Founded as the American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME), the institute had a membership at the beginning of 1915 of over 5,000, made up of honorary, elected, and associate members.  The annual meeting of the institute was held in February, with other meetings during the year as authorized by the council.  The institute published three volumes of Transactions annually and a monthly Bulletin which appeared on the first of each month.  The headquarters of the institute was in the Engineering Building in New York City.
Following creation of the Petroleum Division in 1922, the Iron and Steel Division in 1928 and the Institute of Metals Division in 1933 the name of the society was changed in 1957 to the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. Three of the current member societies were then created from the divisions, increasing to four in 1974 when the Iron and Steel Society (ISS) was formed. In 2004 ISS merged with the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers (AISE) to form the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) whilst remaining a member society of AIME.