Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago records,
1871-1973
Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Mary E. Janzen, 1982; rev. by Christopher Tounsel, 2006.
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601
North Clark Street
Chicago,
IL 60614-6038
Web-site:
http://www.chicagohistory.org/Research
© Copyright 2006, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614-6038
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Title: Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago records, 1871-1973
Main entry: Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago
Inclusive dates:1871-1973
Size:
18.35 linear feet
(32 boxes, 12 packages)
Terms of access: Collection is
open for research.
Provenance
statement: Gift
of Workmen's Benefit Fund U.S.A., the organization with which the Mutual
Benefit and Aid Society merged (M1981.0042).
Terms governing
use: Copyright
may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated
by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.
Please cite this
collection as:
Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago records (Chicago History Museum) plus
a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.
This descriptive
inventory contains the following sections:
Biographical/historical
note,
Summary
description of the collection,
Description
of some material related to the collection,
List
of online catalog headings about the collection,
Arrangement
of the collection,
Detailed
description of archival series in the collection,
List
of contents of the collection.
Biographical/historical
note:
For over a hundred years, the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago (MBAS) was a successful German American fraternal benefit society. The founding meeting of the Bismarck Bund, as the MBAS was first known, occurred May 13, 1871, at Father Mueller's Local, a hall at North Avenue and Mohawk Street in Chicago. This meeting culminated discussions begun the previous year between representatives of the Chicago Sick Benefit Society, founded 1868 and the Teutonia Life Insurance Company, founded 1869. Most members of the Chicago Sick Benefit Society, an organization that paid weekly benefits during illness, also were policy holders of Teutonia life Insurance. The founders of the Bismarck Bund aimed to promote closer social ties among German Americans and to build a financial base which would increase benefit payments to members.
The Bismarck Bund was organized by lodges, called "sections," in Chicago and other Midwestern cities. By June 13, 1871, four sections had been established and the Bund had signed contracts with the Chicago Sick Benefit Society and with the Teutonia Life Insurance Company. By the end of the year, the Bund had grown to 45 sections, only 17 of which were in Chicago, perhaps owing to the Chicago Fire of October 1871. By January 1872, the Bund had 897 active members to whom it had paid out almost $1500 in sick benefits.
Bund membership was limited to males of bread-winning age, 18 to 45. The question of admitting female members arose as early as February 1872, but women remained excluded until 1899 when they became eligible for death benefits. Early leaders were among the most prominent German Americans in Chicago. The Bund's first president was Superior Court Judge Max Eberhardt, and other founding members were Francis A. Hoffman, the former Lt. Governor of Illinois, and industrialist and financier C. Knobelsdorff. Louis Nettelhorst, president of the Chicago School Board from 1888 to 1893 was an early president of the Bismarck Fund. (In the early 1870s, he was the New York agent for the Bund and for Teutonia Life.)
Although based in Chicago, the Bismarck Bund was not Chicago-dominated in its earliest years. The 1872 officers were residents of Detroit, St. Louis, Omaha, and Columbus, Ohio. In October 1872 the Bund included 89 sections and 3000 individual members. In March 1873, the Bund took over from the Chicago Sick Benefit Society administration of the sickness fund, which soon became the organization's principal function. The member contribution requirements that were set that year were not raised until 1923. Social functions of the sections included concerts and other entertainments with the type of refreshments, which they "as good Germans" thought appropriate. (according to Der ‘Gegenseitigen Unterstutzungs-Verein' von Chicago, [1931], p. 100-101.) Since these social functions violated Sabbath observance laws, lookouts for "undesirable elements" were posted. [Please note that the name of the organization in German is spelled differently when used in certain places in the newsletter; however, the organization's name is Gegenseitiger Unterstützungs-Verein.]
Bund membership started to shrink in 1876. Its leadership attributed this decline to loss of confidence in the organization stemming from the discovery in May 1875 of embezzlement by the Bund treasurer and also to conflicts with the management of the Teutonia Life Insurance Company. The Bund had terminated its contract with Teutonia Life in July 1875. After brief affiliation with another insurance company, it started its own death and burial fund in January 1877, a move which required re-incorporation.
The Bismarck Bund Aid Society was established February1876. The officers decided to dismiss the Bund's non-Chicago agents and to admit only Chicago residents as new members because Chicago members apparently felt that non-Chicagoans made "excessive demands" on the treasury. This last change of focus was symbolized by a vote of the membership to rename the organization the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago in June 1877. That same year the annual conventions were abolished, a further step toward limiting the organization to Chicago.
