TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview of Collection

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of Collection

Topics Covered

Administrative Information

Related Material

Description of Series

Series 1: Atlanta Life Board of Directors and staff

Series 2: Atlanta Life conferences and meetings

Series 3: Atlanta Life reinsured companies

Series 4: Atlanta Life events/activities

Series 5: Atlanta Life buildings

Series 6: Other businesses, organizations, and institutions

Series 7: Other events/activities

Series 8: Places/locations

Series 9: Other individuals/groups

Series 10: Miscellaneous

Register of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company photographic print collection


Presented online by the Digital Library of Georgia

Overview of Collection

Creator: Atlanta Life Insurance Company

Title: Atlanta Life Insurance Company photographic print collection

Dates: 1918-1993, bulk dates 1950-1970

Quantity: 23 boxes

Abstract: Photographic prints of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 1918 -1993 (bulk 1950-1970), document the directors, officers, staff, special events and community activities of the company.


Biographical Note

In 1905, Alonzo Franklin Herndon, a slave-born barber, founded what would become the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. For $140 he purchased a small self-help association known as the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association, which had been organized the year before by the Reverend Peter Bryant of Wheat Street Baptist Church. In acquiring two other companies, the Royal Mutual Insurance Company and the National Laborers' Protective Union, Herndon reorganized the three companies as the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association, which began operations that year on September 21.

Within three months of operation, Atlanta Mutual covered Georgia from Bainbridge to Rome serving more than six thousand policyholders. By 1915, Atlanta Mutual had become the largest Black industrial insurance company in the lower South. In September 1922, Atlanta Mutual amended its charter, increasing its capital stock to $100,000, becoming Georgia's second Black legal reserve company, and renaming itself Atlanta Life Insurance Company. As a legal reserve company with the capability of selling all classes of insurance, Herndon's enterprise had reached its greatest milestone. By the end of 1924, the company had expanded operations to six additional states: Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas.

By the time Norris Herndon, son of the founder assumed presidency of the company at his father's death on July 21, 1927, the company's assets had increased nearly one million dollars. The period of retrenchment forced upon the company by the Depression was followed, however, by the phenomenal growth of the economic activity of World War II. By the end of the 1940s, Atlanta Life's capitalization had doubled and the company had expanded into Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. As one of the largest Black financial institutions in the nation, Atlanta Life offered the African American community not only low cost insurance, but also a significant career alternative to teaching and the ministry.

As one of the largest Black businesses in the South during the Jim Crow era, Atlanta Life assumed a leadership role in home mortgages, civil rights, and other areas of community development. The social and political changed triggered by the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the economic advances of many Blacks in the 1960s and 1970s undermined what had been a captive market for Black insurance companies, many of whom went out of business or struggled to survive.

Norris Herndon relinquished leadership of the company in 1973 to Jesse Hill, Jr., under whose direction Atlanta Life continued to acquire smaller companies and to increase its assets, insurance in force, and total income. Confronting the challenges of a more competitive market, the company divested itself of its home insurance business in 2002. It was reorganized as a full-service financial company and was renamed Atlanta Life Financial Group.

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Scope and Content Note

The photographic prints of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company Photographic Collection, 1918 -1993 (bulk 1950-1970), document the directors, officers, staff, special events and community activities of the company. Notable among the collection are the photographs of company photographer Maurice Pennington who recorded civil rights activities in Atlanta involving Martin King and Donald Hollowell, and the visits of prominent persons such as William Tubman, President of Liberia, and Salifou Touree of Guinea.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Organized into ten series:

(1) Atlanta Life Board of Directors and staff

(2) Atlanta Life conferences and meetings

(3) Atlanta Life reinsured companies

(4) Atlanta Life events/activities

(5) Atlanta Life buildings

(6) Other businesses, organizations, and Institutions

(7) Other events/activities

(8) Places/locations

(9) Other individuals/groups

(10) Miscellaneous.

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Topics Covered

National Negro Insurance Association.
African American business enterprises--Georgia.
Insurance companies--Georgia.
Atlanta (Ga.)
Photographs.

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Administrative Information

Provenance:

Gift, Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

Restrictions on Access:

Unrestricted access.

Restrictions on Use:

All requests subject to reproduction policy of The Herndon Home.

Preferred Citation Method:

[after identification of item(s)], Atlanta Life Insurance Company photographic print collection, The Herndon Home.

