bMS 100

Channing, William Ellery. Papers, 1803-1900.

Summary Information:

• Call Number: bMS 100
• Title: William Ellery Channing, Papers, 1803-1900.
• Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
• Quantity: 2 boxes

Administrative Information:

• Acquisition Information: Gift of the Unitarian Universalist Association
• Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection

Biographical Information:

William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) graduated from Harvard College in 1798. He served on the board of the Harvard Corporation from 1813 to 1826, where he worked for the establishment of the Divinity School, which occurred in 1816. A Unitarian minister, Channing served as the pastor of the Federal Street Church in Boston from 1803 until his death in 1842. In 1819 he gave the landmark Unitarian sermon, Unitarian Christianity, which upon publication sold thousands of copies. A believer in the abolitionist movement, he penned The Duty of the Free States in 1842, which was a rebuttal to Daniel Webster's teachings concerning the national slave laws. See related collection, bMS 480.

Scope and Content:

Collection includes sermons, lectures, and addresses by Channing, sixty-six letters by Channing (1803-1839), thirteen letters to Channing (1828-1839), sixteen manuscripts by Channing (1814-1837), including two drafts on "Unitarian Christianity" (1819), photographs of Channing and his wife, and a few secondary manuscripts and letters. 

Container List:

• bMS 100/1 Report by Dr. Charles Lyttle on Channing manuscripts at the Meadville Library, May 18, 1940
• bMS 100/1 Letter from W. E. Channing to Miss Roscoe, typed, November 30, 1827

Series I. Sermons, Lectures, Addresses

• bMS 100/1 (1) "Classics of Our Forefathers." Sermon preached at the Federal Street Church, December 1820.
• bMS 100/1 (2) "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." Sermon preached at Newport, 1831.
• bMS 100/1 (3) "The Kingdom Is the Lord's." Sermon. Not in Channing's hand.
• bMS 100/1 (4) Lecture on War. Includes a letter from Charles William Wendte, 1844-1931, to the Unitarian Historical Society, 1902 June 2.
• bMS 100/1 (5) Letter to the Hon. Henry Clay, On the Annexation of Texas to the United States, August 1, 1837.
• bMS 100/1 (6) The Memorial of the Peace Society of Massachusetts to the Senate and House of Representatives in Washington.
• bMS 100/1 (7) "On Regulation of Thought." Sermon, November 20, 1814.
• bMS 100/1 (8) Report of the Committee appointed to consider the State of Morals among the young men of the City, and the means of improving it. W.E. Channing, chairman. February 9, 1825.
• bMS 100/1 (9) Report of the Committee to whom was referred the question: "What can private Christians do for religion." November 24, 1830.
• bMS 100/1 (10) "Self Denial." Sermon preached at the Federal Street Church, 1825.
• bMS 100/1 (10a) "A Sermon preached at Weston, May 20th, 1810, Proverbs, Third Chapter, Eleven and Twelve."
• bMS 100/1 (11) "Unitarian Christianity." Original draft, 1819.
• bMS 100/1 (12) "Unitarian Christianity." Draft, 1819.
• bMS 100/1 (13) Untitled, Spring 1836.
• bMS 100/1 (14) Untitled.
• bMS 100/1 (15) Untitled.
• bMS 100/1 (16) Untitled.

Series II. Letters Written By Channing

Aiken, Lucy

• bMS 100/1 (17) 1828 April 27
• bMS 100/1 (18) 1832 June 9
• bMS 100/1 (19) 1833 June 28
• bMS 100/1 (20) 1837 April 1
• bMS 100/1 (21) 1839 September 11

Channing, Henry

• bMS 100/1 (22) 1803 May 8
• bMS 100/1 (23) 1834 November 16

Channing, Lucy Ellery

• bMS 100/1 (24) 1822 June 25
• bMS 100/1 (15) 1823 January 2

Channing, Ruth Gibbs

• bMS 100/1 (26) 1826 October 18

Codman, Catherine

• bMS 100/1 (28) 1831 February 4
• bMS 100/1 (29) Portsmouth, July 10
• bMS 100/1 (30) Wednesday morning
• bMs 100/1 (31) Wednesday morning

Dewey, Orville

• bMS 100/1 (32) 1821 July 9
• bMS 100/1 (33) [1821] August 2
• bMS 100/1 (34) 1825 September 19
• bMS 100/1 (35) "My dear Sir" [Dewey] (This letter is not from the UUA collection, source unknown.)

Ellery, William

• bMS 100/1 (36) 1813 July 2

Grant, Moses

• bMS 100/1 (37) Undated.

Lincoln, Jairus

• bMS 100/1 (38) 1810 November

Lunt, William P.

• bMS 100/1 (39) 1828 June 17

Nichols, Ichabod

• bMS 100/1 (40) 1817 September 15
• bMS 100/1 (41) 1820 April 20 (This letter is not from the UUA collection, source unknown.)

