The historical collections developed from the donation of original texts on the formation of the Institute of Actuaries in 1848 and of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland in 1856. New acquisition of relevant historic texts and manuscripts dating before 1860 continues to this day. In 2006 the Institute of Actuaries acquired the Archive of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, established in 1762 and the first insurance office to operate on scientific lines using actuarial mathematics and mortality analysis.
Subjects represented in the historical collections include:
- early insurance and pensions
- demography (particularly mortality trends of populations)
- commercial arithmetic (application of compound interest in accumulating funds
- statistics and probability theory leading to calculations of life expectation
- the business of offering life assurance and pensions based on 'actuarial' mathematics.
Most texts are in English but there are significant items for actuarial science from France, Germany and Holland. There is also much evidence from insurance offices of the work of 'actuaries' who emerged from the late eighteenth century, those in the nineteenth century forming the first professional bodies, the Institute of Actuaries in 1848 and Faculty of Actuaries in 1856.
The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) also preserves its own archives documenting the professional association work of the original Faculty and Institute since their foundation.
Access to the collection
The IFoA welcomes bona fide research requests to view items in the main special library collections of books, manuscripts and archives by appointment.
If you would like to view items in our collections please contact libraries@actuaries.org.uk. We may facilitate your visits to view items held by the organisations shown above by arrangement.
Please consult our combined catalogue listing of the Books, manuscripts and documents dating before 1901 in the libraries of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries arranged by author or lead title. In enquiries about items, please cite the RKN or library catalogue numbers of items of interest. Researchers may also now search our Library catalogue for pre-1901 items and 'request' to arrange to see items of interest at the IFoA Library by appointment.
There are document listings of the archives in the Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) Archive 1762-1975 held by the IFoA and at Guildhall Library, London.
The historical collections are held in secure locations as outlined below:
| Historical resource | Location | Catalogue access to holdings |
|---|---|---|
| Institute of Actuaries special historical collections (books and manuscripts) |
IFoA London (viewing by appointment) | |
| Institute of Actuaries publications and profession records | IFoA London | Search Library catalogue (for Institute and Faculty publications) IFoA Library searches database to identify and retrieve profession records upon enquiry. |
| Faculty of Actuaries special historical collection | IFoA Edinburgh (viewing by appointment) | |
| Faculty of Actuaries publications and profession records | IFoA Edinburgh | Search Library catalogue (for Institute and Faculty publications) IFoA Library searches database to identify and retrieve profession records upon enquiry. |
| Equitable Life Assurance Society archive, (ca.1762-1833) | IFoA London (viewing by appointment) | Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) Archive 1762-1975, IFoA, London |
| Equitable Life Assurance Society archive, (ca.1830-1950) | London Guildhall Library Apply to London Metropolitan Archives for access |
Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) Archive 1803-1976, Guildhall Library, London |
Related documents
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IFoA Library special collection books on Fire Insurance: reading list
20 September 2016 -
Books, manuscripts and documents dating before 1901 in the libraries of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
1 July 2017 -
Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) Archive 1762 - 1975 at Institute of Actuaries Library, London
30 September 2007 -
Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) Archive 1803 - 1976 at Guildhall Library, London
1 November 2007
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Contact Details
For any library enquiries please contact:
We try to respond to email queries within one working day. Researcher access to historical resources may require notice in advance of visit in order to retrieve items from storage.
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Events calendar
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New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception in Hong Kong
Club@28, Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Causeway Bay, Causeway Bay, No.8 Leighton Road (Chinese address :香港铜锣湾皇冠假日酒店28层Club@28, 香港铜锣湾礼顿道8号 )17 January 2020The IFoA Beijing Office invite all of our members to join the New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception. We would like to thank all our members and volunteers, to congratulate all the new qualifiers in the September exam session, and to celebrate the New Year 2020 and the Spring Festival together!
This social event is free and open to all IFoA members.
Save the date and join us!
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New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception in Shenzen
Shenzhen: GlassHammer Bar, L1-131-133, Futiam Shopping Mall, Shenzhen. (Chinese address: 玻璃锤精酿啤酒屋（原Taps)，深圳市福田区购物公园1楼商铺131-133)17 January 2020The IFoA Beijing Office invite all of our members to join the New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception. We would like to thank all our members and volunteers, to congratulate all the new qualifiers in the September exam session, and to celebrate the New Year 2020 and the Spring Festival together!
This social event is free and open to all IFoA members.
Save the date and join us!
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New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception in Shanghai
Shanghai: Bluefrog (next to Super Grand Mall), No. 12-14 Fucheng Road, Shanghai. (Chinese address: Bluefrog蓝蛙正大店，富城路12-14号，正大广场对面)17 January 2020The IFoA Beijing Office invite all of our members to join the New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception. We would like to thank all our members and volunteers, to congratulate all the new qualifiers in the September exam session, and to celebrate the New Year 2020 and the Spring Festival together!
