Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association records
Scope and Content note
Correspondence, minutes, financial records, printed material (including periodicals, programs), newspaper clippings, photographs, sermons, scrapbook.
Dates
- 1871 - 1995
Creator
- Unitarian Universalist Association. Northeast District (Donor, Organization)
Access
Unrestricted
Copyright
Access to collections at Maine Historical Society is not an authorization to publish. Rights and reproduction requests may be submitted in writing to the MHS Image Services Coordinator or Research & Administrative Librarian, subject to format.
Administrative note
The majority of this collection are the historical records of the Universalists in Maine (Maine Universalist Convention and later Universalist Church of Maine), with less about the Unitarians (Maine Unitarian Association). The two denominations merged in 1961, when the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged, to create the Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association.
In July 2008 the Northeast District, which included Maine, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, merged with the New Hampshire Vermont District of Unitarian Universalist Societies to become the Northern New England District (of the Unitarian Universalist Church). At the district annual meeting on September 20, 2020, delegates voted for the dissolution of the district and merger with the New England Region (of the Unitarian Universalist Church).
Source: Unitarian Universalist Associaiton, Former Districts of the New England Region.
Key players:
Maine Universalist Convention. (Started in 1861)
- 1910-1917: Asa Mayo Bradley (1856-1937)
- 1917-192?: Dwight A. Ball, Superintendent. Also minister at the First Universalist Church in West Paris, Maine
- 1920s-1930s: Rev. Milo G. Folsom was the Acting Secretary and Superintendent. He was the minister at the First Universalist Church in Gardiner, Maine.
- 1924-1933. Stanley Manning was the superintendent of the Maine Universalist Convention.
- 1930s: Rev. William Dawes Veazie, Secretary and Superintendent of Churches.
- 1940-1967: Kenneth G. Hawkes was the Secretary and Superintendent. He later became the Executive Secretary of the Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association in the 1960s. Clarence Philbrick was the Chairman of the Trustees of the Universalist Church of Maine.
- 1968- : Robert C. Sallies was District Executive Secretary
- 1950s: Walter Kellison was Superintendent of The Universalist Church of Maine. He resigned in 1955. See Maine Universalist (Nov.-Dec. 1955)
- 1920s: Elias Thomas, Treasurer; Norman Bassett, Treasurer
- 1940s: Rev. Horace Colpitts (Eastport, Maine) was Secretary
- 1980s: Isabel T. Coburn, District Executive.
Also of interest are records related to the Passamaquoddy Indians “situation” in 1966-1968.
Extent
32 Linear Feet
1 Volumes (scrapbook)
1 Sheets (oversize folder)
Language of Materials
English
Series
- 1. Churches (including some in New Brunswick) – 19 boxes
- 2. Clergy/People – 3 boxes
- 3. Sermons by C.L. Waite – 6 boxes
- 4. Maine Universalist Convention and Universalist Church of Maine – 25 boxes
- 4.1 Correspondence – 8 boxes
- 4.2 Administrative records – 17 boxes
- 5. Maine Unitarian Association – 5 boxes
- 6. Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association – 6 boxes
- 7. Periodicals and newsletters (some transferred to MHS library shelves) – 1 box
- 8. Oversized – folder (OS7-A) and scrapbook
Container list
Series 1: Churches
- Box 1: Churches - A (Addison-Augusta All Souls)
- Box 2: Churches – A (Augusta All Souls) – B (Bangor Independent Congregational Society)
- Box 3: Churches – B (Bangor Independent Congregational Society – Bath)
- Box 4: Churches – B (Belfast – Bowdoinham)
- Box 5: Churches – B (Bowdoinham) – C (Calais)
- Box 6: Churches – C (Canton – Castine)
- Box 7: Churches – D (Dexter) – E (Exeter)
- Box 8: Churches – F (Fairfield) – H (Hope)
- Box 9: Churches – H (Houlton) – L (Leeds)
- Box 10: Churches – L (Lewiston – Livermore Falls)
- Box 11: Churches – M (Machias) – N (North Jay)
- Box 12: Churches – N (Norway) – O (Old Town)
- Box 13: Churches – O (Orono) – P (Pittsfield)
- Box 14: Churches – P (Portland – All Souls/Church of the Messiah – Congress Square)
- Box 15: Churches – P (Portland – Congress Square – Presque Isle)
- Box 16: Churches – R (Rockland – Rumford)
- Box 17: Churches – R (Rumford) – S (Saco)
- Box 18: Churches – S (Sangerville – Stockton Springs)
- Box 19: Churches – S (Swanville) – Y (Yarmouth)
Series 2: Clergy/People
- Box 20: Clergy/People – A (Ames) – H (Hilton)
- Box 21: Clergy/People – K (Kellison) – R (Reardon)
- Box 22: Clergy/People – R (Robbins) – W (West); Miscellaneous
Series 3: Sermons by C. L. Waite
- Box 23: Sermons: no. 8-159
- Box 24: Sermons: no. 160-233, B63-C25
- Box 25: Sermons: no. C31-C53; Bible verses (Old Testament and Gospels)
- Box 26: Sermons: Bible verses (New Testament after Gospels); Alphabetical titles A-D
- Box 27: Sermons: Alphabetical titles G-T
- Box 28: Sermons: Alphabetical titles U-X and fragments
Series 4: Maine Universalist Convention
Subseries 4.1: Maine Universalist Convention correspondence
- Box 29: Correspondence, 1912-1914 (A-I)
- Box 30: Correspondence, 1914 (J) – 1915 (L)
- Box 31: Correspondence, 1915 (M) – 1916 (M)
- Box 32: Correspondence, 1916 (N-Y) and 1917 (October)
- Box 33: Correspondence, 1917 (Nov.) – 1918 (Dec.)
