Author Archives: Elizabeth Richardson

1946

Posted on by
  • 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

Posted on by
  • 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

Posted on by

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:

1942

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

  • 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

Posted on by
    • The Rev. Samuel McComb, Associate Rector (1906-1916) died at the age of 74 in England.  Educated at colleges in N. Ireland and Oxford University, he became a Presbyterian minister in England, Ireland, and New York City. Ordained to the diaconate in our diocese by Bishop William Lawrence and to the priesthood in RI, he then worked with Rector Elwood Worcester to create the Emmanuel Movement. After serving as canon of the Episcopal cathedral in Baltimore, he taught at the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge MA. He finished his pastoral ministry as rector of the American Episcopal Church in Nice, France.  After having written (with Worcester) Religion & Medicine (1908), he published The Making of the English Bible (1909) and many other works. The New York Times published his obituary on Sept. 12.
    • Thanks to Nathaniel White Williams, Jr., we have these images of our choirs of men and boys, which were directed (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, Sr. 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

Posted on by

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

1936

Posted on by

December 13. Celebration of our 75th Year

Bishop Wm. Lawrence

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”.