This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 19

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1836 – The first meeting of the Transcendental Club took place in the home of George Ripley in Concord, with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ferderick Henry Hedge, and Bronson Alcott attending. Read more about George Ripley at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism, or read about transcendentalism in the Harvard Square Library exhibit, “The Living Legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 18

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1887 – This date is celebrated in the state of Meghalaya as Unitarian Day, the date on which Hajom Kissor Singh held the first Khasi Hills Unitarian Church service in Jowai, India. The Unitarian movement spread, and more than 30 churches now claim 10,000 members in the Khasi Hills region.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 17

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1775 – General George Washington appointed John Murray, an early leader of Universalism, as chaplain of the Rhode Island Regiment, over the objections of the clergy. Read more about John Murray at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 16

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1823 – Francis Parkman Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The son of a Unitarian minister, Parkman traveled extensively in the western United States in spite of physical ailments that left him a semi-invalid. He was a prominent historian and wrote The Oregon Trail (1849) and History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851). Later he published seven books that traced the struggle between the British and the French for control of North America. Read more about Francis Parkman Jr. at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 15

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1889 – Frederick May Eliot was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, descending from a long line of Unitarian ministers. He headed the Commission on Appraisal of the American Unitarian Association when it issued its historic report Unitarians Face a New Age in 1936. As president of the American Unitarian Association, he helped to revive the denomination. Eliot worked toward the consolidation of the Unitarians and Universalists. Read more about Frederick May Eliot at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 14

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1638 – John Harvard died at the age of 31. He was a congregational minister in Charlestown, Massachusetts, who left numerous books and some money to a college newly mandated by the General Court to be formed in Newtowne, Massachusetts. The school was then renamed in his honor, and the town’s name was changed to Cambridge. Harvard became a dominant training ground for Unitarian ministry. Read more about the early history of Cambridge at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 13

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Stargard, Germany

1660 – Jonas Schlichtingius, a lifelong Unitarian who served as a missionary and was imprisoned in Stargard, Germany, for his beliefs, finished his commentaries on the Pauline epistles. His sons and other colleagues published them after Schlichtingius’s death as part of a reference series for Polish Unitarians.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 12

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1797 – Samuel Joseph May was born in Boston. He was a popular Unitarian personality and a colleague of William Ellery Channing. A traveling preacher, May went as far south as Washington, D.D. where he saw slavery firsthand. May edited The Liberal Christian and espoused the causes of abstinence, peace, education, women’s rights, abolition, and the elimination of corporal and capital punishment. In 1845, May accepted a call to Syracuse, New York, where a new church was dedicated as the May Memorial Church. Read more about Samuel Joseph May at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

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This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 11

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1832 – Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson submitted his letter of resignation to the proprietors of the Second Church in Boston (Unitarian) due to his unwillingness to serve communion. He decided to seek a new profession. Read a short biography of Emerson, or view an exhibit about Emerson from the 2003 Bicentennial of Emerson’s birth.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History September 10

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1797 – Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died at age 38. Her exact date of birth is unknown. She was a tireless worker for women’s intellectual, domestic, and political freedom and one of the early devotees of women’s rights. Her best known of many works is A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). She died after giving birth to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. She was friends with prominent Unitarians and was heavily influenced by them.

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Read more at: www.HarvardSquareLibrary.org – the digital library of Unitarian Universalism.