First Unitarian Church of Manchester Papers, 1842-1964

Collection number: MC 171
Size: 5 boxes (1.66 cu.ft.)

About the First Unitarian Church of Manchester

The first Unitarian preaching in Manchester, New Hampshire was given by the Reverend S. Osgood of Nashua in March 1841. In July 19, 1842 an assembly met at City Hall for the purpose of organizing a Unitarian church in the city. The first pastor, Rev. Oliver H. Wellington, was ordained the same day. Initial services were held at City Hall.

In 1841 the society moved to a small wooden chapel on the corner of Hanover and Chestnut Streets which had been built by the Second Methodist Episcopal society. In 1843, when the Methodists built their brick church on Elm Street, they leased this chapel to the Unitarians. Rev. Wellington first preached in it July 2, 1843. That same month, however, the society purchased and moved it to the corner of Merrimack and Pine Streets, the gift of the Amoskeag Company, enlarging it in the process.

In 1852, the Hon. Richard H. Ayer bequeathed the society a house on the corner of Chestnut and Central Streets, which was used as a parsonage and then sold in 1864. In 1859 the society exchanged its house for the one built by the First Freewill Baptist society on the corner of Chestnut and Merrimack Streets. This they sold in 1871 and in 1872 they dedicated a new house of worship on the corner of Beech and Concord Streets.

About the First Unitarian Church of Manchester Papers

The First Unitarian Church of Manchester, N.H. papers include record book ledgers and treasurers account books documenting the formation of the church, its membership and finances; a manuscript book on the formation of the Unity Club in 1872 with signatures of 150 of its members; a cash book of the Unity Club's transactions in the 1890s, various other records, publications and programs, 34 photographs related to the church Sunday school's activities, and 12 printing blocks.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

This collection is open.

Copyright Notice

Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], [Folder number], [Box number], First Unitarian Church of Manchester Papers, 1842-1964, MC 171, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased: Charles Apfelbaum, Feb. 16, 2000 (Accession number: 2000.05)

Collection Contents

Series 1: Records, 1842-1947

Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1Record Book Ledger, 1842-1896 (Approximately 400 pages)

Documents the formation of the church in 1842, its constitution, annual meeting minutes, other business, and treasurer's accounts.

Box 1, Folder 2Record Book Ledger, 1842/1874 (Approximately 100 pages)

Documents the history of the church up until 1874 - its formation in 1842, its business, various orders of services, pew rentals, and a contract for a new building in 1871. Includes a list of church members, births, deaths, marriages (1842-1861) and baptisms in back.

Box 1, Folder 3Treasurer's Account Book Ledger, 1902-1939. Tipped in, printed financial reports for the years ending Oct. 1877, 1879, 1893 and 1915 (400 pages)
Box 2
Box 2, Folder 1Church membership list ledger with, tipped in, a typed list of members, 1842-1942, 1842-1947
Box 2, Folder 2Record Book Ledger, Unity Club, 1892-1896 (55 pages)

Documents the formation of the Unity Club in Sept. 1892, lists its members, and records its business. Includes two publications tipped in, Unity Clubs: or Mutual Improvement Societies in Town and Church by Emma Endicott Marean (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Co., 1886) and Tract 4 of the National Bureau of Unity Clubs, Suggested Plans of Study and Work For Unity Clubs and Study Classes (Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, 1891).

Box 2, Folder 3Treasurer’s account book ledger for the Unity Club, 1892-1896 (33 pages)
Box 2, Folder 4Treasurer’s account book ledger for the Women’s Alliance formed in 1906, 1906-1926 (132 pages)

Includes a program for the 1914-1915 season of meetings of the Women’s Alliance of the First Unitarian Society of Manchester and two flyers advertising a chicken pie supper and an afternoon tea, all tipped in.

