Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

MS 51
Mutual Insurance Association of Iowa
Records, 1891-1985, n.d.


Descriptive summary

creator:

Mutual Insurance Association of Iowa

title:

Records

dates:

1891-1985, n.d.

extent:

3.36 linear ft.  (8 document boxes)

collection number:

MS 51

repository:

Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access:

Open for research

publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department

preferred citation:

Mutual Insurance Association of Iowa Records, MS 51, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Historical note

The Mutual Insurance Association of Iowa (MIAI) is a trade association whose member organizations are primarily county and state mutual insurance associations from Iowa.  The MIAI provides education on insurance issues and legislative awareness for its members through online resources and annual meetings.  The MIAI meets regularly with the Iowa Insurance Division and monitors both national and state legislative matters.

The first organized county mutual insurance company in Iowa appeared in Scott County in 1849.  A total of 52 Iowa counties had organized mutual insurance companies by 1860.  Credit is given to M. Farrington of Bremer County for initiating efforts to form the state association, which was organized in 1882 as the Iowa State Association of Farmers' Mutual Insurance Companies.  Farrington went on to serve as the Association's second president (1883-1890).

Throughout its early history the organization went by several names, including the Iowa Mutual Insurance Association. By 1933, the Association was officially called the Iowa Association of Mutual Insurance Associations. In 1974, the name was changed again to the Mutual Insurance Association of Iowa.

MIAI is currently (as of 2009) headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Collection description

This collection (1891-1985, n.d.) contains proceedings of annual meetings, copies of articles of incorporation and by-laws, correspondence, committee files, and subject files regarding insurance-related topics. 

The earliest information in the collection is contained in a ledger that includes clippings, meeting minutes, and notes related to the organization's annual conventions.  The bulk of the rest of the material is from the 1940s and 1950s with annual convention proceedings up through 1985.  The committee files include correspondence, minutes, and reports of committees concerned with fire protection, state legislation, guiding principles, loss prevention, public relations, and state taxation laws.  Correspondents include: H. L. Gross, Secretary; James Eaton; N. J. Wardle, ISU Extension Engineer; Henry Giese, ISU Agricultural Engineering Professor; and Edward J. Herron, State Fire Marshal.

A history of mutual insurance companies in Iowa was published by MIAI in 1952.  The book, Of Mutuals and Men; the Story of the Rise of Mutual Insurance in Iowa by Henry Giese, a former Iowa State University Professor of Agricultural Engineering, is available in the ISU Library (call no. HG8961.I8 G48).  Proceedings of the MIAI annual convention are also found in the ISU Library (call nos. HG8057 Io9p, HG8057 Io9p1, and HG8057 Io9p11).

 

Organization

The collection is organized alphabetically.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Agent’s Qualification Laws: correspondence and reports

1948-1951

1

2

Annual Meetings-Ledger. Contains clippings of proceedings of annual meetings and copies of proceedings and/or secretary’s reports and lists of paid membership dues

1894-1960

1

3

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1891

1

4

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1932-1937

2

1

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1939-1948

2

2

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1950-1957

2

3

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1957-1963

2

4

Annual Meetings Proceedings

1979-1985

2

5

Articles of Incorporation: copies

1916-1958

2

6

Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws: copies

1940-1982

2

7

Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws: general correspondence

1954-1964

2

8

Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws: proposed amendments to Bylaws. Correspondence of Secretary H. L. Gross.

1940-1957

3

1

Bulletins and Form Letters

1954-1957

3

2

Correspondence, General of H. L. Gross

1940-1957

3

3

Fire Protection: Farm Fire Protection Committee. Reports and correspondence of Henry Giese

1942-1949

3

4

Fire Protection: Fire Prevention and Control Committee. Bulletins

1953-1954

3

5

Fire Protection: Fire Prevention and Control Committee. Correspondence of H. L. Gross, James Eaton and N. J. Wardle, ISU Extension engineer

1953-1955

3

6

Fire Protection: Rural Fire Department Service. Correspondence of H. L. Gross

1937-1951

3

7

Fire Protection: Standard Mutual Fire Policy correspondence, with local mutual re: coverage and electroplates used for printing policies.

