December 11. The Rev. Al Kershaw officiated in Lindsey Chapel at our first same-sex wedding. Richard Bentley and Grahame Smith were joined in holy matrimony. Byrd Swift was subdeacon and Andrew Castiglione played organ.
Tag Archives: rectors
1969
Thanks to Radio Corporation of America for use of this image.
- J. Barkev Kassarjian joined our vestry. His wife Mary Catherine Bateson gave birth to their daughter Savanne (Vanni) Margaret, who was baptized here.
- April 20. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington‘s Second Concert of Sacred Music, sponsored by the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard and Radcliffe, was performed for a large audience in our Sanctuary with our ninth rector, The Rev. Al Kershaw presiding. Please see Wikipedia for information about this and Ellington’s other sacred concerts.
1963
The Rev. Alvin L. Kershaw became our ninth rector. He had previously served as rector of Christ Church Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky (1944 – 1947); Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Oxford, Ohio (1947 – 1956); and All Saints Episcopal Church in Peterborough, New Hampshire (1956 – 1963).
1957
6 Oct. The Rt. Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes III, our 11th diocesan bishop, installed The Rev. Harold Bend Sedgwick as our eighth rector.
The rectory at 10 Chestnut St. was sold and an apartment at 388 Beacon St. was bought for his residence. For more about the Sedgwick years please see the chapter on him in Emmanuel Church, 1860-1960: The First Hundred Years.
1956
- Feb 15. “Ole Miss” invited the Rev. Alvin Louis Kershaw to speak
on the subject of jazz, an area in which he was considered something of an expert. In the meantime, [he had become] a contestant on the television quiz show The $64,000 Question, where his expertise in the field of jazz helped him to win $32,000. In an interview after the program, he alluded to the possibility of donating a portion of his winnings to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to aid in the battle against segregation. When word of this reached Mississippi, the Rev. Kershaw became the target of a firestorm of criticism, which eventually led to cancellation of his scheduled visit to Ole Miss.
–Guide to his papers donated by his widow Doris to U. of Southern Mississippi, McCain Library and Archives.
- His album Introduction to Jazz was released by Decca Records. Our archive has a copy of the record, which contains “Selected recordings of great jazz stylists, with historical data and musical analyses” and these tunes:
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- Snag it (King Oliver’s Savannah Syncopators)
- Wild man blues (Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers)
- I’ve found a new baby (Chicago Rhythm Kings)
- Tin roof blues (New Orleans Rhythm Kings)
- Davenport blues (Adrian Rollini’s Orchestra)
- The blues jumped a rabbit (Jimmy Noone’s New Orleans Band)
- Five point blues (Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats)
- Perdido Street blues (Louis Armstrong)
- Georgia cake walk (Art Hodes and his band)
- Impromptu ensemble no. 1 (Bobby Hackett et al.)
- Tishomingo blues (Bunk Johnson)
- Chimes blues (George Lewis and his Ragtime Band).
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See also Timeline entries: 1963, 1966, 1969.
- March. Rector R.G. Metters in his annual report summarized the decade of his tenure, including:
- Growth in communicants
- Growth of investments by more than a quarter
- Increase in pledges from $22K to almost $43K
- Renovation of the church and parish house at a cost of more than $115K
- Oct. 1. Rector Metters resigned and later became headmaster of St. George’s School in Spokane WA. The vestry appointed the Rev. David Siegenthaler priest-in-charge.
1955
1 July. The Rev. David Siegenthaler arrived to serve as curate under Rector Robert Metters. When Metters retired in 1956, he served for a year as priest in charge.
Renovations of the Parish House and Sanctuary, which had cost more that $115,000, were completed.
See also Timeline post: 2021
1946
- 16 Jan. The Rev. Robert Gifford Metters, who had served as a Navy chaplain during World War II, became our sixth rector.
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.
- Basement
–Thanks to Julian Bullitt for researching these topics in our archives.
1943
- 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.
1940
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.
1936
December 13. Celebration of our 75th Year
The Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.D., Bishop of Massachusetts (1893-1927). Photo credit: WikiCommons
Our fifth rector, The Rev. Dr. Phillips Endecott Osgood, said in his sermon: “We are stewards of an inheritance, interpreters of a tradition”. Organist Dr. Albert Snow composed an anthem for the service. Bishop Emeritus William Lawrence praised our first four wardens:
- Edward Sprague Rand (1st senior warden), a trustworthy, public-spirited lawyer
- William Richards Lawrence (1st junior warden), who had bought the land for our church. was his uncle.
- Benjamin Tyler Reed (2nd senior warden), who founded in Cambridge the Episcopal Theological School, which became the Episcopal Divinity School
- Enoch Reddington Mudge (2nd junior warden), who later built St. Stephen’s Church, Lynn
For more detail, see Boston Globe, Dec. 14, 1936, p. 4: “Bishop Lawrence in Tribute to Early Emmanuel Wardens. Services Celebrate 75th Birthday of Church. Dr. Osgood Views Future”.