The Insurance & Financial Communicators Association (I.F.C.A.) "is an international organization dedicated to the ongoing professional development of its members in life insurance and related financial services communications." [1] The associations primary objective is to promote the exhange of ideas among its members through educational programs, events, and publications. The primary value of the collection is in its capacity for documenting trends in the marketing of life insurance, and the rationale behind particular advertising campaigns. Case histories and publications aimed at the industry are of most use in this regard. The bulk of the records are of interest only in documenting the internal functions of the organization and the issues which it has perceived as important to the insurance industry.

The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company was organized by a group of Philadelphia Quakers in 1865, and by World War I it had become one of the largest life insurance companies in the country with a strong presence in the New York and Boston markets. The records of the Provident Mutual Insurance Company of Philadelphia are a collection of fragments assembled by the Advertising Department in connection with the company's centennial history.