1949-1952

4

1

Fire Protection: Standard Mutual Fire Insurance Policy. (Extended or Amended Coverage) correspondence, clippings and copies of policies

1939-1951

4

2

Fire Protection: Standard Mutual Fire Insurance Policy. Approval by Iowa Insurance Department

1939

4

3

Fire Protection: Standard Mutual Fire Insurance Policy correspondence with Attorney Henry H. Griffiths re: copyright

n.d.

4

4

Fire Protection: State Fire Marshal’s Fire Education Program. Correspondence of H. L. Gross and Edward J. Herron, State Fire Marshal

1956-1957

4

5

Fire Protection: State Fire Prevention Committee, Correspondence

1949-1953

4

6

Group insurance plan proposed for Country Mutual Secretaries. Correspondence

1956-1957

4

7

Guiding Principles Committee. H.L. Gross and Henry Giese correspondence

1952-1964

4

8

History: "An Iowa Story" of County Mutuals. Correspondence of Gross and Giese re: history

1952

4

9

History: Of Mutuals and Men. Book statements and bulletins announcing publication

1955-1957

5

1

Ladies Auxiliary. Correspondence and lists of members

1936-1958

5

2

Legislation. Agent’s Qualification Laws correspondence and bulletins

1951

5

3

Legislation. Correspondence of Gross and Giese

1958-1965

5

4

Legislations. Bulletins and correspondence with state legislators and County Mutual Insurance Associations

1953

5

5

Legislative Committee. Re: Iowa Extension Service correspondence and reports concerning separation of Extension Service and Farm Bureau

1955

5

6

Legislative Committee. Correspondence, including Sterling Alexander, Counsel of Mutual Alliance of Iowa

1955

5

7

Legislative Committee. Correspondence and bulletins

1957

6

1

Livestock losses. Correspondence

1937-1951

6

2

Livestock theft coverage. Correspondence

1949

6

3

Loss Prevention Committee. Correspondence

1944-1953

6

4

Loss Prevention Committee. Correspondence

1954-1957

6

5

Loss Prevention Committee. Correspondence

1957-1964

6

6

Mutual Alliance of Iowa. Correspondence, bulletins, newsletters and promotional material re: 200th anniversary of mutual insurance

1951-1952

7

1

Mutual Alliance of Iowa, Minutes and newsletters from Sterling Alexander, Counsel

1953-1959

7

2

National Association correspondence. Correspondence including Marie L. Huffman, Assistant Secretary and Harry P. Cooper, Jr., Secretary of National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

1945-1950

7

3

Other state associations. Correspondence and newsletters

1939-1958

8

1

Past presidents of state association. Correspondence re: convention banquet

1955-1958

8

2

Programs of state association conventions

1946-1984

8

3

Program and Banquet Committee, Correspondence

1958-1964

8

4

Protective mortgages, Correspondence and reports

1937-1939

8

5

Public Relations Committee. Gross correspondence,
Neighbor Helping Neighbor

1960, n.d.

8

6

Public Relations. Correspondence of H. Giese

1960-1964

8

7

Question Box Committee, Correspondence of Giese

1958-1964

8

8

75-year anniversary mutual associations, lists of 75-year-old or more member associations, and copy of The Feeling is Mutual, A Century of Sessions

1945-1980

8

9

Standard Uniform Policy Committee. Correspondence including L. G. Keeny, Secretary of Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Association and reports.

1938-1950

8

10

State Association Scholarship Trust Fund. Correspondence

1956-1958

8

11

State Association Scholarship Trust Fund. Correspondence

1957-1959

8

12

State Association Scholarship Trust Fund. Correspondence

1958-1962

8

13

Taxation: Federal Income Tax exemption of Iowa Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. Correspondence and tax forms

1939-1958

4

10

Taxation: Federal Income tax exemption of Mutual Companies

1947-1958

4

11

Taxation: Iowa Taxation Study Committee. Correspondence and reports including 1945 report for Governor Robert Blue

1945-1955