Overview
Papers of Unitarian Universalist minister Farley Wilder Wheelwright, including personal material, correspondence, sermons, worship materials, writings, and subject files. The papers span 1930-1998.
Dates
- Creation: 1930-1998
Access
There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Extent
6 boxesThe collection is divided into four series: Series I contains personal material that includes biographical information, files on Wheelwright family history, news clippings from Farley Wheelwright's personal and professional activities, and numerous papers relating to his career and life before and during his ministry, arranged alphabetically. Most of the series is found in Box 1, but additional oversized material is located in Box 6. Series II consists of sermons, worship material, and writings. This series includes the copies of Wheelwright's sermons preached from 1957 to 1998, with gaps, arranged chronologically, with one folder at the end containing undated sermons. Following the sermons are the worship materials written/used by Wheelwright throughout the years (including readings, prayers, special services, etc.), as well as his collected writings (articles, addresses, academic essays, etc.), arranged alphabetically. Series III is correspondence, both professional and personal. The first section of the series is arranged chronologically, and following this section is a group of subject folders organized alphabetically by subject/correspondent. Series IV consists of subject files, organized alphabetically by subject. Included are files related to the churches where Wheelwright served, his professional activities, and his personal interest in social action and justice. The church files include newsletters, bulletins, reports, and miscellaneous papers related to his ministry.
Biographical / Historical
Farley Wilder Wheelwright (1916- ) received his BA from St. Lawrence Seminary in 1957, an MDiv from the Hartford Seminary in 1961, and a DMin from Andover Newton Theological School in 1977. He was ordained in 1961, and was called to serve the Nassau County Unitarian Universalist Church, a newly merged congregation in Garden City, New York, in 1962. Here he became involved in social activism, and was president of the Long Island Peace Council. Wheelwright was pastor of the Unitarian Society of Cleveland from 1968 to 1973. He also hosted a popular and controversial radio program in Cleveland which dealt with religious and social issues. In 1973, Wheelwright became the minister at the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1980, he was called to serve the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society in California. After retiring from the ministry in 1985, Wheelwright was named minister emeritus at Sepulveda. From 1985 to 1988, Wheelwright traveled extensively, including one year spent as the interim minister of the Unitarian Church of South Australia. From 1988 to 1990, he was the interim senior minister at Arlington Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He also served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Peace Fellowship, and was a founding trustee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for Religious Humanists. He has also contributed articles to a number of publications, including Religious Humanism, Cleveland Magazine, and the Journal of Liberal Ministry.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- Series I. Personal material
- Series II. Sermons, worship materials, and writings
- Series III. Correspondence
- Series IV. Subject files
General note
The number after the slash in each entry in the following list indicates the box number, and the number in parentheses is the folder number.
- Title
- Wheelwright, Farley Wilder. Papers, 1930-1998: A Finding Aid.
- Author
- Andover-Harvard Theological Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- div00673
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University Repository
Special Collections at Harvard Divinity School Library preserves and makes accessible primary source materials documenting the history of religion and theology, with particular historical emphasis on American liberal religious traditions. Though the historical strengths of the collections have been in the field of Christianity, other religious traditions are increasingly reflected, in step with Harvard Divinity School's evolving focus on global religious studies. Known as Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1911, it was renamed the Harvard Divinity School Library in 2021.
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