Theodore Parker Papers

About Theodore Parker 

Theodore Parker (1810-1860) graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1836 and was ordained to the West Roxbury, Massachusetts, Unitarian Church in 1837. He played a pivotal role in moving Unitarianism away from a Bible-centered faith, and in 1841, when he gave an ordination sermon entitled "A Discourse on the Transient and Permanent in Christianity," he emerged as a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement.

Following the sermon, Parker was barred from the majority of Unitarian pulpits because a majority of Unitarian lay people and clergy found his ideas to be non-Christian. He continued his speaking engagements and became more and more controversial. In 1845, his followers, known as Parker-ites, established the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society (Boston) and Parker became pastor of the church until the end of his life.

Parker was a major figure in the abolitionist movement, leading the Boston opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and serving as minister-at-large to fugitive slaves in Boston. Parker was also a proponent of women's suffrage and delivered a well-known sermon, "On the Public Function of Woman," in 1853. He died in 1860 and was buried in Florence, Italy.

The majority of Theodore Parker Papers, spanning 1836-1862 has been digitized. Access the digitized material through the finding aid (bMS 101. Harvard Divinity School Library) or use the following links: 

Journals

• July 13, 1838-December 31, 1840

  

• January 1, 1841-October 26, 1843
• May 19, 1851-October 4, 1856
• March 3, 1859-August 16, 1859 (scrapbook) 
• Notebook including items on Kansas, thoughts on Trinity, slavery, sermons, addresses

Sermons

• Theodore Parker's sermon record book, 1836-1860, 
• 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843-1844, 1845, 1846, 1848, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 
  Unpublished West Roxbury Sermons and miscellaneous 207-889 and 890-92

Letters

• 1845-1860
• 1836-1860
• 1850-1859, Parker's letters to Sarah Hunt.

Additional Miscellaneous material,  Parker correspondence, Manuscript translation and Biographical material can be explored through HOLLIS for Archival Discovery.

Associated Manuscript Collections: 

• Unitarian Universalist Association. Minister files, 1825-2010. bMS 1446 
• Parker, Theodore, 1810-1860. Centenary Edition of the Works of Theodore Parker. Editorial Board Records, 1906-1912. bMS 102. 
• Twenty-eighth Congregational Society (Boston, Mass.) Records 1845-1889 bMS 7
• Theodore Parker at the Boston Public Library. The Boston Public Library has digitized a number of images and letters to, from, and mentioning Theodore Parker as part of their Anti-Slavery Collection. 

Further Reading:

• Theism, Atheism, and the Popular Theology (1853)
• A False and True Revival of Religion (1858)
• The Revival of Religion Which We Need (1858)
• Non-archival records 
• Works about Parker