William j free (2 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: Very good. - Octavo, 8 inches high by 5 inches wide. Two pages penned on the first and third pages of a folded sheet. Over 150 words penned by the radical minister William J. Potter addressed to a Mrs. Richmond regarding arrangements for a lecture he will give at the meeting of her club. After mentioning that she should expect him on the 5 p.m. train, as that is the earliest he can leave Boston for Lowell that day, he expresses his pleasure that she likes his latest essay: "I am glad if you have found so much to enjoy in my essay on 'The New Protestantism'" and, though he would be tempted to read it at the lecture he had "thought of reading a paper which I call 'Two Views of Tradition, - The Ecclesiastical & the Scientific.' And on the whole this seems to me more appropriate." Signed "Wm. J. Potter". In a postscript, Potter suggests that if Mrs. Richmond's not fully recovered her health by then, it might be better to postpone the meeting and he would then come later in the season. Folded several times for mailing with a small piece out from the bottom front corner of the second page. The Unitarian minister and Freethinker William James Potter (1829-1893) was a radical minister in the American Free Thought tradition of his era. Influenced by the Transcendentalists, he was later strongly influenced by Charles Darwin. Moving from his Quaker foundations to Unitarian Christianity and then towards free religion, Potter was a founder with David Atwood Wasson of the Free Religious Association (1867-1920). Potter drafted the Free Religious Association's constitution and eventually served as it's president: "The new society would dedicate itself to the emancipation of religion from the thralldom of irrational and traditional authorities." From 1859 to 1892, he served as the minister of the Unitarian Church in New Bedford (First Congregational Society). Potter was the poet Conrad Aiken's grandfather. In his autobiography "Ushant", Aiken says that his entire life was devoted to the ideas and work of Potter. …

On both sides of a 7.5 x 12 cm card, with curved corners. A frail survival, heavily aged and worn. The text on the recto is printed in black, with the organisation's logo to the left in blue and red. The recto also has a large red 'S' superimposed at centre, and carries the two signatures, that of Guérille certifying that Guillet has been 'enrolled as a Sympathiser-Member'. Printed on the reverse are the 'Aims of the Association': 'To continue the war at the side of the British Government and of our Allies. | To co-operate with General de Gaulle's Free French Forces. | To unite all French people. | To consolidate the Entente Cordiale. | The Association is the only recognised body of loyal French civilians who have pledged themselves to the British Government and General de Gaulle.' Considering the claims made on the reverse of the card, it is curious that little information is availaible concerning it. Perhaps it was a movement inspired by De Gaulle's speech at the Albert Hall in March 1941 ("Discours prononce par le general de Gaulle a la reunion des Francais de Grande-Bretagne, a Londres, le 1er mars 1941"). Scarce: no copy at the Imperial War Museum, and the only other copy traced at the National Library of Scotland.…