The Rough Notes Company

The turn of the century ushered in a new and exciting era for The Rough Notes Company. Providing education and bringing a more professional image to agents was the company's primary emphasis during this decade.

 Agents desperately needed a new image to capture the confidence of the American public. Fly-by-night agencies were a thing of the past. As professionals, agents needed to be taken seriously if they wanted to stay in business. The Rough Notes Company saw this need and in 1902 launched the American Insurance Institute, a professional training school for agents. The Institute pioneered "distant learning," which offered supervised study, administered examinations, and granted diplomas.



E. Jay Wohlgemuth

E. Jay Wohlgemuth took the helm in 1916 when the Wohlgemuth family bought The Rough Notes Company. His son Albert J. Wohlgemuth became vice president, treasurer and general manager. Prior to the Wohlgemuths' purchase of The Rough Notes Company, Jay Wohlgemuth was founder and president of the National Underwriter.

San Francisco Fire

The San Francisco earthquake demolished the picturesque city and left tens of thousands of people homeless. Agents' demands for insurance forms swamped The Rough Notes Company with orders. On one day alone, 75,000 proof-of-loss forms were requested by telegram. RN employees worked around the clock to fill the orders.


The company also supported agents by publishing educational material in textbook form, making these books affordable and a ccessible to the average agent. This ingenuity still prevails at The Rough Notes Company, which continues to deliver high-quality products to help agents and their agencies succeed.

The "horseless carriage" made its appearance on the dirt roads of America. By 1905, Henry Ford's company was mass producing the automobile. The new automobile excited Rough Notes Editor Irving Williams into writing an article title, "Could the Automobile be Adopted as a Practical Conveyance for Field Work?" It did not take long for agents to grasp that this new contraption was exactly what they needed to expand their agencies.
With Rough Notes magazine's increasing circulation, new educational products and textbooks development as well as growingenrollment at their insurance institution, The Rough Notes Company needed more space. In 1913, RN moved to larger headquarters, a four-story 30,000 square-foot building at 220 East Ohio Street in Indianapolis.



Dr. Henry Martin, founder of The Rough Notes Company, died on December 22, 1916, four decades after starting the company. His heirs sold the company to E. Jay Wohlgemuth. The Wohlgemuths kept the company in family hands until 1994.


In July 1917, The Rough Notes Company created the first educational magazine designed for life agents, The Insurance Salesman. Also, Rough Notes magazine was changed, making it two educational and salesmanship monthlies--one for fire and casualty and one for life insurance. The new magazines were launched at the right time and their success was immediate.