Processing Information:

Processed by Lamonica Sanford, Wesley Chenault, and Alisha Winn, 2002-2004.

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Related Material

Atlanta Life Insurance Company records, Auburn Avenue Research Library, Atlanta, Georgia.

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Description of Series

 

Series 1: Atlanta Life Board of Directors and staff

Board of Directors, Individuals
Box Folder
1 1 Brown, Henry N.
2 Greene, Charles W.
3 Gunn, L.J.
4 Harrison, James Tunno "J.T."
5 Haywood, Lemuel H.
6 Herndon, Alonzo F.
7 Herndon, Norris B.
8 Hill, Jesse, Jr.
9 Lee, George W.
10 Martin, Eugene M.
11 Russell, Howard W.
12 Simon, Edward L.
13 Smith, Walter H.
14 Toomer, Fred A.
15 Willard, Pritchett H.
16 Cooke, Charles
Box Folder
OV4 6 Herndon, Norris B.
1 Hill, Jesse
1 Martin, Eugene M.
Board of Directors, Groups
Box Folder
2 1 Board of Directors, Pre 1950
2 Board of Directors, Post 1950
3 Board of Directors, Post 1950
4 Board of Directors, Post 1950
5 Board of Directors, 1969
7 Board of Directors
Board of Directors and Associates
6 Board and Associates, Pre 1950
7 Board and Associates, Post 1950
8 Board and Associates, Post 1950
9 Board and Associates, Post 1950
2 Board and Associates
Box
OV6 Board and Associates, Fred Toomer's wife, University of London, 1948
Staff, Individuals, Identified
Box Folder
3 1 Individuals, A
2 Individuals, B
3 Individuals, B
4 Individuals, C
Box Folder
OV3 1 Campfield, Cyrus, Assistant Agency Director
5 Individuals, D
6 Individuals, E
7 Individuals, F
8 Individuals, G
9 Individuals, H
10 Individuals, H - I
11 Individuals, J
12 Individuals, K
13 Individuals, L
Box Folder
4 1 Individuals, Ma
2 Individuals, Mc
3 Individuals, Me-My
4 Individuals, N-O
5 Individuals, P
6 Individuals, P
Box Folder
OV2 1 Prothrow, Percy, Agency Director of Texas
7 Individuals, Q-R
8 Individuals, S
9 Individuals, S
10 Individuals, T
11 Individuals, U-V
12 Individuals, W
13 Individuals, W
14 Individuals, X, Y, Z
Staff, Individuals, Unidentified
Box Folder
5 1 Unidentified Staff, Men
2 Unidentified Staff, Men
3 Unidentified Staff, Men
4 Unidentified Staff, Men
5 Unidentified Staff, Men
6 Unidentified Staff, Men
7 Unidentified Staff, Men
8 Unidentified Staff, Women
9 Unidentified Staff, Women
Staff, Groups, Identified
Box Folder
6 1 Atlanta Life Choral Ensemble
2 Atlanta Life Female Employees, Pre 1950
3 Greene Underwriters, 1934
4 Greene Underwriters, 1935
5 Greene Underwriters, 1948
6 Million Dollar Team, 1916
7 President's Club, 1953
8 President's Club, 1960
9 Sports Teams
10 Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 1925
11 Beaumont, Texas District, 1959
12 Birmingham District
13 Denison, Texas District
14 Florida Districts
15 Griffin District, 1937
16 Houston District
17 Jackson District
18 Kentucky Districts
19 Memphis, Tennessee District
20 Mobile, Alabama District
21 New Orleans, Louisiana District
22 Waco Texas District, 1938
2 President's Club, Delegates to N.N.I.A. Convention, Houston, TX, 1952
3 Alabama District
4 Georgia Team
5 Tampa District
Box Folder
OV5 1 Atlanta Mutual Leadership Club
2 Viper Team, Alabama and Florida, 1935
Atlanta Life Female Employees, 1940
Atlanta Life Female Employees, 1940
Box Folder
7 1 Alabama Mangers and Area Directors
2 Area Directors and Others
3 Managers, 1942
4 Ohio Managers
5 Atlanta Life Staff at Home Office, 1980
6 Staff, Groups, Identified, Post 1950
7 Staff, Groups, Identified, Post 1950
8 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Identified, Pre-1950
Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified
9 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Pre 1950
10 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
11 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
12 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
13 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
Box Folder
8 1 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
2 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
3 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
4 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
5 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
6 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified, Post 1950
3 Staff, Groups, Miscellaneous, Unidentified

