INVESTORS DIVERSIFIED SERVICES:

Investors Diversified Services (IDS) was a financial services company offering personal financial planning, life insurance, mutual fund shares, investment certificates, annuities, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), limited partnerships, unit trusts, and management and fiduciary services for pension and employee benefit plans.

The company was established in Minneapolis in 1894 as Investors Syndicate. The name was changed to Investors Diversified Services, Inc. (IDS), on March 30, 1949. IDS became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alleghany Corporation in May 1979. American Express Company, New York, acquired IDS from Alleghany in January 1984 and the corporate name became IDS/American Express Inc. The name was subsequently changed to IDS Financial Services Inc.

In the late 1980s IDS Financial Corporation managed, and its subsidiary IDS Financial Services distributed, 26 publicly offered mutual funds of the IDS Mutual Fund Group. Other IDS Financial Corporation subsidiaries at that time included IDS Life Insurance Company, IDS Life Insurance Company of New York, IDS Certificate Company, IDS Advisory Group Inc., and Advisory Bank & Trust Company.

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The bulk of the collection consists of mutual fund annual reports that were originally individually cataloged in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection, but were added to the company records in June 2001. Other material of particular interest includes several narratives outling major events in the history of the company, and transcripts of oral history interviews that were conducted by IDS personnel with former employees.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Investors Diversified Services Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,615

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, June 2001

Catalog ID number: 990017370860104294

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Annual reports of Investors Syndicate and Investors Diversified Services are in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.

An extensive run of the Broadcaster, an in-house magazine for employees of the company, is in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collection.

Consult the catalog for the locations of other printed material relating to the company.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Bond funds.

Financial planning -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Marketing.

Financial services industry -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Mutual funds.

Stock funds.

Organizations:

Alleghany Corporation.

American Express Company.

IDS Bond Fund, Inc.

IDS Cash Management Fund, Inc.

IDS Discovery Fund, Inc.

IDS Financial Services Inc.

IDS Growth Fund, Inc.

IDS High Yield Tax-Exempt Fund, Inc.

IDS Life Capital Resource Fund II, Inc.

IDS Life Moneyshare Fund, Inc.

IDS Life Special Income Fund II, Inc.

IDS New Dimensions Fund, Inc.

IDS Progressive Fund, Inc.

IDS Tax-Exempt Bond Fund, Inc.

Investors Group of Companies.

Investors Syndicate.

Types of Documents:

Annual reports.

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