were dying at alarming rates because of the exposure to asbestos,
and the copious lawsuits that followed. Also mentioned was a short history
of asbestos which contained a reference to Marco Polo’s travels and
his encounter with the Tartars, who possessed asbestos cloth that was cleansed
with fire. Intrigued, Marco Polo inquired about the material and was told
that the material came from Salamanders’ Wool. At last, I found a connection
between asbestos and the Asbestos Workers’ long and celebrated use of
the salamander in their union logo.
Armed with this newly found knowledge, I began sharing the
information with my union brothers and sisters within the trade. Oddly enough,
the new revelations of the historic use of the salamander were received in
much the same way as Nicolaus Copernicus’ 1543 work on the earth revolving
around the sun: my brothers and sisters were calling me a heretic. Because
my historic interpretation of the logo had never been heard of and its folklore
had been simply forgotten or reduced to a one line statement that didn’t
share any of the facts associated with it in the minds of the Asbestos Workers,
it simply could not be true. That, combined with the fact that I was just
an apprentice at the time, did not warrant much credibility either. As time
passed, I became a bit less zealous in my sharing of the history of the salamander.
Then came the Internet and the ability to research volumes of data with the
stroke of a key or movement of a mouse. Alas, I was able to show multiple
documentations of what I had long perceived to be true based on information
I had received nearly twenty years prior.
I believe that because of my intense search and compilation of documentation,
I will be able to provide new insight to be shared with the members of the
Asbestos Workers’ International union about the long and historical
use of the salamander in their logo. My overall intention in this paper is
to create a timeline that traces the use of asbestos by man, the mythical
belief of salamanders, and the myriad of instances of use and belief associated
with them, and the eventual historical marriage of asbestos and the salamander
culminating with the salamander as an icon for the Asbestos Workers.
ASBESTOS
Background
To do justice, I must first describe what exactly is asbestos. “Asbestos,
which comes from a Greek word meaning inextinguishable or unquenchable, is
a broad term embracing a number of fibrous silicate minerals that are found
in practically every country in the world.” The first practical use
dates back before any written records to the Stone Age, when it was used in
pottery. The ancient Greeks used asbestos in their cloth napkins and the Romans
were the first to use it in their building materials.
Until the late 1870’s, “asbestos had yet to be utilized in the
construction industry. It was considered more of a novelty, as it is a naturally
occurring mineral. Because of the Industrial Revolution and the need for insulation,
asbestos began to be commercially mined. It soon achieved enormous industrial
importance because of its unique and astonishing physical properties”.
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) describes asbestos
on its web-site as “six naturally occurring fibrous minerals found in
certain types of rock formations. It is a mineral compound of silicon, oxygen,
hydrogen, and various metal cations.” Of the six types, the minerals
chrysotile, amosite, and crocidolite have been most commonly used in building
products.
When mined and processed, asbestos is typically separated into very thin fibers.
When these fibers are present in the air, they are normally invisible to the
naked eye. Asbestos fibers are commonly mixed during processing with a material
which binds them together so that they can be used in many different products.
Because these fibers are so small and light, they may remain in the air for
many hours. It has been said that if a fiber is dropped from eye level, it
could take as many as forty-eight hours before it would reach the floor. The
ease in which asbestos containing material (“ACM”) is spread in
a building and easily inhaled is the reason that asbestos gets its bad reputation
and becomes a major health problem for those exposed to it.
Health Effects
“Asbestos fibers can cause serious health problems. If inhaled, these
tiny fibers can impair normal lung functions, and increase the risk of developing
lung cancer, mesothelioma, or asbestosis. It could take anywhere from 20 to
30 years after the first exposure for symptoms to occur. Severe health problems
from exposure have been experienced by workers who held jobs in industries
such as shipbuilding, mining, milling, and fabricating.”
“The adverse biological effects of asbestos were observed as early as
the first century by the Greek geographer Strabo and by the Roman naturalist
Pliny the Elder, both of whom mentioned in passing a sickness in the lungs
of slaves whose occupation was to weave asbestos into cloth. Strabo and Pliny
were calling attention for the first time in history to a disease that would
one day be known as asbestosis - a form of pneumoconiosis (the general term
for all dust diseases of the lung) caused by the inhalation of the fine fibers
and particles of asbestos.” The effects of asbestos would not surface
again until just before the turn of the century, when an Inspector Auribault
with the Department of Labor in Caen noticed very high mortality rate among
workers at an asbestos weaving mill at Cond’e-sur-Noireau, France. Unfortunately,
no one realized the importance his findings.
