all souls
historical society
Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Shape the Future
Unpublished pages/sections
History Talks:
Join the All Souls Historical Society and the Laymen’s League
via Zoom - open invitation
Tuesday, November 17th,
6:30 – 7:30 pm
Our guest will be Rev. Schuyler Vogel, Senior Minister of the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York.
Rev. Vogel will reflect on the history of his congregation and where Unitarian Universalism is headed.
This is the first in a series of History Talks sponsored by the ASHS.
Call or text John Conti, Co-Chair of the Laymen's League, to request to participate and have the zoom link emailed to you, at
646-267-7967.
Would you like to work with us to preserve
All Souls history?
We are seeking volunteers to work with us on collecting and recording church records and materials from congregation members and groups, posting materials on our website, checking sources, writing summaries, and researching background materials.
Please contact us at archives@allsoulsnyc.org if you are interested in finding a new volunteer opportunity at church, and would like to work with us and learn more about
All Souls' history!
Upcoming Events
Sign Up for the Annual Bellows Lecture, 2020
Dr. Bernard Unti will speak on:
"Henry Bergh: Animal Advocate, New Yorker, Unitarian,
and “Riddle Of The 19th Century”
via Zoom - open invitation
Sunday, November 22nd, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Dr. Unti, a scholar and recognized authority on the animal protection movement, will speak about Henry Bergh, the 19th-century member of All Souls who founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866. Bergh used the media to bring attention to the cruelty inflicted on animals in many contexts and was sometimes called "The Great Meddler." Our minister at the time, Rev. Henry Whitney Bellows, worked with Bergh to found the ASPCA, and Peter Cooper, another prominent member of the church, was also on the board of the ASPCA. Dr. Unti will discuss Bergh's work within its historical context, and will also be able to speak to current concerns relating to animal welfare.
Join Us! To register, please complete the form below and click on Send.
The Zoom link will be emailed to you.
RSVP Form:
I would like to attend the Bellows Lecture on Zoom on Sunday, Nov. 22nd at 1:00PM.
ASHS Annual Meeting
Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, 2:00 - 3:30pm
Online on ZOOM only
We will have a special speaker: Robert K. Sutton, former Chief Historian of the National Park Service, will discuss his book
which takes us inside the movement to establish Kansas as a free state and shows us how John Brown, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Abraham Lincoln figure into the story. Men and women full of anti-slavery zeal packed their wagons and headed west in preparation for the struggle that resulted in "Bleeding Kansas." This is an eye-opening examination of a period of U.S. history that bears reflecting on, in view of our current struggle over race, immigration, states’ rights, freedom, and equality.
In addition to the book talk, we will have a brief business session; new officers will be elected; Historical Society projects will be presented; and updates will be given on the major improvements to our historic Wiggin House.
Members and non-members are encouraged to participate. (Only those who are paid-up members will be able to vote.)
Preserving the Present
as a Legacy
for the Future
Imagine being able to write the first draft of history!
Please send us your stories for the archive we're creating to document the life of All Souls.
Selected contributions (with contributors' permission) will be posted in the Community Stories section of this website. Our aim is to capture, among other things, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the uprising against racial injustice on our community. For more details, see Preserving the Present as a Legacy for the Future.
Please send your contributions to us at archives@allsoulsnyc.org. Thank you!
The 2022 Bellows Lecture was given on Nov.13th by
Professor Lydia Willsky-Ciollo:
Strange Bedfellows?
Henry David Thoreau and Unitarianism
The recording is available here
Henry David Thoreau left the Unitarian church in his early 20s, and famously found his church out in nature, where "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads" as he wrote in Walden. He has been viewed by scholars and popular audiences alike as anti-religious. However, his calls to a more simple life, the preservation of nature’s resources, a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and the use of reason and conscience as a guide, are now all reflected in our Unitarian Universalist Principles. The lecture explored Thoreau's relationship to his nineteenth-century Christian, specifically Unitarian, context, positing that perhaps Thoreau was not so far from those who sat in the pews on Sundays, as many imagine him to be.
Dr. Lydia Willsky-Ciollo is an historian of American religion, with a focus on Early Republic and antebellum religious movements, particularly Unitarians, Transcendentalists, and new religious movements. In her work she seeks to expand the traditionally Christian narrative of American religion to include those often excluded due to gender, race, class, ethnicity, or religious tradition.
Preserving the Present
as a Legacy for the Future
The aim of this section of the website is to record the feelings, thoughts and experiences of the All Souls community during this extraordinary time, a time that has affected every one of us. 2020 witnessed a terrifying pandemic that was visited upon the entire world resulting in economic turmoil. At the same time, tragic events of police brutality fomented a nationwide uprising against racial injustice. All of this transpired against a backdrop of the intensifying climate crisis and a critical presidential election.
The New York Times article, “This Year Will End Eventually. Document It While You Can,” quotes a nerdy joke that went viral on Twitter: Future historians will be asked which quarter of 2020 they specialize in.
The All Souls Archives provided an invaluable resource for our 2019 Bicentennial celebration, especially for our book All Souls at 200. Let’s preserve a record of the remarkable events of this year so that future generations will understand what we went through and have a deep appreciation of what they have inherited.
We need your help to do it!
We invite you to document your personal experiences and activities, and send your contributions to us at archives@allsoulsnyc.org. Thank you!
Please send your reflections in prose, poetry, photographs, artwork, audio and video. This may include emails you have sent, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram posts, and journal entries you've written about the current state of the world and your life.
We will continue to curate our history website to collect our congregation’s collective experiences Watch for announcements about Zoom gatherings to inspire and inform. Please help us to create a legacy for future generations!
Bill Bechman & Lois Coleman