Unitarian Historical Society

The material in the collection relates to exercises to establish historical details of Unitarian congregations, initially with the objective of updating and correcting the details contained in the Essex Year Book. The first exercise in 1916 involved sending out circulars to the congregations concerned, of which 190 responded. A further attempt was made to update the information in the years following 1937, but the exercise was abandoned following the outbreak of war in 1939. The collection consists of the returns from the 1916 survey, the documents relating to the 1930s survey, correspondence relating to the survey, and a typescript summary of the objectives of the survey.

The Unitarian Historical Society was formed in 1915 to encourage and support the study of all aspects of Unitarian History. Since 1917 they have published The Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society, which they continue to produce.