[Archive of Documents and Related Material Involving the National Ideal Benefit Society]

[Mainly Richmond and Norfolk, Va, 1932. Very good.. Fifteen documents, two printed publications, one 8-x-10-inch photograph, and a handful of ephemeral items. Varying levels of toning and wear, old folds, minor occasional chipping. An informative archive of over thirty items providing a snapshot into the activities of the National Ideal Benefit Society (NIBS) in Richmond, Virginia. The NIBS was a prominent African-American insurance cooperative founded in Richmond in 1912 and very active in the state in the first half of the 20th century, though some incarnation of the organization survives today.  The material in the present archive emanates from over the course of a decade in the 1920s and 1930s, and centers around the founder and Supreme Master of the National Ideal Benefit Society, Alexander Watson Holmes. In fact, almost all of the documents are one-page letters and other business correspondence sent to Holmes by various entities, including the Reliable Mutual Aid Insurance Company, the Norfolk and Western Railway Company (concerning organizational travel to their annual convention -- not overtly but almost certainly related to segregated travel), the Journal and Guide (an African-American newspaper in Norfolk), Ellwood D. Downing of the American Tennis Association (the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States), William M. Cooper of the Negro Organization Society, Richmond's Commercial Bank & Trust Company, chapters of the organization regarding membership issues and other business, and more.

The documents also include an eight-page folio typed contract from 1931, transferring the membership of another African-American fraternal organization, the Independent Order of St. Luke, to the National Ideal Benefit Society; this document is signed on the last two pages by numerous members of both organizations, including Holmes and the Grand Chief of the Supreme Grand Council of St. Luke, Alice C. Allen. The collection also includes two retained documents authored by Holmes himself. The collection also includes an 8-x-10 sepia-toned photograph of a group of officers of the National Ideal Benefit Society likely from the 1920s, including A.W. Holmes, as well as two printed publications. The first of these publications is the Supreme Lodge of the National Ideal Benefit Society's Official Proceedings 1913 to 1921, which prints the organization's annual convention minuted for those years. The second publication, somewhat incongruously, is titled, Minutes Fourteenth Biennial Convention of the Supreme Lodge of the National Ideal Benefit Society Incorporated from August 1990 (certainly a later incarnation of the organization).

The ephemeral items include an invoice from the Philadelphia Tribune (an African-American newspaper), three returned checks from the NIBS to various vendors, including the Richmond Planet, a long-running African-American newspaper founded by thirteen former Richmond slaves in 1882, eight blank partially-printed membership cards, and a sheet containing four blank partially-printed receipts for the Supreme Lodge of NIBS.

From the University of Virginia's biographical note on the organization: "National Ideal Benefit Society was a very successful African-American owned insurance company. Alexander Watson (A.W.) Holmes was born on 15 June 1861 in Louisa County, Virginia. His parents, Anthony and Martha Holmes, were slaves living on or near a tobacco plantation called Frederick Hall. Following emancipation Holmes attended school as the opportunity arose and began earning wages at fourteen, initially working in a factory. Anthony Holmes eventually purchased a farm, which the younger Holmes inherited. A.W. Holmes spent most of his adult life in Richmond, Virginia. He belonged to or led various African American charitable organizations, including the Twilight Foundation and the True Reformers, and was a member of the deaconry of the First Baptist Church. In 1912 he became the first Supreme Master of the National Ideal Benefit Society, an African American insurance cooperative whose benefits aided the sick and indigent and provided assistance with the burial of the dead. A Junior Department organized by Holmes's wife Mary sought to train children in the principles and benefits of the society. By 1928, NIBS was stated to have almost 40,000 members in chapters in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. A.W. Holmes died in 1935 after 23 years at the head of the organization."

The present collection offers numerous avenues for research and scholarship that deepens the population of known material from the National Ideal Benefit Society. Currently Notre Dame and the University of Virginia hold collections of records from the NIBS, but the unique nature of most of the present group provides material certainly not present in either institution.