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Series 2: Atlanta Life conferences and meetings

Conferences and meetings by state and/or city/state - A-M
Box Folder
1 1 Alabama-North Georgia Conference at Birmingham, Alabama, 1952
2 Birmingham, Alabama Conference
3 Florida -Southern Georgia Conference, Jacksonville, Florida, 1952
4 Tampa, Florida Conference
5 Florida Conferences
6 Georgia Conference
7 Georgia Conferences
8 Macon, Georgia Conference
9 Savannah, Georgia Conference
10 Chicago, Illinois Conference
11 Louisville, Kentucky Conferences
12 Louisiana Conference
13 Mississippi Conference
14 St. Louis, Missouri Conference
15 St. Louis, Missouri, 1948-1955
16 St. Louis, Missouri, 1960
Box Folder
OV2 3 Alabama-North Georgia Conference, Birmingham, AL, 1952
Box Folder
OV3 2 Columbus, Georgia Conference, 1953
3 Columbus, Georgia Conference, 1956
4 Alabama-Florida Conference, Miami, FL, 1956
Conferences and meetings by state and/or city/state - N-Z
Box Folder
2 1 Cincinnati, Ohio Conference
2 Cincinnati, Ohio Conferences
3 Cincinnati, Ohio, 1956
4 Cleveland, Ohio, 1949
5 Columbus, Ohio Conference
6 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1949
7 Memphis Tennessee Conference
8 Tennessee Conference
9 Dallas, Texas, 1952
10 Dallas, Texas, 1968, 1969
11 Dallas, Texas Conference
12 Dallas, Texas Conferences
13 Houston, Texas, 1959
14 Texas Conference, 1965
15 Houston, Texas, 1967
16 Houston, Texas Conference
17 Houston, Texas Conference
18 Houston, Texas Conference
19 Houston, Texas Conferences
20 Texas Conference
Box Folder
OV1 1 Houston, Texas Conference, 1956
4 Dallas, Texas Conference, 1952
5 Texas State Conference, 1954
6 Northern Area Conference, Columbus, OH, 1953
7 Northern Area Conference, Columbus, OH, 1953
Other Identified Conferences
Box Folder
3 1 Managers' Conference, Atlanta Mutual Insurance, 1921
2 Managers' Conference, Tampa, FL, 1930
3 Managers' Conference, Jacksonville, FL, 1940
4 Managers' Conference, Atlanta, GA, 1951
5 Managers' Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 1956
6 Managers' Conference, Birmingham, AL, 1961
7 Managers' Conference, Louisville, KY, 1961
8 Managers' Conference, Louisville, KY, 1968
9 Managers' Conference, San Antonio, TX, 1961
10 Managers' Conference, Texas, 1974
11 Managers' Conference, Macon, GA, 1976
12 Managers' Conference, 1986
13 Managers' Conference, Midwestern
14 Managers' Conference, Northern Area
15 Managers' Conference, Texas, 1955
16 Managers' Conference, Atlanta, GA, 1979
17 Managers' Conference, 1969
18 Tri-State Managers' and Cashiers' Conference, Albany, GA, 1948
19 Managers' - Supervisors' Conference, Daytona Beach, FL, 1954
20 Managers,' Cashiers,' and Supervisors' Conference, Memphis, TN, 1960
21 Greater Northern and Western Managers,' Cashiers, and Special Agents Conference, St. Louis, MO, 1964
22 Cashiers' Conference, Columbus
23 Officers' and Regional Conferences
2 Managers' and Cashiers' Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 1956
5 Managers-Supervisors' Conference, Daytona Beach, FL; AL-FL, 1954
6 Managers-Supervisors' Conference, Brunswick, GA, 1954
Box Folder
OV5 4 Atlanta Life Managers' Conference
Unidentified Conferences
Box Folder
4 1 Unidentified Conferences, Pre 1950
2 Unidentified Conference, Post 1950
3 Unidentified Conferences, Post 1950
4 Unidentified Conferences, Post 1950
5 Unidentified Conference, Post 1950
6 Unidentified Conferences, Post 1950
7 Unidentified Conferences, Post 1950
8 Unidentified Conferences, Post 1950
8 Unidentified Conference, n.d.
7 Unidentified Conference, n.d.
5 Unidentified Conference, n.d.
Box
OV6 Unidentified Conference, n.d.
Staff Meetings
Box Folder
5 1 Atlanta Life Art Advisory Committee Meeting
2 Atlanta Life Staff Meeting
3 Atlanta Life Staff Meetings
3 Atlanta Life Staff Meetings
Training Sessions
4 Auditor's Schools
5 Auditors' School
6 Cashiers' Schools
7 Career Schools
8 Career Sales Academy
9 Staff Manager "Crash Course," Career Academy
10 IBM Customer Administrative School, Life Insurance Class, New York
11 LIMRA'S School
12 School of Salesmanship, Class of 1935
13 School for Staff Managers, Cashiers, and Agents
14 Staff Managers' School
15 Supervisors' School
4 Salesmanship School, Miami, FL, 1956
Photo Albums
Box
OV7 7th Sales Career Academy, 1982
8th Sales Career Academy, 1983
Box
OV8 9th Sales Career Academy, 1984
10th Sales Career Academy, 1985
12th Sales Career Academy, 1987
13th Sales Career Academy, 1988
13th Manpower Development School, 1989
Box
OV9 14th Sales Career Academy, 1989
16th Sales Management Career Academy, 1991
17th Sales Career Academy, 1992
18th Sales Academy, 1993

