Series IV: Museum Records and Collections, 1729-1990

The Baltimore Equitable Society Collection spans the years 1729-1997, with most material dating between 1794 and 1991. The vast majority of the materials in the collection were generated by the Society’s small workforce, where division of labor was inconsistent, fuzzy, or non-existent. The principal series into which the collection is divided are thus oriented toward the purpose of each record or record set. Insurance Records are those records directly involved in writing policies, managing risk, and paying losses. Financial Records consist of records of accounting, banking, and investment activities. Administrative Papers include minutes, correspondence and miscellaneous documents generated by the Society’s officers and directors. Also included here are personal records of many of the Society’s officers. Museum Records and Collections consist of publications, manuscripts, prints, and photos, as well as extensive correspondence mostly relating to the provenance of the collections. At the heart of the collection are the records of approximately 100,000 policies written by the Society from 1794 through 1991. Containing data related to construction, ownership, and value of these properties, the three sub-series of “Records of Policies” are the logical starting point for research in genealogy, architecture, and economic history. Records of the Society’s ground rent investments, though unrelated to the underwriting side of the business, provide a further resource for property research.

The bulk of the collection occurs in bound volumes, most of which remained consistent in format and usage for long periods of time. Changes of varying significance in the Society’s record-keeping schemes are evident at several junctures, most salient of which is the conversion in 1967 to a computer-based system. Most of the major series of volumes were discontinued in the following years, though a few were kept up-to-date into the 1980s. Excepting the absence of a Risk Book for the period 1812-1833, the major sub-series of Insurance and Financial records are complete for entire span of years during which they were kept. Administrative records tend to be much less comprehensive. Several gaps exist in the Minutes of Meetings of the Board of Directors, and they are absent entirely from 1939. Records of the board’s committees and of the general meetings are generally sparse, as is correspondence past 1908.