Physical and Optical Properties
The physical and optical properties of asbestos are described in a paper written
by C. J. Rawalt: “Asbestos has a high thermal stability, excellent tensile
strength (stronger than steel), resistance to chemical attack, good thermal
and electrical resistance and ability to be subdivided into fine fibers. Perfect
lengthwise basal cleavage is a characteristic of asbestos. Hardness can range
from 3.5 to 5, colors: green, gray, bluish gray, brown, black, or white, and
are usually found in metamorphic rocks. Between cross-polarized light it ‘flashes’
meaning it is anisotropic mineral.”
Paul Brodeur says “Asbestos appears to be highly combustible, yet it
can withstand the fiercest heat. It seems as perishable as grass, but by virtue
of being almost immune to the forces of corrosion and decay under almost every
condition of temperature and moisture (and of being resistant as well to the
action of most acids, alkalis, and other chemicals) it is just about indestructible.
It looks extremely fragile, yet its fibers have a tensile strength equal to
that of piano wire. Apparently as light and feathery as thistle or eiderdown,
it is actually as heavy and dense as the rock from which it is extracted.
In one sense, then, it is a fiber of stone. In another sense, however, it
is a mineralogical vegetable whose fibers are so soft and flexible that they
can be carded, spun, and woven as easily as fibers of cotton or flax.”
These photographs are of asbestos, viewed under an electron microscope.
Historical Uses
There are several references that illustrate that once people began to realize
that asbestos was non-combustible, they began to use it in several ways, some
of which were practical and others which made it look as if they had special
powers. Strabo and Plutarch noted that the perpetual wicks which were used
at the sacred lamps of the vestal virgins were made of woven asbestos. Some
believed that they would burn for a thousand years. Pliney described asbestos
as being used in “funeral dress of kings” and noted that it had
been used for centuries as part of cremation ceremonies, even though asbestos
cloth or “cere” was not only rare but costly. The Egyptians took
advantage of this through trade with the Athenians, and created quite an industry
in the manufacture of the cere cloths. Archeologists have found many mummies
wrapped in garments woven of asbestos dating back many thousands of years
ago.
“Toward the close of the reign of Kao Tsun, (386-532 A.D.), the king
of Su-le (Kashgar) sent an emissary to present a garment (kasaya) of Cakyamuni
Buddha, over twenty feet in length. On examination, Kao Tsun satisfied himself
that it was indeed a Buddha’s robe. To prove authenticity, the Emperor
had the cloth put to a test and exposed to a violent fire for a full day,
but it was not consumed by the flames. All spectators were startled and spell-bound.”
During the Dark Ages, Emperor Charlemagne of France convinced warrior guests
from a rival kingdom that he (Charlemagne) possessed magical powers by putting
an asbestos tablecloth in the fire and then withdrawing it undamaged from
the flames. Marco Polo indicated that the Tartars had sent a handkerchief
of the Lord to the Bishop of Rome made woven of salamander wool. Noted American
inventor and scientist Benjamin Franklin was known to carry a coin purse made
of asbestos so that his money would not burn a hole in his pocket.
THE SALAMANDER
The salamander (the name possibly coming from the Greek salambe meaning ‘fireplace’)
was often visualized as a small dragon or lizard. But what set the salamander
apart from other lizards or serpents was the fact that it was a fire element.
According to some, it was thought that the reason the salamander was able
to withstand and extinguish fire was that it was incredibly cold, and it would
put out fire on contact. The salamander was also considered to be very poisonous,
so much so, that a person would die from eating the fruit from a tree around
which a salamander had entwined itself.
The foundation of the salamander’s fire resistant powers may be based
on the fact that the real salamander secretes a milky juice from the pores
of its body when it is irritated. This could possibly defend the amphibian
for a few moments if put in a fire. Salamanders hibernate and often hide in
hollow trees or wood piles in the winter, where they coils themselves up and
remain in a torpid state until the spring. For this reason, they would often
be found hiding within the firewood, and when the wood was added to the fire
the hidden salamander would wake up with only enough time to put forth all
of its faculties for its defense. This is more than likely the reason why
the salamander got the reputation of being impervious to fire.
