The Shipwrights, founded in 1857, is one of the oldest unions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Local 1149 grew out of the merging of various worker associations that formed shortly after the Gold Rush of 1849. These included the Caulkers' Association Local 554 (founded in 1853, merged in 1960), Dry Dock Workers Local 3116 (merged in 1976), and Shipwrights and Steamboat Joiners Local 21. According to the Labor Archives Survey in 1991, another shipwrights local (Local 71 or 72) also merged with 1149. This is not documented in the Collection. Local 1149 was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America throughout the time period documented in the Collection. Local 1149 merged with Industrial Carpenters Local 2236 in 1989.

Shipbuilding and ship repair were important industries in the Bay area from the 1850's until the 1950's. Shipwrights built the entire hull of ships and Joiners worked on ship interiors, mainly cabinetwork. The 1936 Morrow Castle Fire, which resulted in new ship regulations banning wooden interiors, along with the increased use of metal in shipbuilding and repair, led to a decrease in specialized ship carpentry work in the decade preceding WWII. Fewer ships were being built and repaired on the West Coast after the War, and the unions lobbied to retain and regulate the work that was available. In 1952-53, growing dissatisfaction within Local 1149 with the Pacific Coast Metal Trades Council, the collective bargaining unit for shipwrights, led to the formation of the Pacific Coast Council of Marine Carpenters (PCCMC), an independent organization that represented shipwrights unions throughout the Pacific coast in collective bargaining negotiations. Throughout the 1950's, the PCCMC negotiated favorable agreements with employers for shipwrights, gaining an additional hourly stipend for workers using their own tools and premium wages for work involving creosote-treated timber and fiberglass insulation.