Pitts Theology Library
Archives and Manuscripts Department

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta
Records, circa 1831-2008

Historical Note

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta has its roots in two separate congregations that were established in Atlanta in the late 19th century.  In 1879 Rev. W. C. Bowman established a Universalist congregation that lasted less than a year.  The next attempt was in1893 when Rev. Q. H. Shinn succeeded in organizing a congregation that became the First Universalist Church in 1895.

George Chaney, a northern Unitarian minister and educator who founded the Artisan's Institute, a vocational school that later became Georgia Institute of Technology, conducted the first Unitarian service for a congregation of eight on February 19, 1882.  The following year this congregation established the Church of our Father.  The church experienced growth and decline in its membership and ultimately changed its name to The Unitarian Church of Atlanta on June 9, 1904.  In 1915 the American Unitarian Association (AUA) financed construction of a church building at 669 West Peachtree Street.

On November 14, 1918 the Unitarians merged with the Universalist congregation to form the Liberal Christian Church.  This merger is particularly noteworthy because it occurred 43 years before the national bodies of these two denominations merged.  Under the dynamic leadership of Rev. Clinton Lee Scott from 1926 to 1929, the congregation approved another name change in June 1927 and became the United Liberal Church.  The effects of the Great Depression, however, almost caused the church to close its doors in 1934 but the congregation managed to persevere until the 1940s.

The congregation's position on race almost destroyed the church during the late forties.  In 1944, after the AUA criticized the church's policy on segregation, the congregation broke its ties with the national body.  The ultimate crisis occurred in 1948, however, when the Rev. Isaiah Jonathan Domas resigned after the congregation refused membership to Dr. Thomas Baker Jones, an African-American Unitarian who chaired the Department of Social Work at Atlanta University.  In response to this incident, the American Unitarian Ministers' Association urged its members to boycott the pastorate at the Atlanta church.  The congregation stood its ground and turned to a minister from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during part of this struggle.  In 1951 the American Unitarian Association resolved the crisis by selling the church building out from under the congregation.

The AUA provided an opportunity for a fresh start by sending Rev. Glenn O. Canfield to officially reorganize the church in the spring of 1952.  A church building was purchased in 1953 and on January 20, 1954 the new United Liberal Church was officially reestablished.  During the 1950s and 1960s the congregation demonstrated a commitment to the fight for human and civil rights.  Rev. Edward A. Cahill and Rev. Eugene Pickett followed Canfield in providing the leadership the congregation needed during these tumultuous decades.  On February 21, 1965, the congregation adopted a new constitution and changed the name of the church to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.  That same year construction began on the new church building located on Cliff Valley Way.

The church is governed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with instructions by the congregation and the authority delegated by the congregation through the bylaws and polices.  The Board consists of eighteen members, including the president of the congregation, the chief financial officer and the two additional trustees of finance.  All of these officials are elected by the congregation.  The Executive Committee of the Board consists of the president of the congregation, vice-president of the congregation, chief financial officer of the congregation, and as ex-officio members, the senior minister and church administrator.  This committee attends to details of business that are delegated by the Board of Trustees and reports its recommendations to the Board.  The church's ministry consists of the senior minister, an associate minister and an assistant minister.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the minutes, correspondence, bulletins, brochures and publications, reports, newsletters, sermons, photographs, and other material that document the history and activities of the congregation.

Of particular importance are the minutes of the Board of Trustees and church committees, the bylaws, and the constitutions.  The collection also contains an almost complete set of bulletins or orders of service and newsletters from 1952-1983.  The sub-series, Publications of UUCA Press, consists of everything produced by the church to announce events and issues, programs of events, and other documents that reveal the activities supported by the congregation.

The collection also contains sermons, student notebooks, and some miscellaneous correspondence that were written by or belonged to George Chaney.   Sermons and lectures, primarily from the 1970s and early 1980s, are also included.  In addition to Chaney, the collection contains sermons or lectures delivered by Ed Cahill, Donald J. Jacobson, Robert Karnan, Delos B. McKown, Glyn Pruce, David O. Rankin, Charles Reinhardt, Carl Scovel, Todd Taylor, and Sydney Wilde-Nugent.

The records also contain clippings and other material documenting the congregation's involvement in and support for the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s.

Container listing headings:

• Administrative Files
• Board of Trustees
• Committees
• General files
• Annual Reports
• Church Directories
• Fiscal Records
• Guest Books
• Historical Files
• Membership
• Publicity Files
• Orders of Service and Newsletters
• Publications of UUCA Press
• Sermons and Lectures
• Audio Sermons
• Photographs and Film

Container Listing

Last Modified: 5/4/2016 (bcw)