The salamander also represents those who pass through the fires of passion
and of this world without stain. “Therefore, it stands for chastity,
loyalty, impartiality, virginity, courage, Jesus, Mary, and the faithful.”
The salamander is also used to symbolize the flames which it passes through
and so is a symbol of fire, temptation, and burning desire.
While it may be using creative license to hypothesize that there may be a
connection between the early references to salamanders and the more recent,
the correlation becomes much stronger as the years pass. The first reference
that I was able to find that referenced the salamander’s ability to
withstand fire was in the Bible, and according to the Jewish Encyclopedia,
is “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out
of the mist of a bush and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire
but was not consumed.” (Ex. 3:2)
Another portion of the Old Testament gives asbestos a possible first use in
fire protection. The biblical story has King Nebuchadnezzar punishing three
Hebrew children, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, by throwing them into the
fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:20) It has been hypothesized that they were wearing
clothes made from asbestos fibers, and therefore were protected from the flames.
William of Normandy (1027-1087 A.D.) called the salamander the symbol of the
three Hebrew children who survived the fiery furnace. It was also believed
was that the salamander could represent the fourth man seen in the furnace
who promised, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame
scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:2) Cloquet considers Christ the salamander king
of fire because he passed through the fires of hell after his crucifixion
without harm.
In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the salamander is “a human form pinched to
death with the cold.” In Book X of his Natural History, Pliny said,
speaking about salamanders, “This animal is so intensely cold as to
extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way that ice does. It spits out
a milky matter from its mouth, and whatever part of the human body is touched
with this all the hairs fall off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy.”
Aristotle is quoted saying in The History of Animals, written in 350 B.C.,
“Now the salamander is a clear case in point, to show us that animals
do actually exist that fire cannot destroy; for this creature, so the story
goes, not only walks through the fire but puts it out in doing so.”
St. Isidore of Seville, born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560 A.D. said “The
Salamander is so called because it is strong against fire; and amid all poisons
its power is the greatest. For other poisonous animals strike individuals;
this slays very many at the same time; for if it crawls up a tree, it infects
all the fruit with poison and slays those who eat it. It fights against fires,
and alone among living things, extinguishes them. For it lives in the midst
of flames without pain and without being consumed, and not only is it not
burned, but it puts the fire out.”
This drawing, although uncredited, (I would like to believe that it is a drawing
by Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian artist of the sixteenth century) looks very
much like it could be a template for what was to become the Asbestos Workers’
logo. The following is from the Life of Benvenuto Cellini, written by himself:
“When I was about five years of age, my father, happening to be in a
little room in which they had been washing, and where there was a good fire
of oak burning, looked into the flames and saw a little animal resembling
a lizard, which could live in the hottest part of that element. Instantly
perceiving what it was, he called for my sister and me, and after he had shown
us the creature, he gave me a box on the ear. I fell a-crying, while he, soothing
me with caresses, spoke these words: ‘My dear child, I do not give you
that blow for any fault you have committed, but that you may recollect that
the little creature you see in the fire is a salamander; such a one as never
was beheld before to my knowledge.’ So saying he embraced me, and gave
me some money.”
ASBESTOS AND SALAMANDERS
It can be clearly seen that asbestos has been around and utilized for a very
long time, but what about its connection with the salamander? The salamander,
to most of us, is nothing more than just an amphibious creature; nothing really
remarkable, maybe just a pet in a terrarium. It has no special characteristics
with the exception of its ability to regenerate lost limbs. Only a few really
understand the legend of the salamander as it relates to asbestos. However,
somewhere along the line, people began to believe that the salamander was
a “symbol of enduring faith, or courage, that cannot be destroyed,”
including a strange ability to live in or put out fire.
The alleged powers of the salamander and that of asbestos were not limited
to Europe. The Chinese, as well as the Persians, believed in the powers of
the salamander. Cou Mi (1230-1320 A.D.), in his Ci ya t’an tsa c’ao,
mentions asbestine stuffs twice. In one passage he relates that in his house
there was a piece of fire-proof cloth (hwo kwan pu) over a foot long, which
his maternal grandfather had once obtained in Ts’uan cou (in Fu-kien
Province). This locality renders it almost certain that this specimen belonged
to those imported by the Arabs into China during the Middle Ages. Lin Wai
Tai speaks of visitors to his house being entertained by him placing asbestos
cloth on the hot stove. He also tries to dispel the common belief that asbestos
comes not from the hair of the fire-rodent (salamander), but from the fibers
of the mineral-like coal in northern China, that is burnt and woven into cloth.
