Insurance

Hartford, as everyone knows, is the insurance capital of the nation. The history of that business is a long one, dating back beyond the first printed policy in 1794. As with banking, a good deal of historical material is contained in histories of individual companies. More recent materials are available from what is now called the Division of Insurance (from 1865 to 1979 the Connecticut Insurance Commission). Other works:

Betts, Frederick Augustus. “The Origin and Development of Connecticut Insur­ance.” Connecticut Magazine 8(March-April, 1901)1:3-44. A forty-three-page piece copiously illustrated with pictures of men and buildings, organized by companies. There are more sketches on pp. 109-16.

Clark, Charles Hopkins, and Morgan, Forrest. “Fire Insurance” and “Accident Insurance.” In Memorial History of Hartford County, vol. II. Edited by J. H. Trumbull. Boston, 1888. Traces the history of insurance in Hartford and de­scribes it as it was c. 1880.

Eaton, Edward Bailey. “Hartford The Stronghold of Insurance.” Connecticut Magazine 9(1905)3:617-44, 4:873-89. Many illustrations, mostly about insur­ance businesses in 1905.

Holcomb, John M. “Connecticut Insurance.” In History of Connecticut in Monog­raphic Form, vol. II: 189-285. Edited by Norris Galpin Osborn. New York: States History Company, 1925. The author had been president of Phoenix Mutual from 1904 to 1924, and at the time he wrote this essay was chairman of the board and seventy-six years old. “The ultimate test of the value of human thought and effort is the service rendered to the greatest number,” he writes. “It is in this sense that insurance, in its various branches, is referred to as rank­ing next to religion.” (p. 191) You can take it from there, but it’s easy to see why Connecticut is the next place to Heaven.

Welch, Archibald Ashley. A History of Insurance in Connecticut. Tercentenary pam­phlet XLIII (1935). Welch had been president of Phoenix Mutual Life Insur­ance Company. This is a useful little work, with the basic historical information set out straightforwardly, though not critically.

Woodward, P. Henry. “Insurance in Connecticut.” In The New England States, vol. II:499-617. Edited by William L. Davis. Boston: D. C. Hurd, 1897. A full, deadly dull account up to 1897.