Pilkhoffer_Mónika_Magyar_Mernok_es_epitesz

The association was founded in 1867 under the name of the Hungarian Engineers’ Association (Magyar Mérnök Egyesület), bringing together engineers and architects in a single organization based on an Austrian model. In 1871, responding to the threat of the architects’ secession, the association changed its name to Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects, and operated under this name until 1944. The new name reflected not so much the actual market forces as the equal role sought by the architects, who were financially unable to form an independent association and had a lower social status than engineers. The association published two periodicals (the Gazette and the Weekly Bulletin), had a library, a manuscript collection, a publishing company from 1883, and a fully equipped headquarters after 1908. The Association had 755 members in 1867 and 3,753 in 1914, quintupling its membership during the years of dualism. This growth was the result of the rising number of engineers and architects, now trained in national institutions; in the 1884 regulation of practice in the industry; and in the creation of the association’s rural branches from 1906 onwards. The membership of the Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects continued to grow despite the proliferation of professional associations at the turn of the century, which is a testament to its prestige and its power of advocacy as a united professional body. The sources available regarding the membership in this period enable two types of analysis: tracing the evolution of the total membership between 1867 and 1918 and examining the proportion of architects within the association using the 1914 membership roll. The former, in addition to the rising figures, provides an insight into the different types of membership and the proportion