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Series 3: Atlanta Life reinsured companies

Box Folder
1 1 Ford Reinsures with Minority Firms
2 People's Life Insurance Company
3 People's Life Insurance Company
4 Pilgrim Health & Life Insurance Company
5 Western Mutual Benefit and Western Mutual Life, Houston, TX, 1941
6 Standard Life Insurance Company
7 Union Central Relief Insurance Company, 1931
8 Other Insurance Companies
9 Other Insurance Companies
Box Folder
OV5 6 American Mutual, Dallas, TX, 1931

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Series 4: Atlanta Life events/activities

Identified
Box Folder
1 1 Natal Day,
2 Natal Day
3 Halloween Party, 1946
4 Halloween Parties
5 Gravesite Ceremonies
6 Christmas Party, 1955
7 Other Atlanta Life Social Events
8 Unidentified Wedding, 1966
9 Unidentified Wedding
10 Unidentified Weddings
Awards Recognition
Box Folder
2 1 N.B. Herndon Caravan Winners, 1954
2 National Business League Awards Dinner, Atlanta GA, 1963, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. and Eugene M. Martin, Man of the Year
3 President's Club, Awards Recognition
4 Honoring Dr. Ernest Cherrie, Awards Recognition
5 Breakfast Honoring Mr. O.C.W. Taylor, Awards Recognition
6 Awards Recognition for Agent Dorothy Sephus
7 "Man of the Year," Percy W. Prothrow
8 Awards Recognition for Retiree Eugene Trawick
9 Awards Recognition for Retiree, Sara H. Carter, 1961
10 Awards Recognition
11 Awards Recognition
12 Awards Recognition
13 Awards Recognition
14 Awards Recognition
15 Awards Recognition
Other Atlanta Life Events
Box Folder
3 1 Atlanta Life Sponsored Beauty Contest
2 Breakfast at the "Y," Cleveland, OH
3 Frontier's Banquet
4 Construction of New Office Building, Atlanta Life
5 Mayor Edmund Orgill with Atlanta Life Ribbon Cutting, Memphis, TN
6 50th Anniversary, Atlanta Life
7 Atlanta Life Event, Miami, FL
8 Atlanta Life Event, Houston, TX
9 Atlanta Life Events, New Orleans, LA
10 Atlanta Life Events, Memphis, TN
11 Atlanta Life Events, Savannah, GA
Box
OV8 Atlanta Life Insurance Company Ground Breaking and Construction, 1978, 1979, (Photo Album)
Unidentified
12 Atlanta Life Events
13 Atlanta Life Events
14 Atlanta Life Events
15 Atlanta Life Event
16 Atlanta Life Event
17 Atlanta Life Event
18 Atlanta Life Event
19 Atlanta Life Event
20 Atlanta Life Event
21 Atlanta Life Event
22 Atlanta Life Event
23 Atlanta Life Event
Public Relations
24 Public Relations, Advertising
25 Public Relations, Advertising
Box Folder
OV5 7 Public Relations

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Series 5: Atlanta Life buildings