In the middle of the twelfth century, a forged letter supposedly sent by Prester
John, the king of kings, to the Emperor of Byzantium, made its way all over
Europe. “This epistle, which is a catalog of wonders, speaks of gigantic
ants that dig gold, and of a River of Stones, and of a Sea of Sand with living
fish, and of a towering mirror that reflects whatever happens in the kingdom,
and of a scepter carved of a single emerald, and of pebbles that make a man
invisible or that light up the night.” One of its paragraphs states:
“Our realm yields the worm known as the salamander. Salamanders live
in fire and make cocoons, which our court ladies spin and use to weave cloth
and garments. To wash and clean these fabrics, they throw them into flames.”
François I of France adopted as his badge “a lizard in the midst
of flames,” with the legend “Nutrisco et extinguo” (“I
nourish and extinguish”). The Italian motto from which this legend was
borrowed was, “Nudrisco il buono e spengo il reo” (“I nourish
the good and extinguish the bad”). Fire purifies good metal, but consumes
rubbish.
From the great Venetian traveler Marco Polo in approximately 1250 A.D., the
following is perhaps one of the very best descriptions of why there is a connection
between asbestos and salamanders. This same chapter ran in the Asbestos Worker
Journal in August of 1926, however it had not been updated to modern English
which made for a very difficult read. For that reason I chose this rewrite.
CHAPTER XXXX
Of the city of Chinchitalas
Next to the district of Kamul follows that of Chinchitalas, which in its northern
part borders on the desert, and is in length sixteen days’ journey.
It is subject to the grand khan, and contains cities and several strong places.
Its inhabitants consist of three religious sects. A few of them confess Christ,
according to the Nestorian doctrine; others are followers of Mahomet; and
a third class worship idols. There is in this district a mountain where the
mines produce steel, and also zinc or antimony. A substance is likewise found
of the nature of the salamander, for when woven into cloth, and thrown into
the fire, it remains incombustible. The following mode of preparing it I learned
from one of my travelling companions, named Curficar, a very intelligent Turkoman,
who had the direction of the mining operations of the province for three years.
The fossil substance procured from the mountain consists of fibres not unlike
those of wool. This, after being exposed to the sun to dry, is pounded in
a brass mortar, and is then washed until all the earthy particles are separated.
The fibres thus cleansed and detached from each other, they then spin into
thread and weave into cloth. In order to render the texture white, they put
it into the fire, and suffer it to remain there about an hour, when they draw
it out uninjured by the flame, and become white as snow. By the same process
they afterwards cleanse it, when it happens to contract spots, no other abstergent
lotion than an igneous one being ever applied to it. Of the salamander under
the form of a serpent, supposed to exist in fire, I could never discover any
traces in the eastern regions. It is said that they preserve at Rome a napkin
woven from this material, in which was wrapped the sudarium of our Lord, sent
as a gift from one of the Tartar princes to the Roman pontiff.
And here is a quote from an anonymous Arabic compilation
with a lovely title: Cloaks of Fine Fabric in Subtle Ruses, Raqa’iq
al-hilal fi Daqaiq al-hiyal. It was written around 1500 A.D., and one passage
is headed “Fireproofed garments”:
The false prophets included Abu-Ja’wana in al-Ta’if. He claimed
to be a prophet and began to play with fire and walk on it or threw his tunic
on it and it would put out the flames. The trick he used was the following:
he took osier branches, white tragacanth gum, white mallow and asbestos. He
ground all the ingredients, mixed them with white of egg and spread the mixture
over the skin of his hands and feet. When he played with fire, it did not
hurt him.
He had a tunic coated with the concoction. He dropped it on the fire, which had no effect on it and would often go out. He also had a sash woven from the feathers of a phoenix. He threw it into the fire, but it would not burn . . .
William Shakespeare uses a salamander reference in Henry
IV., iv. 3. “I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any
time this two-and-thirty years.” Leonardo da Vinci said that the Salamander
fed on fire and in this way renewed its skin. Da Vinci inspired one of the
great castles, the Chambord castle, built around 1537 A.D. It is decorated
with François I’s initials and a salamander motif. This enigmatic
emblem appears over eight hundred times throughout the castle.
