DR. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 07/27/1951 - HFSID 167752
Price: $220.00
JOHN HAYNES HOLMES. TLS: "John Haynes Holmes", 1p, 7¼x10¼.
Kennebunk Beach, Maine, 1951 July 27. On letterhead of The Community
Church of New York to Professor Edward G. Olsen, The University of Texas,
Austin, Texas. In full: "Thanks for your friendly letter of the 15th.
You have a good memory, and it encourages me to read your report of attending
services at my church when you were a student at the Union Theological
Seminary. I think it especially kind of you to make this personal report, and in
response I find it pleasant indeed to act upon your request that I send you my
autograph. I must apologize for the rather decrepit condition of this
autograph, and beg you not to think that this means senility. As it happens, I
am having a little trouble with my nervous system, which takes the form of
crippling my right hand. I shall make a special effort on your part to give you
the best autograph that I can achieve these days, and you will understand
and forgive, won't you? I send you my warmest greetings. If you come to New York
in the future, as everybody does, be so good as to look me up, for I should
count it a special pleasure to meet you. Believe me, with highest regards,
Very sincerely yours". Written two years after Holmes retired from active
ministry. John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964) was a prominent Unitarian
minister and social activist in the early 20th century. Although he withdrew
from the American Unitarian Association in 1918 over the AUA's criticism of
Holmes' denouncement of WWI, Holmes continued to pastor New York
City's Church of the Messiah. The church changed its name to the
Community Church of New York and committed to Holmes' principles, but its
members insisted that the church itself remain a member of the AUA. In addition
to his preaching, which drew large crowds, Holmes' church was noted for its
involvement of social issues of the day, including its support of Margaret
Sanger's controversial views on birth control. Holmes had been one of the
founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), and he was also a founder and later the chair of the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Holmes, who retired from active ministry in
1949, had also written over 100 hymns. He published his autobiography,
I Speak for Myself, in 1959. Lightly creased with folds, mid-vertical
fold at the "Jo" of John. Fine condition.
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