Parsons, George

• bMS 100/1 (42) Undated

Payne, Eloise R.

• bMS 100/1 (43) 1809 November
• bMS 100/1 (44) 1810 January
• bMS 100/1 (45) 1810 April
• bMS 100/1 (46) 1811 August 21
• bMS 100/1 (47) 1812 April 17
• bMS 100/1 (48) 1812 August 24
• bMS 100/1 (49) 1812 December 29
• bMS 100/1 (50) 1813 November 22
• bMS 100/1 (51) 1814 May 9

Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer

• bMS 100/2 (0) 1829.
• bMS 100/2 (1) 1838 March 23
• bMS 100/2 (2) September 29
• bMS 100/2 (3) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (4) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (5) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (6) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (7) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (8) Undated

Tuckerman, Joseph

• bMS 100/2 (9) 1829 August 2
• bMS 100/2 (10) 1831 Autumn
• bMS 100/2 (11) 1832 August 12
• bMS 100/2 (12) 1833 April 17
• bMS 100/2 (13) 1833 December 28
• bMS 100/2 (14) 1835 October 15
• bMS 100/2 (15) 1836 October 14
• bMS 100/2 (16) 1837 February 24
• bMS 100/2 (17) 1838 August 2
• bMS 100/2 (18) 1838 August 10
• bMS 100/2 (19) 1838 October

Vaughan, William

• bMS 100/2 (20) 1823 June 6

Ware

• bMS 100/2 (21) Undated

White, J. Blanco

• bMS 100/2 (22) 1839 September 17

Woodbridge, William C.

• bMS 100/2 (23) 1824 November 15
• bMS 100/2 (24) 1831 November 25

Worcester, Noah

• bMS 100/2 (25) 1813 January 11
• bMS 100/2 (26) 1821 January 1
• bMS 100/2 (27) November [26]
• bMS 100/2 (28) Undated
• bMS 100/2 (29) Undated

Worcester, Samuel

• bMS 100/2 (30) 1838 January 10 (Includes on the same sheet an undated letter from John Tuckerman.)
• bMS 100/2 (31) Unidentified letters.

Series III. Letters Written to Channing

Bancroft, George

• bMS 100/2 (32) November 21

Bleecker, H.

• bMS 100/2 (33) 1836 December 16

Carter, F.H.

• bMS 100/2 (34) 1838 June 19

Channing, W.

• bMS 100/2 (35) 1836 January

Channing, Walter

• bMS 100/2 (36) 1838 August 22

Dana, Richard Henry

• bMS 100/2 (37) 1835 September 8

Jackson, J.

• bMS 100/2 (38) Undated

Loring, Ellis Grey

• bMS 100/2 (39) 1839 January 22

Mann, Horace

• bMS 100/2 (40) 1838 October 6

Munroe, James (Company)

• bMS 100/2 (41) [1835?] December 11
• bMS 100/2 (42) 1838 October 26
• bMS 100/2 (43) 1839 May 24

Smith, L.

• bMS 100/2 (44) 1828 October 3

Series IV. Secondary Channing Manuscripts

• bMS 100/2 (45) "Impressions of Dr. W.E. Channing for Eva Channing."
• bMS 100/2 (46) W.E.C. A talk for young people. Author unknown.
• bMS 100/2 (47) William Ellery Channing. Author unknown.
• bMS 100/2 (48) William Ellery Channing. Author unknown. (In Italian.)
• bMS 100/2 (49) "William Ellery Channing as a Man" by a grandchild.
• bMS 100/2 (49a) Vestry Meetings of Federal Street Society with their Pastor, W.E. Channing. February 17, 1819-January 5, 1820.

Series V. Secondary Channing Letters

• bMS 100/2 (50) Channing, F.A. to Miss Parsons, 1885 January 24.
• bMS 100/2 (51) Channing, William Francis to Eva [Channing?], 1900 December 21.
• bMS 100/2 (52) Channing, William Henry to George G. Channing, 1842 October 3.
• bMS 100/2 (53) Dewey, Orville to William Parsons Lunt, 1828 January.
• bMS 100/2 (54) Dwight, John S. to Mary Ann Dwight, 1837 October 22.
• bMS 100/2 (55) Pierce, John to Dr. Sprague, 1847 November.

Series VI. Photographs

• bMS 100/2 (56) Channing, William Ellery
• bMS 100/2 (57) Channing, Ruth.
• bMS 100/2 (58) Unidentified.

Series VII. Miscellaneous

• bMS 100/2 (59) Channing autographs
• bMS 100/2 (60) Financial records by Channing and other members of the family.
• bMS 100/2 (61) Newspaper clipping concerning Morse's Bust of Channing.