The following abstracts of articles were found in the New York Times from
the late nineteenth century, and illustrate the fascination with folklore
and with the salamander. This was the time when the pipe coverers in New York
were looking for a name for their organization. The articles illustrate that
the use of a salamander as a logo for asbestos workers was not unreasonable.
UGLY IF NOT VENOMOUS TWO GENUINE FIREPROOF SALAMANDERS. THE FAR-FAMED BEAST,
A MYTH ALMOST IN THE WORLD OF SCIENCE, BROUGHT TO NEW-YORK New York, N.Y.
May 15, 1887 The salamander has turned up at last. In this year 1887, the
nineteenth century after Christ, the far-famed beast that made itself so generally
disliked in the Jurassic period that it has constantly been remembered in
history, both sacred and profane, and in myth, tradition, and fable, through
all the centuries since men used signs for writing has at last appeared in
New York City. There is no doubt to his authenticity. The old original fireproof
salamander, two of him in fact can now be seen by anybody, admission is free…
MEDIAEVAL STORIES THE EXEMPLA OR ILLUSTRATIVE STORIES FROM THE SERMONES VULGARES OF JACQUES DE VITRY. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by THOMAS FREDERICK CRANE, Professor in Cornell University. London: Published for the Folk Lore society by DAVID NUTT, 1890 New York, N.Y. May 3, 1891 Parables, fables, and short well-known tales probably never took so prominent a place in Europe as they did in the Middle Ages. Christianity was narrow, suspicious of the heathenism that was latent in all lands and jealous of the prestige won by Mohammedanism, not to speak of Judaism and its ancient claims to superiority in learning.
FOLK-LORE OF THE ORIENT PERSIAN, ARABIAN, AND JEWISH MYTHOLOGY. THE FAIRY SUPERSTITION AND ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN HOW THE FAIRY COURT WAS ORGANIZED TRADITIONS FROM THE PROPHET AND ARABIAN CUSTOMS THE WONDERFUL ASS, AND OTHER ANECDOTES. New York Times New York, N.Y. Apr 21, 1878 In the popular superstition of almost all nations the belief in fairies has occupied an important place. These beings are generally represented as human in appearance, though gifted with supernatural powers.
Clearly, it is not unreasonable to believe that the first Insulators in New York read these New York Times articles and possibly aided them in choosing a meaningful icon such as the salamander.
These are the Asbestos Workers union’s logos. The one on the right can
be found on early letterhead dating back to when they were called National
Association of Heat, Frost and General Insulators and Asbestos Workers of
America. The logo itself has not changed much and is still currently used.
The one on the left is a more modern version of the same idea.
Below is a page from the Asbestos Workers web-site, insulators.org. I complement
them for addressing the need to know who we are and how we got to be who we
are. Also, I would say that they almost got it right as far as the salamander
is concerned (with the exception that the salamander is not reptile). While
I would never expect as much information on the website as I have provided,
I believe that there is much more interest in the origin of our logo’s
use of the salamander, something that illustrates the salamander’s historic
role as a good luck charm as well as its long historical ties to asbestos.
Asbestos Workers International Union History
The International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers
Union dates back to the late 1800’s and the emergence of steam power.
The expanded use of steam power during this era had a profound effect on the
industrial sector, leading to better heated, more efficient factories and
plants, improved working conditions, and the creation of thousands of new
manufacturing jobs.
The widespread use of steam power also created an entirely new industry--the
insulation industry. Skilled insulation mechanics were needed to insulate
steam boilers in an effort to conserve the precious energy being piped to
residential and industrial facilities. The insulation mechanics who provided
this craftsmanship worked almost totally without organized representation.
By the end of the nineteenth century, a few localized associations attempted
to look after the interests of their members in specific cities.
The first attempt to form a national bond between insulator’s associations
came in 1900, when the Salamander Association of New York (which took its
name from the reptile that according to legend had a skin that was impervious
to fire) sent out an appeal to related crafts in other cities to form a “National
Organization of Pipe and Boiler Coverers.” The initial appeal did spark
interest, and two years later a much more decisive action was taken by the
officers and members of the Pipe Coverer’s Union, of St. Louis, Missouri.
