Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago records

  • Creator Names Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago.
  • Title Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago records [manuscript], 1871-1973.
  • Physical description 18.35 linear feet (32 boxes, 12 packages.)
  • Collection summary 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.
  • Access and usage restrictions Items written in German or in English or in both languages.
  • Acquisition information Gift of Workmen's Benefit Fund U.S.A., the organization with which the Mutual Benefit and Aid Society merged (M1981.0042).
  • Biographical or Historical Note German American fraternal benefit society that organized social events and provided health and life insurance to its members; called Bismarck Bund, 1871-1877; name changed in 1877 to Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago, in 1907 to Gegenseitiger Unterstützungs-Verein/Mutual Aid and Benefit Society, and in 1958 back to Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago.
  • Finding Aids Note Descriptive inventory available online.
  • Location of Other Archival Materials Note 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.
  • Names
    • Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago Archives.
    • Bismarck Bund (Chicago, Ill.) Archives.
    • Gegenseitiger Unterstützungs-Verein/Mutual Aid and Benefit Society (Chicago, Ill.) Archives.
    • Genoa City Retirement Home (Genoa City, Wis.)
    • Illinois. Department of Insurance.
    • Bismarck Bund (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Gegenseitiger Unterstützungs-Verein/Mutual Aid and Benefit Society (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Subjects
    • Charities Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Charities Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area 20th century.
    • Fraternal organizations Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Fraternal organizations Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area 20th century.
    • German Americans Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • German Americans Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area 20th century.
    • Fraternal insurance Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area
    • German Americans Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area Societies, etc.
    • Mortgages Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area 20th century.
    • World War, 1914-1918 Illinois Chicago.
    • World War, 1939-1945 Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area.
  • Geographic coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.) Social conditions 19th century.
    • Chicago Metropolitan Area (Ill.) Social conditions 20th century.
    • Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill. : Community area)
    • Lakeview (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Genre
    • Application forms. aat
    • Correspondence. aat
    • Financial records. aat
    • German language items. chs
    • Minutes. aat
  • Geographic name United States Illinois Cook County Chicago.
  • Finding aid URL Finding aid available online http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-M/MBAS-inv.htm