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Record Group 3.2: The Liberty Life Pre-Corporation Records, 1900 - 1986, 1933 - 1967

 Record Group
Identifier: Record Group 3.2

Scope and Content Note

Included in this sub-record group are booklets, correspondence, financial reports, statements and worksheets, manuals, memoranda, minutes of meetings, legal documents, organizational charts, reports, speeches, and other material. These records document the history of Liberty Life Insurance Company's development from 1900 to 1986, with the majority of the material dating from 1933-1967. This sub-record group is divided into two series: Administrative Files and Committees and Task Forces. Both are arranged alphabetically by folder title and then chronologically within each folder.

Series 1, Administrative Files consists primarily of materials related to different aspects of the insurance business. Annual statements, budget reports, and other financial records document how the insurance company progressed financially from its founding until becoming part of the Liberty Corporation. Much of this financial information relates to real estate investments such as the Gresham Hotel in Spartanburg, SC and the Liberty Life Building in Greenville, SC, as well as the Company's involvement in the Utopian Developing Company. Material on strategic planning can be found in this series; also analyses of insurance operations, employee opinion surveys, examination reports, and long-range plans. Records of the Home Office, as well as those of various branch offices, departments, and divisions are filed in this series and document the day-to-day operations of the Company. There are numerous letters and memoranda from W. Frank, Francis, Boyd, and Herman Hipp, as well as correspondence and other material relating to Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc., who were constructing the new Home Office Building (later the Liberty Corporation headquarters) in 1966-1967. Rate book and training manuals are part of this series, as are samples of insurance policies and promotional material. In addition, there is information on contests run by the Company to improve sales among the agents, direct mail underwriting for life insurance and hospital coverage, gas rationing as it affected the Company during World War II, reinsurance, and war clauses in insurance policies for World War II and the Korean War. Also included is material on the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, with whom Liberty Life sponsored an annual scholarship. Finally, there are some records on the history of Liberty Life and speeches from various meetings and conferences.

Series 2, Committees and Task Forces contain a variety of financial reports, statements and worksheets, memoranda, minutes of meetings, and reports related to a number of different committees and task forces. The majority of the material in this series is from the Executive Council and the Finance, Insurance, and Investment Committees. Materials in the Finance and Investment Committees files record how the executives handled the business transactions and investments of Liberty Life Insurance Company. The records of the Executive Council document what topics-such as mergers, policy loan interest rates, insurance plans, and costs-affecting the company its executives discussed. Many of the records concerning the creation of the Liberty Corporation can be found here. The files of the Insurance Committee not only deal with routine company policies and procedures regarding insurance but the creation of new products and services as well. Finally, there is material on committees that handled the daily operations and procedures of Liberty Life Insurance Company, such as the Accounting and Methods, Advertising and Public Relations, Agency, and Operations Committees, with the latter documenting the changeover to the Liberty Corporation.

Oversize materials include contest posters; financial records such as annual statements and ledgers; policies from other companies that were reinsured by Liberty Peoples Life Insurance Company (Charleston, SC), The Home Insurance Company (Charleston, SC), Germania Life Insurance Company (Charleston, SC); landscaping studies for the new Home Office Building Main Floor Terrace and the Japanese gardens on the fourth floor; organizational charts; and a painting of the proposed Home Office Building.

Other material related to Liberty Life Insurance Company can be found in the records of Francis M. Hipp (RG 1), the Legal Department of Liberty Life Insurance Company (RG 3.1), Liberty Life Insurance Company Post Corporation Records (RG 3.3), W. Frank Hipp (RG 4), Boyd Calhoun Hipp (RG 5), Herman Hipp (RG 6), all five sub-record groups of the Communications Department (RG 8), and all four sub-record groups of The Liberty Corporation (RG 11).

Dates

  • 1900 - 1986
  • 1933 - 1967

Corporate History

On November 3, 1905, a new enterprise, Southeastern Life Insurance Company, came into existence in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Fourteen years later on October 13, W. Frank Hipp, a former agent of that company, established a new company, Liberty Life Insurance Company, in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1933, Hipp became president of both companies, which continued to operate separately. However, on January 1, 1942, the insurance companies were consolidated under the name of Liberty Life Insurance Company, with Hipp as president. W. Frank Hipp died on January 3, 1943. On January 29, The Board of Directors voted Francis M. Hipp to succeed his father as president of Liberty Life and made his brother, Herman N. Hipp, the company's vice president and director.

Liberty Life Insurance Company became one of the subsidiaries of a new holding company, The Liberty Corporation, on December 1, 1967. The other subsidiaries included Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, Surety Investment Company, and Liberty Properties, Inc. In addition, a new subsidiary, Liberty Investors Benefit Insurance (LIBCO), was organized for the purpose of writing individual and group variable annuity contracts.

Extent

47 Cubic Feet (including 760 folders in 66 boxes, 183 volumes (73 oversize), 16 oversize boxes, 2 oversize folders, and 3 photographs.)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Introduction

The Pre Corporation records document the activities of Liberty Life Insurance Company, based in Greenville, South Carolina, which writes a variety of individual life insurance policies, as well as accident and health insurance policies. They contain material such as financial reports and statements, manuals, memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, blueprints and photographs. Record Sub Group 3.2 documents the history of the Company's insurance operations prior to the creation of the Liberty Corporation, the history of the insurance industry (especially in South Carolina) the economic development and history of Greenville, and the activities of W. Frank, Herman N., and Francis M. Hipp. The material for this collection came from accessions 82-47, 88-15, 94-34, and 94-54. Jim Cross, Kristina Cathcart, and Melissa Paulk processed these papers in 1999-2001. The register was created in 2001 by Jim Cross and revised by him in 2009.

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
230 Kappa St.
Clemson SC 29634 U.S.A. US