The St. Louis group sent out an announcement that it had affiliated with the
National Building Trades Council of America, and invited other pipe coverer
unions and related trades to join with them in the pursuit of better working
conditions, pay that was commensurate with their skills, and the strength
that comes from unity. The first appeal of unity was sent to targeted cities
where other asbestos workers already were enjoying the benefits of union affiliation
such as New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. In all, seven local unions
from around the nation responded favorably, and the hard work of laying the
foundation for an international union was begun.
With the St. Louis union leading the way, the interested locals met for their
first convention on July 7, 1903 in the city of St. Louis. The results of
that inaugural convention were impressive - a constitution was drafted and
approved; by-laws were adopted; the first president was elected, Thomas Kennedy
from Chicago; and a formal name was adopted, the National Association of Heat,
Frost and General Insulators and Asbestos Workers of America. September 22nd
of that year, the American Federation of Labor issued an official charter
designating the Asbestos Workers as a national union.
The year 1910 marked a new plateau for the Union. Several Canadian local unions
added their strength to their American brothers. In light of these advances,
the Asbestos Workers applied to the AF of L for a new charter, this time as
an international union under the name the organization bears today: The International
Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers.
The goals of the new International Union were spelled out in the charter:
“The object of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators
and Asbestos Workers shall be to assist its membership in securing employment,
to defend their rights, and advance their interests as workingmen; and by
education and cooperation raise them to that position in society to which
they are justly entitled.” Since that time, leaders of the International
Union took this objective to grow this small group of local unions to over
120 local unions and a membership in excess of 20,000.
After World War II, the International Union’s growth and prosperity
was tempered by frightening new evidence that confirmed long-held suspicions
by the International Union’s leadership: Workers who were exposed to
asbestos died in disproportionate numbers from cancer. The suspicion hung
on, but medical records of deceased members often were inaccurate or unavailable,
and the asbestos industry itself coldly rejected the union’s charges
and did not cooperate in efforts to resolve the tragic problems created by
exposure to asbestos fibers.
The Asbestos Workers, through their Union, fought on, alone. They continued
the battle for full disclosure of the truth, and when it was finally successful,
the facts proved to be even worse than had been suspected. Medical evidence
which was largely financed by the workers themselves, through the International
Union, now conclusively proves that exposure to asbestos fibers produces an
extraordinarily high risk of contracting cancer. Another sad aspect of asbestos
exposure is that related diseases often do not show up for twenty or thirty
years.
Since this evidence was proven, the Union has fought for passage of new safety
and health laws to help protect its members as well as the public. The Environmental
Protection Agency has banned the use of asbestos in the insulation industry
in the United States. Asbestos has also been banned from use in many other
products as well. The International Union continues to provide its members
with education and training with the latest state of the art work practices
in the handling of any and all materials used in the industry.
But through its long and proud history, the Asbestos Workers International
Union has never shied away from adversity or allowed negative factors to impede
the achievement of those admirable goals set out in the International charter
of 1910. Asbestos Workers members are justifiably proud of the important part
that their Union has played in the birth and growth of the modern American
and Canadian labor movement. Through the determination and commitment of their
leaders from Thomas Kennedy through current President James A. Grogan, the
Asbestos Workers International Union continues to strive for employment opportunities,
equality in the work place, continuing education, and the safety and well
being of the membership.
THE SEARCH
I searched fervently for the Knights of Labor’s Salamander Association’s
logo to no avail. I can only assume the person that made the association between
salamanders and asbestos was a true believer in symbolism as well as the union
movement and clearly understood how the use of the salamander would be interpreted
in a hundred years. My research took me in many different directions, including
a trip to the Library of Congress, in hope of finding something that connected
Terence Vincent Powderly’s Knights of Labor with the Salamander Association.
I found my search to be most interesting, although due to time constraints,
it was not as fruitful as I had hoped. Eventually, with the help of Dr. Robert
Reynolds of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, I located a reference
to the Knights of Labor’s use of symbolism which gives credence to my
argument that the use of the salamander is much more than a casual choice
for a mascot. This would be consistent with my hypothesis for the use of the
salamander. Quoting from Beyond Labor’s Veil, “anthropologists,
folklorists, and historians have long believed that language is symbolic and
that meanings attached to words often transcend the literal.” Also mentioned
was “objects that venerated the organization promoted pride and solidarity.”
Certainly, the salamander fulfils these criteria.