Box 2, Folder 5By-Laws of the Unitarian Society, 1894-1897
Box 2, Folder 6Mortgage deed for a sum of $2500 needed for repair of the church steeple. The First Unitarian Society mortgaged land to the American Unitarian Association in Boston. Nov. 27, 1929
Box 2, Folder 7Programs for various installations of ministers, 1905-1937
Box 2, Folder 8Receipts and notes, 1860-1883
Box 2, Folder 9Miscellaneous correspondence, 1861-1942 (8 letters)
Box 2, Folder 10Miscellaneous manuscripts, including an address by Ella Hope before the Alliance in 1932, reporting on Alliance Week at the Isles of Shoals; an historical address by Lauretta B. Sawtelle, Parish Historian, at the centennial meeting at Grace Church, Dec 2, 1941; notes on early religious education in the First Unitarian Society, n.d. (but ca. 1930); and various notes toward a history of the church, including a list of members on the original church roll, 1932-1941
Box 2, Folder 11Miscellaneous printed items, including:

Program for the dedication of the “new church edifice of the First Unitarian Church of Manchester, N.H.”, May 1, 1872; program for the fiftieth anniversary of the church, April 27, 1892; program of the “exercises in commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary,” Sept. 20-22, 1908; booklet containing services conducted for the fiftieth anniversary of the church building in 1922, historical addresses, constitution and by-laws, list of origin members, and other historical information; various programs of services; a typed report for the annual parish meeting, Jan. 12, 1933, and a program for the “Festival of the Arts,” Nov. 13-15, 1941, 1872-1941

Box 2, Folder 12Various printed items concerning the exposition of the faith of Unitarians, undated:

Including cards and one-page sheets of the Creed, the scriptural belief, and cornerstones of the faith, probably for use in the Sunday school; Unitarian Catechism by M.J. Savage, 1890; a completed questionnaire from 1881; and a folio sized double-fold picturing the three hundred delegates to the convention that formed the Unitarian Layman’s League, April 11-12, 1919, with a list of names, 1881-1919

Box 2, Folder 13Pen and ink drawing of the First Unitarian Church, Manchester by Margarete Gravas, undatedView this item

Series 2: Publications 1848-1964

Box 3
Box 3, Folder 1Unitarian publications:
  • Unitarian Annual Illustrated, 1894-1895, The Unitarian Club, Boston;
  • The Unitarian, Vol. XII Number 11, Nov. 1897;
  • Services and Hymns for Alliance Meetings, The Alliance of Unitarian and Other Liberal Christian Women, Boston, 1914;
  • Star Island Chronicles (Unitarian), Summer 1916. First issue;
  • Unitarian News Letter, (headline: “When Star Island Calls”), May 1932;
  • The Fulfilment of Citizenship, Boston: American Unitarian Association, n.d., 1922-1931
Box 3, Folder 2Sermons:
  • A Discourse in Vindication of Unitarianism From Popular Charges Against It by Rev. Arthur B. Fuller, delivered in the First Unitarian Church in Manchester, N.H., May 14, 1848;
  • Discourse Occasioned By The Death of Hon. Richard Hazen Ayer, Rev. Arthur B. Fuller, delivered in the First Unitarian Church in Manchester, N.H., Feb. 13, 1853;
  • The Spirit of Human Liberty As One Among The Democratic Issues of Christianity and Another Sermon by William Leonard Gage, First Unitarian Church in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 2, 1856;
  • A Discourse Occasioned By The Death of Dr. Warren F. Chamberlin, Pastor of the Unitarian Society, Manchester, Nov. 30, 1856;
  • An Easter Sermon by Rev. C.W. Heizer, First Unitarian Church in Manchester, N.H., April 17, 1892;
  • The Simplification of Life by Samuel McChord Crothers, Minister of the First Parish and First Church in Cambridge (Cambridge: The Co-operative Press, 1900);
  • William Makepeace Thackeray by Rev. Chas. J. Staples, Lecture delivered before Section E of the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences, January 15, 1901 'A Sermon: The Divineness of Christ, The Divineness of Manhood' by Rev. Chas. J. Staples, First Unitarian Church in Manchester, May 12, 1901;
  • The Spiritual Vision of Human Life: A Sermon by Frank Abram Powell, Delivered in the Pulpit of the First Unitarian Church, Helena, Mont., Oct. 29, 1912, 1937-1953
Box 3, Folder 3Miscellaneous:
  • “The London of Dickens,” fold-out flyer, n.d.;
  • "The Old March Meeting Day," poem by John Foster, read by John Foster at the Amoskeag Old Home Day, Aug. 26, 1905;
  • Eric Alton Dyer Presents…, publicity flyer;
  • “Centennial Hymn,” words by Herman Christophe, music by Blanche Hayes Cornell, part of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of the First Unitarian Society celebrations, April 24, 1942 1905-1942 and undated
Box 3, Folder 4Newsclippings, 1850-1942
Box 3, Folder 5New Hampshire Book Fair publicity flyers and posters (held at the First Unitarian Church), 1939-1942
Box 3, Folder 6Programs for the Branch Alliance, First Unitarian Society, 1916/17-1921/22
Box 3, Folder 7Programs for the Branch Alliance, First Unitarian Society, , 1923/24-1932/33
Box 3, Folder 8Programs for the Branch Alliance, First Unitarian Society, 1934/35-1938/39
Box 3, Folder 9Programs for the Branch Alliance, First Unitarian Society, 1939/40-1954/55
Box 3, Folder 10Programs for the Branch Alliance, First Unitarian Society, 1955/56-1963/64

