Preface

Samuel Atkins Eliot

The original four volumes of Heralds of a Liberal Faith edited by Samuel Atkins Eliot, the first President of the American Unitarian Association, whose father was Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University. The following life stories were published after his careful review of virtually all of the biographical compilations concerning Unitarian ministers since William B. Sprague’s epic Annals of the Unitarian Pulpit, which interpreted these ministries in America through 1855. He edited the work of many authors.

Eliot's opus, Heralds of a Liberal Faith—a four volume series was published by the American Unitarian Association, volumes 1-3, 1901 plus Beacon Press volume 4, 1952—presents some five hundred biographical profiles of the movement's beginning in America. Abundant detailed references to sources are issued in the first three volumes.

This present book is a selection of stories representing some of the lively contributions to civilization made by American Unitarian ministers as portrayed by President Eliot.

Herbert F. Vetter
Minister at Large Emeritus
The First Parish in Cambridge, USA