By 1890, the membership stood at only 637, reflecting its restricted geographical base, but in ten years it had more than doubled to 1295. While the society was expanding, a major crisis occurred in 1895 when the financial secretary absconded with the society's funds. As a result of this second defalcation in ten years, members demanded closer control of the society's business functions.
In October 1899, a women's death benefit fund was set up. Though independent, its members were also required to belong to MBAS.
Laws passed by the State of Illinois governing not-for-profit organizations (1872) and fraternal societies (1893) eventually subjected the MBAS to greater external regulation. In 1899, MBAS came under the supervision of the Illinois Department of Insurance. However, not until 1907 was the name change registered with the state that the membership had voted in 1877. The Bismarck Bund Aid Society officially assumed the dual language name of Gegenseitiger Unterstützungs-Verein Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago in 1907. It was known by that name until 1958, when it dropped the German-language portion of its name.
By 1910, the membership of GUV/MBAS stood at 2641. Section 24 was established in 1913 at Belmont and Southport. This was the first section granted permission to conduct its proceedings in English, though GUV/MBAS members were still required to be able to speak German. The outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 virtually cut off German migration to the United States, and the recruitment of new GUV/MBAS members rapidly declined. Attempting to compensate for this loss, the GUV/MBAS Administrative Council established sections in the Chicago suburbs. The first suburban section, Section 25, opened in Forest Park in 1914, and the second, Section 27, in Brookfield in 1916.
Membership recruitment for German-language organizations became almost impossible following U. S. entry into the war in 1917. The 200 GUV/MBAS members who were drafted into the military were forced to relinquish their membership, but the GUV/MBAS Council voted to reinstate them automatically following their release from service.
In 1920, the society's member total was 4090. That year, the GUV/MBAS Council received a U.S. War Department inquiry requesting the names of its officers and its purpose, for the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence in Chicago. The GUV/MBAS Council responded by asking what law required GUV/MBAS, an Illinois corporation composed of American citizens, to furnish this information and whether the inquiry signified that the group was under suspicion. The Assistant Chief of Staff replied that the inquiry was simply part of a survey of ethnic groups that would "promote their general welfare" by increasing mutual understanding, and that "the society you represent cannot possibly be under suspicion for the simple reason "… I do not know which society you represent." He further informed the GUV/MBAS Council that their objection had been the only one received: "The others have been glad to cooperate." The communication also contained a mild threat: while the GUV/MBAS would not suffer any immediate consequences for refusing to cooperate, the fact of its refusal might be brought to the attention of other government agencies (box 1, Incorporation files).
GUV/MBAS members established the Altgeld Mutual Building and Loan Association in 1929, which gave out its first building loan before the end of the year. GUV/MBAS membership in 1930 was 5666.
The next major change for the society resulted from the enactment of the 1936 state insurance code. This code, which became effective April 1, 1937, required all insurance companies to be established on a "legal reserve bases." Among the practical consequences of this requirement were that age limits for membership were extended, females were restricted to life insurance benefits, and a juvenile department was created. Members were issued guaranteed contracts with specific values, and the society was required to submit extensive annual reports to the Illinois Department of Insurance.
World War II did not produce the same trauma for the GUV/MBAS as the first World War, at least in part because its membership had become more "Americanized." On February 19, 1944, the society staged a "Grand Minstrel Show and Dance" at the Lincoln Turner Hall on Diversey Parkway for the benefit of its members in military service. Those not in service were urged to buy war bonds. John Gutknecht, state chair of the Treasury Department War Finance Committee, wrote to his fellow German Americans: "We can show pride in our soldiers… by buying war bonds and by making our contributions known so that the loyalty of Americans of German descent is as apparent in the subscription lists as it is on the battlefield." (box 7, Treasury Department). As German Americans, members of the GUV/MBAS were not the objects of government suspicion that they had been just fifteen years earlier.
In the 1950s and 1960s, social gatherings remained an important society function. Its annual Christmas party, complete with pageant and carols, was a major event.
In 1969-1970, the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago suffered the loss of three officers, the Financial Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, and a longtime Trustee. Perhaps this could be taken as symbolic of the group's aging population. The Genoa City Retirement Home, a retirement community in Genoa City, Wisconsin, which had been established in 1936 and chartered in 1941, became an increasingly important MBAS benefit. On September 1, 1973, the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society ended its independent existence when it merged with the Workmen's Benefit Fund of the U.S.A., headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
Summary
description of the collection:
Meeting minutes of the governing council (1950-1963), annual reports to members and to the Illinois Department of Insurance (complete 1936-1973), many membership application forms, circa 1920-1960, and other records of the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago, a fraternal benefit organization. Some records are present from every decade of the organization from 1871 to 1973. Provides incidental information on German Americans in the city and reaching into the suburbs during the 20th century: about their occupations, neighborhoods, and reactions to World War I and World War II. Collection also includes history of MBAS; records of paid-off mortgages financed with loans by MBAS, mostly on the North Side of Chicago and the Northwest suburbs; some material on social events, especially Christmas; plus meeting minutes, 1872-1962, and other records of a sub-unit of MBAS in Lake View-Lincoln Park areas of Chicago that met in the Lincoln Turners' hall at Diversey Parkway and Sheffield.