Series 3: Photographs, 1942

Box 4
Box 4, Folder 1Altar at Christmas, undated
Box 4, Folder 2Church organ decorated for Harvest Festival, undated
Box 4, Folder 3Interior view of church showing aisle, altar, church organ and arches, undated
Box 4, Folder 4Interior shot of church, undated
Box 4, Folder 5Church door in winter, undated
Box 4, Folder 6Interior view of church showing aisle, altar and church organ (close-up), undated
Box 4, Folder 7New Hampshire Book Fair display in the vestry of the church. The dining room at the back was called “The Christmas Tea Shoppe” in which The Women’s Allaince served tea and a light supper, undated
Box 4, Folder 8Children who attended one of the children’s sessions at the New Hampshire Book Fairs, undated
Box 4, Folder 9Reverend George E. Hathaway, undated
Box 4, Folder 10Chapel, Star Island, Isles of Shoals (glued on board); closer view (3×5), both undated
Box 4, Folder 11Group of boys outside church, undated
Box 4, Folder 12Group pictured outside church door in winter, undated
Box 4, Folder 13Older woman pictured on church steps, undated
Box 4, Folder 14Unidentified trio inside church, undated
Box 4, Folder 15Mrs. Copadis, a Greek lady who spoke to the church school about her native land, undated
Box 4, Folder 16Pageant: The Spirit of Truth, six of the virtues and three of the pages who participated in the Easter Pageant, “The Consecration of Sir Galahad”, undated
Box 4, Folder 17Pageant: Three photos: The Spirit of Truth, “Love,” and Love and Sir Galahad, undated
Box 4, Folder 18Pageant: The Spirit of Truth, four boys, undated
Box 4, Folder 19Pageant: The Spirit of Truth, girls and young women, undated
Box 4, Folder 20Pageant: Knights at “The Consecration of Sir Galahad”, undated
Box 4, Folder 21Pageant: “The Consecration of Sir Galahad” (played by Lloyd Kendall), undated
Box 4, Folder 22Pageant group photo outside church, undated
Box 4, Folder 23Pageant group photo inside church, undated
Box 4, Folder 24Five children with perfect attendance at Sunday school: Willard Huntress, Phyllis Daniels, Wendel Walton, Jr., Barbara Daniels, and Romola Huntress, undated
Box 4, Folder 25Group of older women, undated
Box 4, Folder 26Women and children eating at picnic table, undated
Box 4, Folder 27Children at lakeside picnic table, undated
Box 4, Folder 28Women and children posing at picnic table, undated
Box 4, Folder 29Group photo at picnic, undated
Box 4, Folder 30Five boys in Miss Ayer’s Sunday school class standing next to a Temple of Goodwill, undated
Box 4, Folder 31Children with Santa Claus in front of Christmas tree, undated
Box 4, Folder 32Children seated on sofa, undated
Box 4, Folder 33Schoolchildren with their guest, Miss Rachel Hefterman, young daughter of the local Rabbi, who had just given a talk on her trip to Palestine, undated
Box 4, Folder 34Women’s Alliance at home of Grace and Margaret Wallace, Nubble Light, York Beach, Maine, summer 1942 1942 (b and w, 3×5)

Series 4: Printing Blocks

Box 4
Printing block, 6×7"
Box 5
Printing blocks: four 5×7", one 6×6", six smaller blocks
Finding Aid Image TEMP

Formats

Ledgers & Receipts
Manuscripts & Typescripts
Newspapers & Publications
Photographs, Slides & Negatives