User:UU Archivist

UU Archivist

After a 35 year IT career, I retired and discovered that my time is now "my time." With the freedom to explore activities that truly interest me, I was drawn to exploring the history of my Unitarian Universalism faith tradition in my home town of Atlanta, Georgia.

Unitarians and Universalists had been active in Atlanta long before Atlanta iconic institutions such as Coca-Cola or Georgia Tech came into existence. Yet the story of Unitarians and Universalists has remained largely untold.

My hope is to share the rich history of my faith movement in Atlanta and in the South on Wikipedia.

Artilces

• Frances C. Swift (1834–1908) was a native-born Southerner and influential female lay leader in the early days of the spread of Unitarianism in the South. (new article)
• George Leonard Chaney (1836-1922) was a Boston Unitarian minister who served the city’s Hollis Street Church for 15 years. In 1882, at the American Unitarian Association's (A.U.A.) request, he moved to Atlanta to organize the first Unitarian church in that city. As the A.U.A. Southern Superintendent, he was a leader in expanding Unitarianism across the South. (new article)
• The Herald of Freedom 1831–1834, was a weekly Connecticut newspaper published by P.T. Barnum. It was a Universalist-leaning paper that Barnum used as a vehicle to engage in the political debate over the relationship between church and state. (update to existing article)
• L.F.W. Andrews(September 2, 1802 – March 16, 1875) was an American Southern Universalist minister and a prodigious publisher of denominational and secular newspapers. He was among a handful of Northern Universalist ministers who came to the American South in the early 1800s to assist in the spread of Universalism. (new article)
• Elhanan Winchester (September 30, 1751 – April 18, 1797) was an American theologian who explored numerous theological paths before becoming an advocate for universal restoration. As a result, Winchester is considered among the early leaders of American Universalism. (update to existing article)
• Daniel Bragg Clayton commonly known as D.B. Clayton (April 7, 1817 – November 12, 1906), was an American Southern Universalist minister who was instrumental in spreading and defending Universalism in the South. He was a self-taught scholar on the scriptural justification of universal salvation and frequently debated this theological topic with clergy of other denominations. (new article)
• Young People's Christian Union (Y.P.C.U.), organized in 1889, was a Universalist youth group created to develop the spiritual life of young people and advance the work of the Universalist church. (new article)
• Church of Our Father (Atlanta) was the first Unitarian church established in Atlanta, Georgia. (new article)
• Liberty Universalist Church and Feasterville Academy Historic District The construction of the church building in 1831 coincided with the formation of the South Carolina Convention of Universalists in November 1830. (update to existing article)
• Aubrey Franklin Hess (December 8, 1874 – October 27, 1935) was a progressive American theologian and educator. (new article)
• First Universalist Church (Atlanta) organized in 1895, re-established a Universalist presence in Atlanta, Georgia. Initial missionary efforts in 1879 were short-lived and failed to establish a permanent presence in the city. With the explicit assistance the Young People's Christian Union, this second missionary effort enabled the Universalists to sustain their presence and construct a church building on East Harris in 1900. The Universalists occupied the church until 1918 when they merged with Atlanta's Unitarians.(new article)
• Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Northwest) was organized in 1969. The organization of Northwest was the result of action taken by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta (UUCA) to establish a new congregation in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta. (new article)