Contents Forty-second Annual Convention OF THE Free Religious Association of America THE Forty-second Annual Convention of the Free Religious Association of America was held in Boston, Thursday, May 27, and Friday, May 28, 1909. THE BUSINESS MEETING BOSTON, Thursday, May 27, 1909. The Forty-second Annual Business Meeting of the Free Religious Association of America was held this afternoon in the audience-hall of the Twentieth Century Club, No. 3 Joy Street. The Secretary, Mr. Wm. H. Hamlen, read the report of the Forty-first Annual Business Meeting of the Association, and it was declared approved. The Treasurer, Mr. J. A. J. Wilcox, read his report for the year 1908-1909, which showed a balance on hand of $4096.46. The report was declared approved. The Annual Report of the Secretary was read by that officer. It received a vote of adoption, and it was ordered to be placed on file. Messrs. West and Hamlen, who were appointed at the last annual meeting to examine the material from which a fuller account than now exists of the Association's history might be compiled, reported that many manuscripts necessary to the production of a satisfactory record were not attainable, and that without these the gaps in the history of the Association must remain. Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer suggested that the case might be met by a résumé of the Association's work during the years subsequent to 1892, similar to that prepared by Mr. William J. Potter in commemoration of the Association and its work up to that year. Other members spoke in support of Mrs. Spencer's view. The Secretary expressed the opinion that among the most noteworthy addresses ever delivered under the auspices of the Association, as yet unpublished, were some of those given at Boston and Concord during the summer of 1903, in observance of the centennial of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Further discussion of the matter showed it to be the sense of the meeting that the effort to compile a fuller record should not be abandoned. Messrs. West and Hamlen were requested to remain as appointed at the annual meeting of 1908, and it was voted that President Edwin D. Mead be added to said Committee. The report of the Nominating Committee was presented by Mr. James H. West. The report was accepted. The Secretary was instructed to cast one ballot for the entire list as recommended by the Committee. (See page 4 for List of Officers for 1909-1910.) Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer was invited to address the meeting. She complied, giving a sketch of the work and of the needs of the Summer School of Ethics at Madison, Wisconsin, which during the coming months would be her especial field of effort. Her remarks elicited questions and answers regarding the School, and as an expression of the Association's sympathy with its aims and purposes it was voted: That the Free Religious Association of America donate to the Summer School of Ethics of Madison, Wisconsin, the sum of one hundred dollars. President Mead offered a few remarks on the existing state of the religious world. He also spoke of the approaching Centennial of Theodore Parker, an event to which the Free Religious Association should give worthy and memorable observance. Mr. Charles W. Wendte spoke in the same vein, closing his remarks with an outline of the proposed pilgrimage over Europe during the coming summer of the "International Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers," with whom he was expecting to journey. Voted, that Mr. Albert S. Parsons be the Auditor of the Association for the year 1909-1910. Adjourned to meet at Ford Hall, Ashburton Place, Friday May 28, at 10 o'clock A.M. WILLIAM H. HAMLEN, Secretary. |