Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812-June 9, 1870) is often considered the finest English novelist of the 19th century. His enduring comic characters are part of the culture. He is known as well for exposing the wretchedness of the downtrodden, for his anger at their heartless oppression and for his contribution to the celebration of Christmas.
Maurice B. Visscher (August 25, 1901-May 1, 1983) was an internationally recognized physiologist and an outspoken and active citizen. His work as medical researcher and teacher, in linking the science of physiology with the practice of surgery, led to major developments in cardiovascular surgery.…
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803-April 27, 1882) began his career as a Unitarian minister but went on, as an independent man of letters, to become the preeminent lecturer, essayist and philosopher of 19th century America. Emerson was a key figure in the “New England Renaissance,” as an author and also through association with the Transcendental Club, the Dial and the many writers—notably Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott and Margaret Fuller—who gathered around him at his home in Concord, Massachusetts.…
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832-March 6, 1888), best known as the author of Little Women, was an advocate of abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. Her stories, novels, and poems helped to support the Alcott family, and most have now been republished, widening her reputation beyond that of children’s author and bringing fresh critical notice to her work.…
Carl Gerrard Seaburg (October 21, 1922-December 16, 1998) was a minister, scholar, writer, editor and long-time member of the staff of the Unitarian Universalist Association. He is best known in church circles as a hymn writer and as an editor and anthologist of liturgical materials.
Celia Burleigh (September 18, 1826-July 25, 1875) was ordained at Brooklyn, Connecticut, on October 5, 1871, the first woman to enter Unitarian ministry. Had this event not occurred, she would be remembered chiefly as a writer, editor, public speaker, and activist in a number of reform movements, preeminently women’s rights.
George Ripley (October 3, 1802-July 4, 1880), minister of the Purchase Street Church in Boston, 1826-41, was a central figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 1830s and 40s, a founder in 1841 of the Brook Farm commune, and later one of America’s most prominent literary reviewers and critics.
Robert Aspland (January 13, 1782-December 30, 1845), father of organised Unitarianism in Great Britain, was the most widely known Unitarian minister of his day. He was amongst the most powerful and influential—some thought domineering—of Unitarian figures.
Robert was born at Wicken, Cambridgeshire, the eldest son of Robert and Hannah (née Brook) Aspland.…
John Sullivan Dwight (May 13, 1813-September 5, 1893) made important contributions to the Transcendentalist movement. A dedicated member of the Brook Farm commune while it lasted, he was America’s first influential classical music critic.
Born May 13, 1813, in Boston, Dwight graduated from Harvard College in 1832.
John Sullivan Dwight (May 13, 1813-September 5, 1893) made important contributions to the Transcendentalist movement. A dedicated member of the Brook Farm commune while it lasted, he was America’s first influential classical music critic.
Born May 13, 1813, in Boston, Dwight graduated from Harvard College in 1832.…
Robert Brook Aspland (January 19, 1805-June 21, 1869), son of Robert Aspland, succeeded his father’s as editor of the Christian Reformer and as secretary of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. He was widely regarded as a powerful and forceful preacher and was nearly as dominant in denominational affairs as his father had been.…
Rod Serling (December 25, 1924-June 28, 1975), one of television’s most prolific writers, is best known for his science fiction television series, The Twilight Zone. He believed that the role of the writer was to “menace the public conscience.” Throughout his life Serling used radio, television, and film as “vehicles of social criticism.”…