Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1947-1998 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
3.70 Linear Feet; 1 records carton, 2 archives boxes, 1 half archives, and 1 oversize box box
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Mennonite Automobile Aid (MAA) grew out of a recommendation of the Mennonite Mutual Aid Board of Directors made at the Mennonite General Conference in 1947. In 1952, C. L. Graber, John L. Yoder, and Simon Gingerich were appointed to a committee to investigate the possibility of mutual aid for auto losses.
MAA was chartered in late 1954 as a Pennsylvania not-for-profit corporation. The corporation offered only assistance with auto physical damage losses, not liability. Two other Mennonite-related organizations, Goodville Mutual Casualty Company and Brotherly Aid Liability Plan, provided liability coverage to most MAA policy holders.
For about 25 years, MAA enjoyed significant growth among Mennonite clients with little marketing. Interest in investing in computer software in the early 1980s, however, led to a discernment process regarding MAA's relationship to other Mennonite-related providers of property and liability coverage and the extent of MAA's services. In the late 1980s, MAA embraced a strategy of deliberate growth and professionalized its operations, rate determination formulas, and marketing.
Legal and tax status difficulties plagued MAA as it attempted to expand its services and membership. In the 1990s, MAA became one of several mutual aid corporation stockholders in the Mennonite Property / Casualty Group and the Anabaptist and Brethren Agency. As the uncertain legal and tax status of MAA endangered its future, MAA attempted to work with Mennonite Indemnity, Inc. (MII) to develop an MII-operated auto property / casualty program. Negotiations with MII ultimately broke down, and in 1998, MAA was dissolved.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
These records consist of five series:
(1) Reports, 1955-1992
(2) Meeting Minutes, 1954-1997
(3) Correspondence and Subject Files, 1947-1998
(4) Publications and Promotional Material, 1992, undated
(5) Mennonite Property / Casualty Group and Anabaptist and Brethren Agency Records, 1991-1998
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
By series.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
These records are open to public research.
Conditions governing reproduction
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. Copyright not owned by the Mennonite Church USA Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
2010-12-21
Language(s)
- English