bMS 139

Helvie, Clara Cook. Papers, 1902-1925.

Summary Information:

• Call Number: bMS 139
• Title: Clara Cook Helvie. Papers, 1902-1925.
• Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
• Quantity: 1 box

Administrative Information:

• Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection. 
• Acquisition Information: Gift of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1970.

Biographical Note:

Clara Cook Helvie (1876-1969) was born in Chaumont, New York. She graduated from Canton's Business College in Buffalo, New York. Upon her graduation, she worked as a secretary and accepted a position in Puerto Rico. She married in 1902 and spent the next eight years in the Philippines. Helvie was widowed in 1916, and began attending Meadville Theological School. She graduated in 1917 and was ordained as a Unitarian minister that same year in Wheeling, West Virginia. Over the course of her ministry, Helvie served parishes in Wheeling, West Virginia; Moline, Indiana; Milford, New Hampshire; and Westboro and Middleboro, Massachusetts, until her retirement in 1942. In addition to her ministerial duties, Helvie pursued her research into women ministers. She corresponded with many of these ministers and compiled autobiographical information on them. She was also the only female minister to take part at the dedication of the Unitarian headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1925. Helvie died in 1969 at the age of 83.

Container List:

Articles, sermons

• bMS 139/1 (1) "The Colleges and Normal Schools of Manila"
• bMS 139/1 (2) "Convent and College of Santa Catalina"
• bMS 139/1 (3) "Glimpses of San Juan, Puerto Rico"
• bMS 139/1 (4) Interview published in a Boston paper with Helvie.
• bMS 139/1 (5) "Philippine Independence"
• bMS 139/1 (6) "Religion and Education"
• bMS 139/1 (7) "The Victory of Firmness"
• bMS 139/1 (8) Untitled. On schools in the Philippine Islands.
• bMS 139/1 (9) Untitled. On the interior of Puerto Rico.
• bMS 139/1 (10) Untitled. On the Chautauquas.
• bMS 139/1 (11) Untitled. On a trip taken on the Pacific Ocean, 1902.
• bMS 139/1 (12) Untitled. Italy.

Notes

• bMS 139/1 (13) Notes. The Philippine Islands.
• bMS 139/1 (14) Notes. About Women Ministers.

Letters

• bMS 139/1 (15) Correspondence about buying land, 1924.