Overview
Letters from Unitarian minister William Laurence Sullivan to Joseph S. Laughran. The letters span 1924-1935.
Dates
- Creation: 1924-1935.
Access
There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Extent
1 boxesThis collection consists of letters from Sullivan to Joseph S. Laughran. The letters are arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical
William Laurence Sullivan (1872-1935) studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood at Boston College and graduated from St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1896. He also graduated from Catholic University in 1899 and was ordained as a Paulist priest that same year. In 1917, he received an honorary DD from Meadville Theological School. For nearly a decade, Fr. Sullivan wrote articles in numerous Catholic journals which were critical of Roman Catholic church officials. In 1909, Sullivan severed his ties with Roman Catholicism and wrote a polemic on papal authority, entitled Letters to His Holiness, Pope Pius X, which was published in 1910. Sullivan received Unitarian fellowship in 1912, and served parishes in Schenectady and Manhattan, New York, as well as Germantown, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis, Missouri. Sullivan also served as the mission preacher for the Unitarian Laymen's League. He also published several books, including The Priest: A Tale of Modernism in New England (1911), A Noble Adventure (1917), Unitarian Christianity (1922), and his autobiography, Under Orders (1944).
Acquisition Information
Gift of Joseph S. Laughran, 1971.
- Title
- Sullivan, William Laurence. Letters to Joseph S. Laughran, 1924-1935: A Finding Aid.
- Author
- Andover-Harvard Theological Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- div00092
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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