This social event is free and open to all IFoA members.
Save the date and join us!
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New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception in Beijing
Beijing: Jazz.ya APM，L621-623, Sun Dong An Plaza Plaza, No. 138 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing (Chinese address: 北京市东城区王府井大街138号新东安广场L621-623商铺)17 January 2020The IFoA Beijing Office invite all of our members to join the New Year Member Event and Volunteer Reception. We would like to thank all our members and volunteers, to congratulate all the new qualifiers in the September exam session, and to celebrate the New Year 2020 and the Spring Festival together!
This social event is free and open to all IFoA members.
Save the date and join us!
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Sessional Meeting - Operational Risk Dependencies
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 9 Queen St Edinburgh EH2 1JQ20 January 2020
The Operational Risk Working Party aims to assist actuaries and others in the modelling and management of operational risk. One of the key challenges in modelling operational risk is the modelling of dependencies between operational risks, and between operational and non-operational risks such as market, credit and insurance risk. -
Professional Skills Training - Edinburgh (23 January 2020)
IFoA (Edinburgh), Level 2, Exchange Crescent 7 Conference Square Edinburgh EH3 8RA23 January 2020This event is now fully booked. To join the waiting list please click here.
A Trusted Profession
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KSS event in Glasgow: Public Sector Pensions
Hymans Robertson, Glasgow 20 Waterloo St, Glasgow30 January 2020– the unappreciated key assumption, the resulting unsustainable promises, the unmanaged risk and the unrecognised debt?
Speaker: Allan Martin will present this talk on 30 January in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh. If you wish to register for another location please return to the Events Calendar.
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KSS event in Stirling: Public Sector Pensions
M&G Prudential, Stirling Craigforth Campus, Stirling30 January 2020– the unappreciated key assumption, the resulting unsustainable promises, the unmanaged risk and the unrecognised debt?
Speaker: Allan Martin will present this talk on 30 January in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh. If you wish to register for another location please return to the Events Calendar.
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KSS event in Edinburgh: Public Sector Pensions
Hymans Robertson 1, Exchange Place, Semple St, Edinburgh30 January 2020– the unappreciated key assumption, the resulting unsustainable promises, the unmanaged risk and the unrecognised debt?
Speaker: Allan Martin will present this talk on 30 January in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh. If you wish to register for another location please return to the Events Calendar.
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The Great Risk Transfer – Breakfast briefing and launch event
Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn London WC1V 7QJ31 January 2020Launch of the IFoA’s 2020 thought leadership campaign The Great Risk Transfer. The campaign will examine the trend of the transfer of risk from institutions to individuals, and how people can be better equipped to manage the financial risks they now face. At this breakfast event the IFoA will launch a call for evidence on this topic. -
NoCA event - The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: The role of actuaries
N/A31 January 2020Presenters: Rebecca Deegan, Head of Policy, IFoA, and Faye Alessandrello, Policy Manager, IFoA
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Sessional Meeting - Understanding Blockchain for Insurance Use Cases
Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, London, WC1V 7QJ3 February 2020This event is now fully booked. To join the waiting list please click here.
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SIAS Event: Practical Challenges of Implementing the IFRS 17 Risk Adjustment
Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, London, WC1V 7QJ5 February 2020Jignesh Mistry and Rob Walton from PwC will be presenting their talk on the IFRS17 Risk Adjustment. Please note this talk was also held at the 2019 Life Conference.
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Joint IFoA and SOAT Professional Skills Training event - Bangkok
Thai Life Insurance PCL, 13th Floor, Meeting Room 13/2, 123 Ratchadaphisek Road, Din Daeng, Bangkok 10400, Thailand7 February 2020This session is jointly organised by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the Society of Actuaries of Thailand (SOAT).
Video case studies will be selected from the IFoA’s 2019/2020 online content which covers a range of topics under an overarching theme of “A Trusted Profession”. This session is suitable for actuaries working in any area (i.e. it is not specifically aimed at Life, GI or any other technical discipline) and is interactive, so you should come along prepared to take part in the discussions.
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Cyber Risk Event
Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, London, WC1V 7QJ10 February 2020What do good cyber practices look like and, to what extent, can we as an industry implement these operationally and recognise these for underwriting? -
Professional Skills Training - London (11 February 2020)
Staple Inn, High Holborn, London WC1V 7QJ11 February 2020This event is now fully booked. To join the waiting list please click here.
A Trusted Profession
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KSS event: Where now for pensions?
Royal London Group, 1 Thistle Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1DG18 February 2020With a single party government at Westminster holding a comfortable majority, and with the first phase of Brexit complete, the potential for radical reforms of the pensions landscape is increased.
Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb discusses what changes we can expect to see in pensions including in state pensions, pension tax relief, automatic enrolment and the workplace pension landscape.
