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COLLECTION Identifier: bMS 11183

Eliot, Samuel A. (Samuel Atkins), 1862-1950. Documents and photograph, 1889-1900 and undated.

Overview

Photograph of Group of Foreign and American Delegates to the 75th Anniversary of the American Unitarian Association in Boston, Massachusetts May 24, 1900 along with distinguished service award to Unitarian minister Samuel Atkins Eliot and his diplomas from Harvard University and Bowdoin College.

Dates

  • Creation: 1889-1900 and undated.

Extent

1 boxes

Photograph of Group of Foreign and American Delegates to the 75th Anniversary of the American Unitarian Association in Boston, Massachusetts, May 24, 1900 along with distinguished service award to Samuel Atkins Eliot and his diplomas from Harvard University and Bowdoin College.

Biographical / Historical

Samuel Atkins Eliot (1862-1950) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard College in 1884 and Harvard Divinity School in 1889. He served Unitarian parishes in Denver, Colorado, the Church of the Saviour in Brooklyn, New York, and the Arlington Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. While in Denver he founded the Rocky Mountain Conference of the American Unitarian Association (AUA). In 1898 he became the secretary of the AUA, the executive of the association at that time. In 1900 the AUA made a shift in leadership and designated its executive officer as the president, a position held by Eliot until 1927. In 1925 he led a merger between the AUA and the National Conference of Churches that became the modern AUA. Eliot was the son of President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University. His biography has been written by his brother-in-law, Dr. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, titled Pilot of a Liberal Faith: Samuel Atkins Eliot, 1862-1950; Skinner House book by Beacon Press, 1976, Boston.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Charles W. Eliot II, 1974.

Related Materials

For related collections, please see bMS 135, bMS 496, and bMS 594.

Title
Eliot, Samuel A. (Samuel Atkins), 1862-1950. Documents and photograph: A Finding Aid.
Author
Andover-Harvard Theological Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
div11183

Repository Details

Part of the Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University Repository

Special Collections at Harvard Divinity School Library preserves and makes accessible primary source materials documenting the history of religion and theology, with particular historical emphasis on American liberal religious traditions. Though the historical strengths of the collections have been in the field of Christianity, other religious traditions are increasingly reflected, in step with Harvard Divinity School's evolving focus on global religious studies. Known as Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1911, it was renamed the Harvard Divinity School Library in 2021.

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