I took a trip to the Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist archives at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Cambridge MA is a lovely place to visit, especially in spring, and Harvard’s archivists are wonderful.
The First Universalist (now also Unitarian) Church of Wausau WI (UUWausau) has a unique place in U/U/UU history. It boasts two of the last Universalist Church of America superintendents and, in its time, was regarded as one of the most beautiful Universalist churches in the US.
The Universalists, unlike the meticulous Unitarians, were notoriously lax when it came to record-keeping. Thankfully, HDS’s archivists were able to uncover nearly a dozen boxes of material on UUWausau and its former pastors (I can’t find when “pastor” was transitioned to “minister”…as if anyone other than me cares). I learned SO much!
The church was profiled by a Universalist magazine in 1961. The magazine sent a photographer to Wausau to capture the church’s beauty and congregation in action. Here are a few of the photos from that shoot.
What you’ll see…
- The exterior of the church before the parsonage was torn down
- A Sunday school activity led by a child in Cyrus Yawkey Hall
- A Sunday school activity led by an adult in Cyrus Yawkey Hall
- The children’s choir posing for a photo on the chancel