Description of
some material related to the collection,
Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include MBAS's newsletter for members, 1924-1973, cataloged separately in the library. Anniversary brochures also were transferred to the CHM library collection. A poster for a 1972 summerfest was transferred to the Prints & Photographs Collection. An architectural drawing of the former MBAS headquarters at 105 West Monroe was transferred to the Architectural Collection. Artifacts (3 membership ribbons for MBAS sections and the building office sign used by GUV/MBAS for many years) also are in the museum's collection.
Items
written in German or in English or in both languages.
List of online
catalog headings about the collection,
Mutual
Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago--Archives.
Bismarck
Bund (Chicago, Ill.)--Archives.
Gegenseitiger
Unterstützungs-Verein/Mutual Aid and Benefit Society (Chicago, Ill.)--Archives.
Altgeld Mutual Building and Loan Association (Chicago, Ill.)
Chicago Sick Benefit Society.
Genoa
City Retirement Home (Genoa City, Wis.)
Illinois.
Dept. of Insurance.
Teutonia Life Insurance Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Eberhardt, Max, 1843-1912.
Hoffman, Francis Arnold, 1822-1903.
Nettelhorst, Louis, 1851-1904.
Fraternal
insurance--Illinois--Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Charities--Illinois--Chicago--19th
century.
Charities--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
Fraternal
organizations--Illinois--Chicago--19th century.
Fraternal
organizations--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
German
Americans--Illinois--Chicago--Employment--19th century.
German
Americans--Illinois--Chicago--Employment--20th century.
German
Americans--Illinois--Chicago--Societies, etc.
Mortgages--Illinois--Chicago
Metropolitan Area--20th century.
World
War, 1914-1918--Illinois--Chicago.
World
War, 1939-1945--Illinois--Chicago.
Chicago
(Ill.)--Social conditions--19th century.
Chicago
(Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century.
Form/genre:
Application
forms.
Correspondence.
Financial
records.
German
language items.
Minutes.
Added
entries:
Bismarck
Bund (Chicago, Ill.)
Gegenseitiger
Unterstützungs-Verein/Mutual Aid and Benefit Society (Chicago, Ill.)
United
States--Illinois--Cook County--Chicago.
Arrangement of
the collection:
The records of the GUV/MBAS consist of four series:
Series 1. Historical and corporate records, 1871-1970 (box 1-5)
Series 2. State insurance department and tax records, 1936-1973 (box 5-7)
Series 3. Paid-up mortgages and loan agreements, circa 1949-1971 (box 7-10)
Series 4. Membership applications, circa 1920-circa 1960 (box 11-32)
Detailed description
of archival series in the collection:
Series 1. Historical and corporate records, 1871-1970 (box 1-5)
These historical and corporate records include the Bismarck Bund's 1871 founding agreement, and its first state charter, 1876. Incorporation papers, constitutions and by-laws, annual reports, pre-1936 financial records, minutes of the MBAS Administrative Council (the chief governing body, equivalent to a board of directors), audit reports, and securities transactions are found in this series. Also present are the minutes of Section 28, the only GUV/MBAS lodge's set of records in this collection, and materials related to the annual Christmas celebration.
Series 2. State insurance department and tax records, 1936-1973 (box 5-7)
Series 2 consists of annual reports to the Illinois Department of Insurance and related correspondence. Files on state and federal taxes relate principally to payroll taxes such as Social Security and unemployment compensation. As a benevolent society, GUV/MBAS was exempt from income taxes.
Series 3. Paid-up mortgages and loan agreements, circa 1949-1971 (box 7-10)
Most of Series 3 is mortgage files, arranged alphabetically by the name of the mortgagee. The mortgaged buildings represented in this series are widely scattered on the North Side of Chicago and in the Northwest suburbs. They contain correspondence and occasional property appraisal documents, complete with photographs. One folder concerns other types of loans.
Series 4. Membership applications, circa 1920-circa 1960 (box 11-32)
Membership applications, which are physical examination forms, include name, address, birth date, birth place, and occupation. Originally filed by voucher numbers representing paid-out life insurance policies, they are in random order. Some death certificates and change of beneficiary forms are present also. For samples of the membership/insurance policies, see box 5: blank policies.
