The AISAM was since 1963 an association of private mutual insurance companies, aiming to the establishment of good relationships and friendly ties between its members and at the protection of the general interests of private insurance based on the principle of mutuality.

Membership of the AISAM was open to all private mutual insurance organizations of any country and of any branch provided that they have been duly incorporated according to the laws of the country of their registered office.

Since January 2008, AISAM and ACME (the Association of European Cooperative and Mutual Insurers) have joined to form AMICE, the Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe. This new entity AMICE has its seat in Brussels and has taken over the activities of both AISAM and ACME. It has continued to represent and promote the interests of mutual and cooperative insurers in Europe, like a first common event of the AMICE (AISAM-ACME) with the Congress of year 2008.

Buts : L'AISAM défendait la mutualité et ses principes à travers le monde. Elle fut un instrument de liaison, d'information et de représentation auprès des organisations nationales et internationales gouvernementales ou non qui intervienaient dans le domaine de l'assurance en général et des mutuelles en particulier. Elle informait sur la mutualité d'assurance et en diffusait les principes. Elle constituait pour ses adhérents un lieu d'échange d'information, d'expériences et d'assistance. Elle fournissait des occasions régulières de rencontres à tous les niveaux et elle étudiait avec eux les problèmes propres aux mutuelles d'assurance.

Stratégie : L'AISAM recherchait des solutions aux problèmes qui touchent la Mutualité et proposent ses solutions aux autorités compétentes. Elle se trouvait ainsi au premier plan de l'étude du phénomène de démutualisation dans le monde (États-Unis, Canada, Royaume-Uni, Japon). Elle défendait les intérêts des mutuelles et essayait de trouver des alternatives ou des réponses aux vagues de démutualisation. De plus, elle s'intéressait également aux problèmes d'éthique et de communication entre membres puisque qu'un réseau des membres de l'AISAM fut crée en 2000 et a comme support le site Internet www.aisam.org. Enfin, l'AISAM en réunissant la plupart des mutualistes européens était en contact permanent avec la Commission européenne afin de promouvoir auprès de Bruxelles les idées et les valeurs et spécificités que défendaient alors les Mutuelles membres de l'AISAM.

Positionnement : Trois organisations internationales représentaient alors la mutualité au niveau mondial : l'AISAM, association internationale des sociétés d'assurances mutuelles vie et non-vie, l'AIM (Association Internationale de la Mutualité), spécialisée dans les mutuelles santé, et l'ICMIF (International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation), qui regroupe principalement les coopératives et reçoit quelques mutuelles regroupées au niveau européen dans une branche qui est l'ACME.
Des accords de coopérations ont été passés avec certaines organisations régionales : avec la NAMIC, organisation mutualiste américaine basée à Indianapolis, en échangeant leurs expériences ; et le CEA (Comité Européen des Assurances) qui, basé à Paris, était l'émanation des Fédérations Nationales d'assurance des pays européens et traite des problèmes techniques d'assurance en général. L'AISAM qui ne traitait que des problèmes de la mutualité assistait aux réunions les plus importantes du CEA pour être informée des dossiers qui touchent à la mutualité. Le CEA accueillait d'ailleurs dans ses locaux bruxellois, le bureau de représentation de l'AISAM à Bruxelles.

The archival papers produced by the "Association des assureurs mutuels et des coopératives d'assurance en Europe" (AISAM) during its existence from 1963 to 2008 were deposited by the AMICE in July 2019 at the HAEU.

The volume of the material were about 90 metres packed in moving boxes stored in the HAEU deposit. The conservation status of the paper is generally good to very good. The selection of the material destined for permanent retention is based on the premise that the archival handling of AISAM papers aims at the constitution of a structured archival fonds, which reflects AISAM's activities, functioning, decision making processes and the specific atmosphere of its historical period.

The description and the treatment of the archival papers were held first by Ruth Ingeborg Meyer and Andrea De Santis at the HAEU, during the first semester of year 2025. Then the inventory has been finished and prepared by Nicolas Kernel in October 2025.

The historical fonds of the AISAM is composed of its paper documents dating of its all existence from 1963 to 2008. They include the Governing Body's session and meeting minutes (General Assembly, Committee, Board and Editorial Committee) as well as the papers and minutes produced by its working groups and members' activities. Also included are documents produced prior to the creation of the AISAM relating to the history of its foundation and its statutes.

As of October 2025, the inventory describes 259 files which correspond to all of the documents deposited in 2019.

The predominant working languages of the AISAM were French, English, German and Spanish; however, in the files, documents in the national languages of the association members are also to be found. The fonds also includes some photographs and a small collection of audio and video tapes produced during various events.

Respecting the existing organisation of the series and the files, the archival arrangement of the fonds formalizes the structure, timeline and activities of the association and reflects the thematic and chronological criteria. The introductions to the series give a short introduction in the subjects and activities of the given entity in order to contextualize the described files.

The first analysis of the material done at the deposit of Villa Il Poggiolo aimed to divide the material into the selected one for archival preservation, treatment and description, and the one to be disposed and eliminated :

The detailed archival selection and description work has been made for the establishment of an inventory with purpose on the permanent retention of the selected papers, concerning :
- Governing Body's session and meetings documents ;
- Working groups meetings and working documents ;
- Selected correspondence by the President, Vice-Presidents and Secretary-General
(the important cultural variety has been documented in the archival fonds by a sampling method) ;
- Publications, printed and other corporative material,
- Audio-visual material.

The material destined for disposal and destruction comprises :
- Double copies and drafts of documents ;
- Daily routine correspondence with no operational value and mostly relating to preparation of meetings etc. ;
- Chronological copies of outgoing and incoming correspondence (onion skin copies) ;
- Materials not produced by AISAM and received mostly for information purposes, including materials transmitted by member associations ;
- Any other material not relevant for the understanding of AISAM functioning, history and achievements.

The user engages to respect the copyright and intellectual property rights for the photographs and academic papers included in this fonds.

English, French, German, Spanish

Artifact, Audio, Electronic File, Photograph, Textual, Video

Generally very good conservation conditions.