Overview
Collection consists primarily of newspaper and clippings, along with pamphlets, booklets, and magazines. In addition to these publications, this collection also contains Dr. Pullman’s handwritten sermons, personal documents, correspondence, and sermons by fellow Unitarian Universalist ministers.
Dates
- Creation: 1875-1983
Access
There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Extent
37.1 linear feet (89 boxes)This collection, which contains many newspaper clippings, pamphlets, booklets, and magazines, as well as Pullman’s own sermons and correspondence, is arranged into eleven series. Pullman created these series himself, along with the specific themes into which each series is divided. The collection contains material from 1875 to 1983, with a vast majority dating from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. Pullman also collected a lot of material about the Church of Our Father in Detroit, Michigan, including photographs. Additionally, there are church bulletins from many different churches, some he served as minister and others he didn’t, as well as papers and sermons by different Unitarian Universalist ministers.
Biographical / Historical
Reverend Tracy M. Pullman, born 1904 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was a prominent Unitarian Universalist minister. After receiving graduate degrees from Bates College and Tufts University, Pullman became minister of his first church in Dexter, Maine in 1926. He went on to pastor churches in Ohio and Massachusetts, before settling in Detroit, Michigan, for the bulk of his professional life. From 1940 to 1968, Pullman served as minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Detroit. During this time Pullman also received a Doctor of Divinity from St. Lawrence University in 1947. In addition to his work at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, Pullman served on various committees within and beyond the Unitarian Universalist Association. These activities included being a board member of the Detroit Round Table of Catholics, Jews, and Protestants, the Detroit Group Project, and the Detroit Society for Emotionally Disturbed Children.
Within his denomination, Pullman was a member of the Commission on Unitarian-Universalist Federal Union, the Western Unitarian Conference, the Commission on Planning and Review, American Unitarian Association, and the Commission on Appraisal, Unitarian-Universalist Association. His engagement with these and other groups illustrates Pullman’s commitment to the values of the Unitarian Universalist church and liberal religion’s ability to provide answers to the 20th century’s most prominent problems, especially issues of world peace, civil rights, and interreligious dialogue. After spending 28 years in Detroit, Pullman served as interim minister to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville from 1968 to 1974. Pullman’s final ministry was acting as interim minister of Essex Church in London in 1976. He died in Boston in 1981.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Leo Collins, First and Second Church, Boston (now First Church in Boston), 1999.
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.
Processing Information
Processed by Samantha Menapace, 2018.
- Title
- Tracy M. Pullman papers, 1875-1983 : A Finding Aid.
- Author
- Andover-Harvard Theological Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- div00759
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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