Writing UU Women Back Into History: 
An Annotated Bibliography

These are short sketches of Unitarian and Universalist women ministers. There is an updated list as of 1985 of women ordained and/or in preliminary fellowship. The biographical sketches include UU ministry career details often missing in other sources; the bibliographic references are to liberal religious resources (e.g. the newspaper Unity) that are not referenced in most other sketches.

Earles tells the stories of both Dora Russell and Harriet Taylor in order to outline key methodological issues in studying liberal women's history.

(*) This excellent volume provides a context of the ministry of many of our early women ministers, and detail about some of their lives. It attempts to analyze why, after the initial rapid increase in the number of women ministers, their presence in the UU ministry then diminished.

Page 98 is specifically devoted to women's UU history; other references throughout the bibliography may provide UU historical context or may include material about UU women. A helpful resource available from many libraries.

The Free Religious Association drew a number of UU women activists. This is out of print, but useful to find for the context of the more radical side of UUism in the late nineteenth century.

(*) The front half is helpful as a general UU history; the back half of the volume is a series of biographical sketches, including some women. Each of these sketches includes bibliographic references for the individual.

These are short Who's Who style biographies. Unfortunately, there are no bibliographic references, although you will find the subject's own published works listed for most subjects. The women are women of accomplishment in a variety of arenas.

(*) This three-volume work, now available in soft cover for $47 from the Women's History Project, includes 1359 women, many of them liberal religious women. The bibliographic references are very helpful for defining specific resources on your subject. The biographies are a bit longer and more analytical than in Who's Who.

This is a companion volume of the 3-volume work listed above, including 442 women who died between 1951 and 1975. Paper version available for $21 from the Women's History Project.

(*) Read this only when you can afford to be angry for a while! This volume is very partisan, with two major theses: One, that the stereotype that women are only interested in the softer, emotional sides of life is mistaken, and that there have been many "women of ideas" (intellectual women) lost to "his"tory. Two, that these women have been forgotten because the men around them, sometimes deliberately but often with supportive intentions, have managed to destroy the woman's reputation. Because many of the women included are Unitarian or Universalist, the biographical source material is helpful. Also, the essays are at least as much directed towards methodological issues, and are helpful in thinking through the dilemmas of researching women's history.

(*) Brief sketches of Unitarian and Universalist women, with some bibliographic references.

This and other editions are available at most libraries.

It is useful to consider the methodology of doing UU women's history from a feminist perspective. Although this forum does not address the UU particulars of this question, it does bring out some of the important issues and considerations.

This is a review of literature in the field of women’s history from 1980 to 1990. It includes material from more obscure resources than are found in Reader’s Guide, for example. The introduction includes a discussion on methodology in women’s history and a description of the stagest of development of women’s history as a discipline. Scan the pages under "biographies," for instance, for a particular name. Or look up under the many subject areas included, from Africa to Work.

(*) These three volumes include short methodological and historical essays and many short selections from primary sources: letters, journals, sermons, other writings. The emphasis is on diversity, including lay and clergy; indigenous peoples, African American women as well as European American (and not just Northern European); religious diversity (liberal/conservative, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, some on indigenous peoples, civil religion. Although almost all material is oriented to the US, there are chapters in Vol. 2 that deal with French America and Spanish America.

A helpful overview; since many UU women are referenced, this helps to put them into context.

A variety of essays on women’s experience in the US as well as in Europe during the described periods, but is also a documentary on changing perspectives on women.  (There is also bibliographic material in other volumes, especially 3 and 5, relevant to this list.)

A helpful book in documenting the relationship of men -- and many with UU and FRA connections are included -- with women’s rights issues.

An exploration of a variety of women’s issues connected with the political and philosophical ideas about rights and revolution that grew out of the Enlightenment.

The temperance movement was important to women's religious history, and some UU women were active in it (especially in Massachusetts: Mary Livermore and others). To consider the relationship of what UU women were doing to what other religious women were doing, studies such as this one may be important to your research.

An example of the connections between a religious movement and a social movement through the women involved in both. Many Universalists were Spiritualists; some Unitarians also.

Originally published 4 years before Friedan's The Feminist Mystique, this book demonstrates that women's history was not completely ignored until the revived feminist movement! As with most histories of the women's movement, many UU women are highlighted.

A history of a social movement that included many liberal religious women.

Arguably the most accepted woman in the development of the Transcendentalist ideas, and thought by many of her time to be one of the most influential women yet to have lived, Margaret Fuller’s analysis of the state of women is a must-read.

The World's Congress of Religions. Minot J. Savage, ed. and intro. Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1893.

World's Parliament of Religions. Chicago, 1893. Ed. by J. W. Hanson. Chicago: Charles Webb and Company, 1894.

The World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893. Ed. by Rev. John Henry Barrows. Chicago: Parliament Publishing Company, 1894.

(*) This catalog lists a variety of books, videos, posters, teaching resources, children's books, etc. The 1992 catalog is 48 pages, some pages are 4-color.