Scope and Content

Correspondence, 1910-1939; minutes, 1912-1923; quarterly and annual financial reports, 1910-1934; clippings; life insurance policies, 1923-1934; and receipts for insurance payments, 1933-1935; and personal papers of the group's recording secretary, John J. Ryan, including clippings, union membership records, and greeting cards, 1896-1958.

Scope and Contents This collection documents the activities of the National Ideal Benefit Society (NIBS), an African American insurance cooperative headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. It also contains related papers of NIBS founder A.W. Holmes. The correspondence in the collection is mostly written by African Americans, from NIBS policy holders to leaders of the African American community. There is also correspondence between A.W. Holmes and various local churches and benefit societies, national charitable...