“A Voyage of Discovery”: A Unitarian Missionary in Early Berkshire County

In the autumn of 1827, Edward Brooks Hall, the young minister of the new Unitarian church in Northampton obtained support from the American Unitarian Association to undertake a missionary journey to Berkshire County which was dominated by its orthodox Congregational ministerial association and had no Unitarian congregations. His mission was enabled by Ralph Waldo Emerson who supplied in his absence and also briefly visited Berkshire. For twelve days in mid-October Hall traversed Berkshire from Williamstown to Sheffield, and his journal provides unique insights into conditions in the county and the situation of scattered groups of liberal Christians there including the Sedgwicks.

Carl Hammer divides the year between Pittsburgh and Easthampton, MA. He has published widely on medieval and early-modern European history and early western Massachusetts. He is a Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh and is completing a new book on liberal Christianity in early western Massachusetts.

This lecture will be in-person at the Tyringham Union Church and also viewable via Zoom. In-person tickets can be purchased at the door, but Zoom attendees must register in advance in order to receive the Zoom link.

This program is supported in part by a grants from the Otis and Sheffield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.