The Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland had its origins in the Regular Operative Plasterers Society in the Guild of St Bartholomew, of which the earliest surviving charter is 10 June 1670. It appears it was a guild of both plasterers and bricklayers up until 1840 when the two professions mutually separated. The Operative Plasterers formed themselves into the Regular Operative Stucco Plasterers or the Irish Stucco Plasterers Society, both titles are given.
In the late nineteenth century early twentieth the society changed its name to the Dublin Operative Plasterers Trade Society and again in 1953 to the Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland. The 'allied trades' referred to could be an acknowledgement of the Mosaic, Tile Fixers and Terrazzo Workers branches which formed part of the union.
The union started as a Dublin based organisation but by the early twentieth century branches had formed in other parts of the country. It appears to be a small one having only 250 members in 1927 and 2,000 members by 1964, but it was none the less very active especially under its President Leo Crawford (1936 to 1969).
This collection was deposited in UCD Archives by the Irish Labour History Society on 30 June 1981.
Resident Committee minute and notebooks, general minutes, National Executive Council minutes, correspondence, notebooks, annual reports and returns, financial administration, accounts, rules, membership cards, register of members, benefits, legal and political activities.