By the eve of the Great Depression, there existed in America the equivalent of a policy for every man, woman and child, and in Britain it grew from its narrow aristocratic base to cover all social classes. This primary resource collection is the first comparative history of British and American life insurance industries.

I: Henry Moir, 'Mortality Tables' (1909); 1: Henry Moir, 'Mortality Tables' (1909); II: British Combined Experience Tables; 2: Samuel Brown, Preface to On the Mortality Experience of Life Assurance Companies, Collected by the Institute of Actuaries (1869), excerpt; 3: 'The New Life Tables', Accountant (1901); III: American Mortality Tables; 4: 'Vital Statistics. Importance of Registration', Insurance Monitor (1867); 5: 'The First American Life Underwriters' Convention', United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine of Useful Knowledge (1859), excerpt; 6: 'Proceedings of the Life Insurance Convention', United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine of Useful Knowledge (1860), excerpt; 7: 'Mortality Tables', Insurance Record (1869); IV: John Adams Higham, On the Value of Selection Amongst Assured Lives, and its Effect Upon the Adjustment of a Scale of Premiums, as Between Persons Assuring at Different Ages (1850); 8: John Adams Higham, On the Value of Selection amongst Assured Lives, and its Effect upon the Adjustment of a Scale of Premiums, as between Persons Assuring at Different Ages (1850); V: Premium Rates; 9: Lewis Pocock, A Familiar Explanation of the Nature, Advantages, and Importance of Assurances upon Lives, and the Various Purposes to which they may be Usefully Applied (1842), excerpt; 10: 'Comparative Rates of Domestic and Foreign Life Insurance', Hunt's Merchants' Magazine (1859); 11: Life Assurance Premiums Charged by Various Companies. Arranged in Order of Magnitude (1910), excerpt; VI: Medical Selection of Lives; 12: Editorial and Correspondence on Medical Fees, Lancet (1849); 13: William Brinton, On the Medical Selection of Lives for Assurance (1856), excerpt; VII: Application Forms; 14: T. Glover Lyon, 'Some Medical Points of Difference between Life Assurance in the United States of America and in England', Transactions of the Life Assurance Medical Officers' Association (1895); 15: Robert L. Burrage, 'Present Standards in Medical Selection', Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America (1902); 16: 'Form 8 - Medical Application for Life Insurance' (1912); VIII: Consumption; 17: 'Consumption', Fifth Annual Meeting of the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America (1894); 18: Mazyck P. Ravenel, 'The Warfare against Tuberculosis', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1903); IX: Gender; 19: 'Proportionate Longevity of the Two Sexes', Journal of Health. Conducted by an Association of Physicians (1831); 20: James Thorburn, 'Notes on Female Risks', Ninth Annual Meeting of the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America (1898); X: 'Death Busy among the Bachelors', Insurance Monitor (1867); 21: 'Death Busy among the Bachelors', Insurance Monitor (1867); XI: Travel and Climate; 22: 'Travelling and Life Insurance', London Times (1867); 23: C. R. Francis, 'Life-Assurance and Residence in Hot Climates', British Medical Journal (1878); XII: 'Life Insurance in California', Insurance Monitor (1869); 24: 'Life Insurance in California', Insurance Monitor (1869); XIII: Harold Edward William Lutt, 'On Extra Premiums', Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1907), Excerpt; 25: Harold Edward William Lutt, 'On Extra Premiums', Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1907), excerpt; XIV: War Risks; 26: Elizur Wright, 'War Risks of Life Insurance', Hunt's Merchants' Magazine (1861); 27: Editorial on War Risks, Post Magazine (1882); 28: Correspondence on War Risks, Morning Post (1885); 29: Review of Frederick Schooling and Edward A. Rusher, 'The Mortality Experience of the Imperial Forces during the War in South Africa', Journal of State Medicine (1903); XV: The American Civil War; 30: 'Life Insurance War Risks', Insurance Gazette (1862); 31: 'Abstract of the Ninth Annual Report of the Insurance Commissioners of Massachusetts', Insurance Gazette (1864), excerpt; XVI: 'Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, N. J. - Circular to Southern Agents in Relation to Their Operations', Insurance Gazette (1861); 32: 'Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, N. J. - Circular to Southern Agents in Relation to their Operations', Insurance Gazette (1861); XVII: B. Rush, 'To William Bard, Esq., President of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company', New York Evangelist (1830); 33: B. Rush, 'To William Bard, Esq., President of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company', New York Evangelist (1830); XVIII: John Broomhall, 'Temperance and Life Assurance' (1877); 34: John Broomhall, 'Temperance and Life Assurance' (1877); XIV: Alcohol Consumption; 35: 'Inebriety and Insurance', Post Magazine (1893); 36: 'Liquor and Life Insurance', New Light (1902); 37: Extra Premiums Charged, Reduced Premiums, Extra Bonus and General Remarks.; XX: The Policy; 38: Levi G. Fouse, 'The Policy' (1912); 39: 'Form 6 - Ordinary Life Policy' (1912), excerpt; XXI: Insurable Interest; 40: Lord v. Dall , Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 12 Mass. 115 (1815); 41: Editorial on Life Insurance Trials, Bankers' Circular and Monetary Times (1830); 42: 'Abstract of the Ninth Annual Report of the Insurance Commissioners of Massachusetts: Insurable Interest', Insurance Gazette (1864), excerpt; XXII: Insurance and Gambling; 43: 'Assurance and Insurance', London Saturday Journal (1839); 44: 'Gaming, Betting, Lotteries, and Insurance', Chambers's Edinburgh Journal (1852); XXIII: Fraud; 45: 'Union Mutual Life Insurance Co. - Fraudulent Representations', Insurance Monitor (1869); 46: 'Practical Points. Life Insurance', New-York Legal Observer (1843); 47: Editorial on Life Insurance Trials, London Times (1846); 48: 'Novel Life Insurance Case', Hunt's Merchants' Magazine (1857); 49: 'Insurance Legal Decision. Life Insurance - Important Case', Insurance Gazette (1861); 50: 'Barrett vs. The Conn. Mutual Life. Counsel's Statement of the Case', Insurance Monitor Supplement (1869); XXIV: Suicide; 51: Editorial on Life Insurance and Suicide, Insurance Record (1878); 52: 'Life Assurance', Atlantic Monthly (1866), excerpt; 53: 'Important Cases in Life Insurance, from the English Common Law Reports: Borradaile v. Hunter', Bankers' Magazine and Statistical Register (1849); 54: John Hitchman, 'An Extract from a Clinical Lecture Delivered in the Middlesex County Asylum', Lancet (1848); 55: 'Suicide and Dueling', Insurance Monitor (1869), excerpt; XXV: Incontestability and Indisputability; 56: 'Indisputable Policies', Post Magazine (1851); 57: 'Unjust Toleration. A Warning to Life Insurance Companies', Insurance Monitor (1867); 58: 'Life Assurance and Suicide', British Medical Journal (1894); XXVI: Faking Death; 59: 'Attempt to Swindle a Life Insurance Company', Insurance Monitor (1867); 60: 'A Philadelphia Life Ins. Fraud. A Singular Story', Insurance Monitor (1867); XXVII: Murder; 61: 'Another Life Insurance Horror', Insurance Monitor (1879); 62: Illustrated Life and Career of William Palmer of Rugeley (1856), excerpt; 63: 'Does a Man Shorten his Life by Insuring It?', Hunt's Merchants' Magazine (1856); 64: 'Henry Mayhew's Inquiries into Suspicious Deaths', United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine of Useful Knowledge (1856)