Box Folder
1 1 Branch Office, Jacksonville, FL
2 Branch Office, Beaumont, TX
3 Branch Office, Houston, TX
4 Branch Office, St. Louis, MO
5 Unidentified Branch Office
6 Home Office, Atlanta, GA
Box Folder
OV3 9 Atlanta Life Real Estate
10 Atlanta Life Real Estate

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Series 6: Other businesses, organizations, and institutions

Other Organizations/Institutions
Box Folder
1 1 Atlanta University
2 Butler Street YMCA
3 Churches
4 Citizen Trust Bank
5 Grove Shopping Center, Houston, TX
6 Morehouse College
7 NAACP
8 Negro Cultural League Training Center
9 Paschal's
10 Other Businesses
Box Folder
OV5 8 1st Congregational Church, The Covenant Club, Atlanta, GA
9 NAACP
National Negro Insurance Association/National Insurance Association
11 NNIA, 1930
12 NNIA Convention, Atlanta Life Delegates, Kansas City District, MO, 1939
13 NNIA, Pre 1950
14 NNIA Convention, Los Angeles, CA, 1950
15 36th Annual NIA Convention, 1956
16 NIA, 1958
17 NIA Convention, Detroit, Michigan, 1960
18 NIA Convention, Philadelphia, PA, 1964
19 51st Annual Convention of NIA, 1971
20 NIA, Post 1950
Box Folder
OV3 11 34th National Negro Insurance Annual Convention, Durham, NC, 1954
10 National Negro Insurance Association, Savannah, GA, 1941
11 NNIA, Pre 1950
Box
OV6 18th Annual Convention, National Negro Insurance Association, Cleveland, OH, 1938
20th Annual Convention of the National Negro Insurance Association, Baltimore, MD, 1940
National Negro Insurance Association, Louisville, KY, 1944
National Insurance Association 38th Annual Session, Deshler, Hilton Hotel, Columbus, OH, 1958
National Insurance Association 38th Annual Session, Deshler, Hilton Hotel, Columbus, OH, 1958

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Series 7: Other events/activities

Box Folder
1 1 Atlanta Life Insurance/Liberty Natl. Bank of Dallas/Deposit-$10,000
2 Awards Recognition
3 Awards Recognition, Honoring Coaches, Dallas, TX
4 Civil Rights
5 Equal Opportunity Day
6 Extra Point Club, I.O.C.
7 Mother's Day Event
8 Oglethorpe Graduation, 1958
9 Identified Events
10 Unidentified Events
11 Unidentified Events
Box Folder
OV5 12 Unidentified Wedding

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Series 8: Places/locations

Box Folder
1 1 American Beach, Fernandina, FL
2 Other Buildings and Spaces, Georgia State Capitol and Memorials
3 Other Buildings and Spaces, FL, TX, TN, Washington, DC
4 Other Buildings and Spaces, Commercial
5 Other Buildings, Spaces, and Objects, Miscellaneous

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Series 9: Other individuals/groups

Individuals, Identified
Box Folder
1 1 Penny, Annette Culler
2 Toomer, Juanita
3 Towns, George A.
4 Other individuals
Prominent Persons
5 Bethune, Mary McLeod and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 35th Anniversary of Bethune-Cookman College, 1940
6 Davis, Benjamin D.
7 Dirksen, Everett McKinley, Senator
8 Eisenhower, Dwight
9 King, Martin Luther, Jr.
10 Touree, Salifou of Guinea
11 Tubman, William, President of Liberia
12 Other Prominent Persons
Box Folder
OV5 13 Eisenhower, Dwight
Groups, Identified
13 Atlanta Life with Visitors from Germany
14 Young, Andrew and Associates
15 Groups, Identified
Box
OV6 Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, 1921
Sunday School Congress, Louisville, KY, 1928
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, 35th Biennial Grand Boule
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, 36th Biennial Grand Boule, Detroit, Michigan, 1982
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, 37th Biennial Grand Boule, Atlanta, Georgia, 1984
Individuals, Unidentified
16 Men
17 Women
18 Children
Box Folder
OV1 4 Women
5 Women
6 Women
7 Women
8 Man
Groups, Unidentified
19 Groups, Unidentified
20 Groups, Unidentified
9 Group, Unidentified

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Series 10: Miscellaneous

Box Folder
1 1 Miscellaneous
2 Sculpture of Alonzo F. Herndon

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