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Sessional: Impact of E-cigarettes Working Party
Royal College of Physicians, 9 Queen St, Edinburgh EH2 1JQ24 February 2020This sessional meeting will be of direct interest to actuaries and others working in the in the Health and Care, Life or Pensions sectors or indeed actuaries with an interest in morbidity or mortality. Note: Registration is from 17.30 in time for the sessional to begin at 18.00. -
Professional Skills Training - Edinburgh (25 February 2020)
IFoA (Edinburgh), Level 2, Exchange Crescent 7 Conference Square Edinburgh EH3 8RA25 February 2020This event is now fully booked. To join the waiting list please click here.
A Trusted Profession
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NoCA event - Model Risk
N/A28 February 2020Presenter: Mark Pibworth
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KSS event: How is Scotland’s population changing and what are the implications?
New Register House, 3 West Register Street, Edinburgh5 March 2020The National Records of Scotland (NRS) collects, preserves and produces information about Scotland's people and history to inform current and future generations - work that underpins the fabric of Scottish society and tells the story of our nation. This KSS talk will explore the following and other areas impacting Scotland’s changing population, and assess the potential implications of the changes:
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KSS event: Evolutionary finance – techniques for solving financial problems (repeat session)
Royal London, 1 Thistle Street10 March 2020Speaker: Dr Marc Roper
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Data science - How actuaries can optimize usage of data science techniques within their sectors
Staple Inn, 4 High Holborn, Holborn, London. WC1V 6DR12 March 2020The world of Data Science continues to exponentially grow with unknown limits and where it can reach. However, without data we will all still face these challenges in our day to day life. -
Board agenda: Why Responsible Investing, ESG, and Climate Change matters to Pension Funds, Companies
Staple Inn, 4 High Holborn, Holborn, London. WC1V 6DR, UK19 March 2020Recent years have seen ESG, Climate Change, and Responsible Investing thrust onto the corporate agenda in every boardroom. The same also be said for pension funds. Expectations of how companies should respond are high and NEDs on Boards are expected to adapt and adjust their guidance to companies accordingly. What does this mean for Actuaries serving as NEDs and Trustees? -
KSS event: A Cashless Society- Benefits, Risks, Issues and Developments
Deloitte, 4th Floor, Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace19 March 2020Speaker: Iain Collier, Chair of the CSWP
The talk will look to cover the following: Progression towards a Cashless Society • Developments home and overseas • Benefits, Risks and Issues • Crypto Currencies and Central Bank Digital Currencies.
There will be an extended Q&A session at the end of the event.
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Spring Lecture 2020, Edinburgh - Vicky Pryce
Assembly Rooms, 54 George St, Edinburgh EH2 2LR25 March 2020What next in Economic Policy? Please join us for our annual Spring Lecture presented by Vicky Pryce in Edinburgh. Vicky is Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). -
Spring Lecture 2020: Live Streaming
Webinar25 March 2020What next in Economic Policy? Please join us on 25 March 2020 for the live stream of our annual Spring Lecture presented by Vicky Pryce in Edinburgh. Vicky is Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). -
NoCA event - Intergenerational Fairness: Thinking long-term
N/A27 March 2020Presented By: Rebecca Deegan, Head of Policy, IFoA, and Catherine Burtle, Senior Policy Analyst, IFoA
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SIAS Event: CMI Update
Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn, London, WC1V 7QJ1 April 2020Following the release of the updated CMI Mortality Projection Model, CMI_2019, the CMI Mortality Projections Committee will lead a discussion on future mortality improvements.
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IFoA Asia Conference 2020, Kuala Lumpur
CCEC Nexus, 7, Jalan Kerinchi, Bangsar South, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia24-25 June 2020Join us at the IFoA Asia Conference 2020 at CCEC Nexus, Kuala Lumpur where intellectual thought leaders, senior industry players, opinion formers, academics, actuaries and non-actuaries from across Asia and beyond are expected to attend. This year's landmark conference promises to an exciting one as our first Asian President-elect, Tan Suee Chieh will, as newly appointed president of the IFoA, use his presidential address to highlight the two key pillars of the IFoA’s emerging strategy:- the reinvention of the profession in terms of its skillsets and mind-sets so that we can thrive in an increasing range of domains in a digital age;
- the widening application of actuarial science in achieving social impact and sustainability goals.
We are also delighted to announce that the Honourable Mr. Lim Guan Eng, Minister of Finance, Malaysia, will be the guest of honour at this year's conference.
Should you be interested in presenting and sharing your expertise with international industry players, opinion formers, peers, and academics, please submit your proposal by 20 January.
Early bird registration is now open until 1 March. 10% group discounts are offered to a minimum of six IFoA members booking in a single transaction. Limited spaces are available, so please sign-up early to avoid disappointment.
The Operational Risk Working Party aims to assist actuaries and others in the modelling and management of operational risk. One of the key challenges in modelling operational risk is the modelling of dependencies between operational risks, and between operational and non-operational risks such as market, credit and insurance risk.