- Box 34: Correspondence, 1919 (Jan.-Oct.)
- Box 35: Correspondence, 1919 (Nov.-Dec.) – 1920
- Box 36: Correspondence, 1921-1936; Miscellaneous 1874-1938
Subseries 4.2: Administrative records
- Box 37: Reports and administrative records, 1902-1927
- Box 38: Reports and administrative records, 1928-1939
- Box 39: Trustees, treasurers, and financial records, 1907-1939
- Box 40: Reports and administrative records, 1940-1941
- Box 41: Reports and administrative records, 1941-1942
- Box 42: Reports and administrative records, 1942-1943
- Box 43: Reports and administrative records, 1943-1944
- Box 44: Reports and administrative records, 1944-1945
- Box 45: Reports and administrative records, 1946-1947
- Box 46: Reports and administrative records, 1948-1949
- Box 47: Trustees, treasurers, and financial records, 1940-1945
- Box 48: Trustees, treasurers, and financial records, 1945-1947
- Box 49: Trustees, treasurers, and financial records, 1948-1956; Religious education, ca. 1950-1955
- Box 50: Reports and administrative records, 1950-1953
- Box 51: Reports and administrative records, 1953-1954
- Box 52: Reports and administrative records, 1955-1959; Manuscript (n.d.)
- Box 53: Reports and administrative records, 1960-1965
Series 5: Maine Unitarian Association
-
(Unitarian church records)
- Box 54: Administrative records, 1874-1945
- Box 55: Financial records, 1918-1932
- Box 56: Administrative records, 1946-1954
- Box 57: Administrative records, 1954-1957
- Box 58: Administrative records, 1958-1962
Series 6: Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association
- Box 59: Administrative records, 1960-1962
- Box 60: Administrative records, 1962-1963
- Box 61: Administrative records, 1964-1965; Passamaquoddy Indians Project, 1964-1969
- Box 62: Administrative records, 1966-1969
- Box 63: Administrative records, 1969-1970
- Box 64: Administrative records, 1971-1977 (1982); Legal sized Universalist and Unitarian records
Series 7: Periodicals and newsletters
- Box 65: Periodicals and newsletters, 1949-1979
Series 8: Oversized: folder and scrapbook
Provenance
Gift of New England District of the Unitarian Universalist Association (acc. nos. 1998.217 (?), 2007.071). The gifts came at different times and have been in backlog for many years.
In museum
Printing plate, ca. 1930s, showing group of men under sign: “Worster.”
Processing note
By 2023 the collection was in a combination of record cartons and document boxes, due to the work of John Knowlton, MHS volunteer, ca. 2006: Unitarian Universalists (New England Division), records, ca. 10,000 items; NB cartons were originally numbered 1 – 26, but they were condensed into 14 record cartons and 28 manuscript cartons; container #1 has a list of the material in 21 of the containers.
Retaining this order, the collection was then rehoused into 74 document boxes. The boxes were then rearranged into series. There were at least three series of records about individual churches, so these were combined into one, for ease of research.
Whenever possible original file names were retained in rehousing.
The correspondence files were originally arranged in various ways, depending on who was keeping the records. Some of the earlier files are basically chronological and then alphabetical, and some of the subsequent files were arranged by year and then by month. Because of the variety of filing systems the researcher may want to look in files other than the logical place. Some folders have a range of dates that goes beyond the box dates. Further organizing can be done.
Some of the later records had the staples removed and Plastiklips were used instead. Because of the bulk created in doing so, these could be removed and archival paper used to keep items together (some of this has been done).
Creator
- Unitarian Universalist Association. Northeast District (Donor, Organization)
- Waite, Charles L., 1839-1928 (Person)
- Universalist Church of Maine (Organization)
- Maine Unitarian Association (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the Northeast District Unitarian Universalist Association records
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Nancy Noble, MHS Archivist, August 2023-April 2024
- Date
- April 4, 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Maine Historical Society Repository