List of contents
of the collection:
Please note: Volumes are listed by topic but may be shelved together physically at the end of the collection.
Series 1. Historical
and corporate records, 1871-1970 (box 1-5):
box 1
folders unless marked
"vols.":
1 Historical file
2 Publications, 1897-1935
3 Bismarck Bund agreement, 1871, and charter, 1876
4-5 Incorporation papers and related correspondence, 1897-1973
6 Constitution and by-laws, 1879-1951
7 Annual reports, 1887-1965 (incomplete)
vols. 1-3 Monthly balance sheets, 1903-1937
vols. 4-6 Treasurer's account ledgers, 1884-1906; 1926-1937
vol. 8 Treasurer's cash journal, 1926-1946
vols. 7-9 Sick benefit payments, 1904-1931
vol. 10 Death benefit payments, 1932-1946
9 Meeting minutes of administrative council, 1950-1952
box 2
folders:
1-3 Meeting minutes of administrative council, 1950-1952
4 Meeting minutes of administrative council and related correspondence and reports, 1970
5 Membership lists, circa 1933
6 Section 28: membership lists, 1887-1889; 1905-circa 1910 (2 vols.)
7 Section 28: cash journal, 1922-1923 (1 vol.)
8-9 Section 28: meeting minutes, 1871-1901 (2 vols.)
box 3
folders:
1-4 Section 28: meeting minutes, 1902-1962
box 4
folders:
1 Conover, Green & Co., actuaries, 1933-1943
2-3 Tiffany & Co., actuaries, 1948-1970
4-8 Audit reports, quarterly and semi-annual, 1966-1968; 1970-1972
9-21 Securities transactions and related correspondence, 1962-1972
box 5
folders:
1-2 Securities transactions and related correspondence, 1963-1971
3 Blank policies and other sample forms
4 Annual Christmas celebration: cash journal, 1945-1963
5 Annual Christmas celebration: ticket sales, 1962
6 Annual Christmas celebration: programs, 1962-1964
7-10 Annual Christmas celebration: play scripts (published and unpublished)
11 Annual Christmas celebration: carols (published)
Series 2. State
insurance department and tax records, 1936-1973 (box 5-7):
vols. 11-45: Annual reports to Illinois Department of Insurance, 1936-1969 (35 volumes in 2 packages)
box 5
folders:
12 Illinois Department of Insurance: examination reports, 1970-1973
13 Illinois Department of Insurance: re constitutions and by-laws, 1951-1969
14-15 Illinois Department of Insurance: correspondence, 1932-1938
box 6
folders:
1-5 Illinois Department of Insurance: correspondence, 1938-1973
6 State and federal taxes: personal property taxes, 1966-1971
7-8 State and federal taxes: payroll taxes, 1938-1965
box 7
folders:
1-3 State and federal taxes: payroll taxes, 1869-74
4 State and federal taxes: income tax exemption, 1949-1972
5 State and federal taxes: U.S. Treasury Department 1944-1966
Series 3. Paid-up
mortgages and loan agreements, circa 1949-1971 (box 7-10):
box 7 - continued
folders:
6-18 A-D, circa 1949- circa 1968
box 8
folders:
1-23 D-L, circa 1949-circa 1968
box 9
folders:
1-22 L-S, circa 1949- circa 1968
box 10
folders:
1-16 S-Z, circa 1949-circa 1968
17 Mortgages pending, 1952
18 Paid off loan agreements, 1970-1971
Series 4. Membership
applications, circa 1920-circa 1960 (box 11-32):
boxes 11-32 Membership applications are in random order.
Old Card Catalog
Headings:
The following headings were placed in the Manuscripts Card Catalog at Chicago Historical Society:
Subject entries
Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago
Chicago. Communities. North Side.
Eberhardt, Max, 1843-1912.
European War, 1914-1918. Chicago.
European War, 1914-1918. Public Opinion.
Friendly Societies. Chicago.
Genoa City, Wisconsin.
Germans in Chicago.
Hoffman, Francis Arnold, 1822-1903.
Illinois. Politics and Government.
Insurance. Chicago.
Mortgages. Chicago.
Nettelhorst, Louis, 1851-1904.
Social Life and Customs. Chicago.
World War, 1939-1945. Chicago.
Added entries:
Altgeld Mutual Building and Loan Association.
Bismarck Bund.
Chicago Sick Benefit Society.
Illinois State Department of Insurance.
Teutonia Life Insurance Company.