In another effort that did not bear fruit, I contacted my local library in
San Diego, California that has a “pay for service” research partner
called the Terra del Sol Research Center. I tried to use their professional
staff to answer one question; “When was the salamander’s first
use as a logo for Asbestos Workers?” They responded back to me without
results. The information I had requested was not available in any of the books
or databases available to them.
Throughout my paper I have cited a myriad of historical examples about how
the salamander does indeed represent much more than an amphibian that, “according
to legend, had a skin that was impervious to fire.” It could be said
that the early asbestos workers in New York who went by the name Salamander
Association chose the salamander as their symbol because it just made plain
sense. Dr. Gail Malmgreen, Associate Head for Archival Collections and an
archivist at the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, when
asked for possible insight to why the logo was used, said that “this
type of information was simply not written or collected.” Further inquiry
regarding the historical use and connection between asbestos and salamanders
prompted her to comment that “early trade members were much better educated
than those who made a living digging ditches.” This is reminiscent of
a conversation I had with Archie Green, a well known folklorist and much published
writer. When I asked him the same question, he commented that the person or
persons who decided to use the salamander must have “been well-read,”
which again is consistent of that era.
I was curious if there were any writings of the period that could corroborate
the use of the salamander and its association to asbestos. To establish the
hard link of the mythological connection between salamanders and the Salamander
Association of New York, I conducted an extensive search of the New York Times
newspaper from 1850 to 1900. Needless to say, salamanders were mentioned several
times, including references to the Salamander Association’s connection
with the Knights of Labor, the mythological references previously mentioned,
and several references to bowling league team names. But I was looking for
that one piece of documentation that would make the clear connection between
the salamander and asbestos. Unfortunately, I could not find such documentation.
It’s quite possible that it never made it to print. Following the direction
of Dr. Ruth Ruttenberg of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, I went
through many Asbestos Worker Journals located at the International’s
office for some type of corroboration, almost to no avail. As previously stated,
there was a reference to Marco Polo and salamander’s wool in the August
1926 Asbestos Worker Journal. And in the February 1966 Asbestos Worker Journal,
C.W. Sickles the General President addressed the membership’s questions
regarding the reason for the use of the salamander. Mentioned was the affiliation
with the Knights of Labor as “Salamanders,” but the one question
as to “how and why the salamander was incorporated into the official
seal and why the early founders of our organization adopted the name salamander
is not quite clear” Archie Green mentioned to me early on, while I was
initially conducting my research, that this type of information was most likely
never written because it was “common knowledge back then,” referring
to the turn of the century.
My guess is that the National Association of Heat, Frost and General Insulators
and Asbestos Workers of America came up with the logo, based on the precedent
set by the Salamander Association in New York. I state this without knowing
for sure and would welcome any input that would prove otherwise. After all,
that was the purpose of my research. I had hoped that not only would I be
able to give credit where credit is due, but document with fact, not conjecture,
the long and meaningful use of the salamander in the Asbestos Workers’
logo. But what was common knowledge a hundred years ago is not so obvious
now. This rich history has been reduced to one line on the Asbestos Workers’
web site (“according to legend had a skin that was impervious to fire”).
Archie Green is quoted as saying that approximately twenty years ago, he asked
the significance of the Salamander of a high ranking Asbestos Workers officer,
only to be told that the salamander could withstand heat as well as cold much
in the same way a gecko changes color. This might not be completely accurate,
but it does illustrate the point that once an anecdote is started, it creates
a life of its own. Somewhere along the line, as with most stories, the truth
becomes askew. In this case, the legend about the mythical salamander was
lost. There is not a simple answer to the question of why the International
Association of Heat and Frost Insulators uses the salamander as its logo,
but one thing remains certain, that there will be a colorful story behind
it, no matter which one you choose.
The author Paul Brodeur was kind enough to respond via email to my inquiries
about the correlation between the Salamander and the Asbestos Workers logo,
although he states he made no such connection and that I must have read that
into his research. After re-reading his book Outrageous Misconduct, it became
clear that he only mentions the history of asbestos which included a reference
about salamanders’ wool and Marco Polo, but does not go so far as to
make the connection. “That’s OK,” said Archie Green, with
whom I confided my frustration. He stated that “because all your other
research suggests a correlation, your hypothesis should remain true; however
the chances of finding actual documentation from the Salamander Association
or the Asbestos Workers explaining their reasons for choosing the salamander
may not be possible”.
NOTES