Timeline of History at Emmanuel

We’re interested to learn of significant dates and events involving Emmanuelites past and present. Please email archivist@emmanuelboston.org about the details of your Emmanuel timeline.

See also

Select one of these years to jump to a decade in this chronology and then Previous or Next to move up or down by years:

1860 | 1875 | 1885 | 1895 | 1905 | 1915 | 1925 | 1935 | 1945 |

1955 | 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1995 | 2005 | 2015 | 2020 | History.

1946

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  • 16 Jan. The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters, who had served as a Navy chaplain during World War II, became our sixth rector.

    Pauli Murray ae. 36

    Pauli Murray became 36 in November, 1946. Photo credit: Library of Congress; Conde Nast Publications

  • Mademoiselle awarded Pauli Murray its Merit Award for Signal Achievement in Law.
  • Albert W. Rockwood, Chairman of our Property Committee, contracted with Chester A. Brown at the architectural firm of Cram & Ferguson to draw up plans for renovations for our:
    • Basement
      • A concrete floor was poured.
      • Bathrooms were installed.
      • Alternating current was installed to control two huge boilers, which were converted from burning coal to oil.
      • A boys’ choir room was created.
    • Sanctuary
      • Carpeting in the nave was replaced with brown, vinyl-asbestos tiles.
      • Pews were repaired.
      • Brides’ Lobby was redesigned.
    • Parish House
      • The kitchen was renovated.
      • Cold-water service was replaced.
      • A separate heating-zone was probably established then.

–Thanks to Julian Bullitt for researching these topics in our archives.

1945

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  • 8 May. Germans surrendered, leading to the end of World War II in Europe.
  • June.  Rector P. E. Osgood preached his last sermon at Emmanuel.
  • 15 July.  The Rev. Dr. H. Robert Smith, formerly of Grace Church, Newton MA, accepted the position of Minister-in-Charge to serve until a new rector could be called.
  • 6 & 9 August. US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japanese  surrender a week later.
  • October.  After many years in charge of our Church School, Elizabeth Varney departed, and Nancy Currier took over.
  • 28 November.  The vestry assigned the church’s reading rights at the Boston Athenæum to rector-elect, The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters. For more about his tenure, please see the chapter on him in Emmanuel Church, 1860-1960: The First Hundred Years.

1944

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Pauli Murray Roots & Soul Mural, Durham NC
credit: Brett Cook & Pauli Murray Project

Pauli Murray, first African American woman to attend Howard U. School of Law and later a vestry member of Emmanuel, received her J.D..  For its sesquicentennial Howard is hosting a TEDx conference on 9/15/1917: Singing of a New American”: Pauli Murray’s Legacy and Justice in the 21st Century.

See also:

1943

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  • 17 September.  The Rev. Henrietta Rue Goodwin died.  She had retired from the faculty of the National Cathedral School to live with her sister Helen Goodwin French, widow of Hollis French, who was warden here from 1914-1940. After her burial from the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem PA, which the Goodwins had helped to found, a memorial was held at Emmanuel. For a discussion of her ministry here, see also: 1897.

1942

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10 August.  Our benefactor Priscilla Rawson married Henry Melvin Young in Kent CT.  They had known each other since he had attended Kent College there before going to Trinity College, Oxford.  Known as Dinghy Young, he had been awarded Britain’s Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar.  Killed returning from a 1943 RAF bombing raid on dams in the Ruhr Valley, Squadron Leader Young of was played by Richard Leech in the 1955 movie The Dam Busters. For a more technical description of 617 Squadron’s achievement, see this documentary, which mentions him at about 39 minutes.  See also 1909, 1939, 1971, 1973, 1994 & 2000.

1940

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July 19.  Our fourth rector, The Rev. Dr. Elwood Worcester, died at the age of 78.

Hollis French, warden 1914-1940. Credit:  Cleveland Museum of Art

Nov. 21.  Senior Warden Hollis French died. Born in Boston in 1868, he had served as Jr. Warden 1914-1936, when he became Sr. Warden under Rector P.E. Osgood, who is pictured below with Associate Rector Arthur Silver Payzant (served 1937-1945).

The Rev. Dr. Phillips Endecott Osgood (1882-1956) & The Rev. Arthur Silver Paysant (1884-1965) in 1938.

1939

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  • Priscilla Rawson Young (1909-2000), benefactor of our series of Bach Cantatas

    Our benefactor Priscilla Rawson (Young) studied music with Stanley Chapwell at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Craig Smith, founder of Emmanuel Music, who also had studied with Chapwell, kept this portrait of her on his desk. See also 1909, 1942, 1971, 1973, 1994 & 2000.

  • January.  A funeral was held at Emmanuel for our organist Albert Williams Snow, who had recently retired and died at the age of sixty.  Having studied under Wallace Goodrich at New England Conservatory of Music, he had become organist at Church of the Advent, Boston, before he replaced our organist  Lynnwood Farnum in 1918.  During his tenure he taught at NEC and served as organist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  His memorial plaque (#G4), reconstructed by Ted Southwick in 2021, can be seen behind the chancel organ.

 

1938

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Thanks to Nathaniel White Williams, Jr., we have these images of our choirs of men and boys, which were directed from c1930-1946 by Dr. Stone Thompson (2d from right in the banner image at the top of this page).

Nathaniel W. Williams, Jr. 1946 graduation photo, English High School, Boston

Nathaniel, (second from left in image above) born in 1929,  lived with his parents Rose and NWW at 113 Poplar St., Roslindale (Boston) until 1952, according to research by Julian Bullitt, who digitized the above images and many of our archival images.

1937

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15 Sept. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned in her diary My Day that Harriet Robeson was her guide at a convention of the American Hospital Association, which was held at Atlantic City NJ.  Harriet Allen Robeson (1882-1978) compiled our centennial history in 1960.  Namesake of an aunt who had died young in 1852, she was the granddaughter of our founders Andrew Robeson, Jr. (1817-1874) and Mary Allen Robeson (1819-1903).

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt & Harriet A. Robeson at Atlantic City NJ. Photo. Fred Hess