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Archival description
UCM-SE5 · Series · [after 1921] - [ca. 1926]
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains 7 small yearbooks of the Church of the Messiah for the years 1920-1926, including duplicates for the years 1923 and 1926 and one for 1920-1921. The yearbooks are a detailed record of the activities of the year and associated persons. Each contains a list of the officers of the church and its various committees, clubs and associated organizations. They also list the dates of acts of civil service and some have dates of special addresses given by the minister. The minister listed in all of them is Sydney B. Snow.

Unitarian Church of Montreal
UCM-SE17 · Series · 1842-2004
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains textual records related to the operation of the Church Sunday school. This includes materials related to the administration of the school, namely ledger books; meeting minutes; prospectuses; annual reports, attendance records and pedagogical material.

The two ledger books run from 1961 to 1971 and 1957 to 1975 respectively. The extant minutes consist of two bound minute books, one from the Sunday School Teachers’ Association covering 1851 to 1864 and another of Sunday school teachers’ meetings from 1870-1883, as well as Religious Education Committee minutes from 1960-1967, 1968-1973 and 1986-1993. The series also contains scattered annual reports from 1916 to 1996 and church school prospectuses from 1950 to 2002 with some gaps. There are also records related to the selection and training of teachers and volunteers, as well as a small number of pedagogical materials from various time periods.

Attendance records exist for the years 1842-1849, 1994-1995, 2001-2002, 2003-2004. The series also contains a set of Sunday school cards which run from 1910 through 1917 and include cards recording total school attendance and money collected each Sunday per class, as well as cards for each individual student that record their individual attendance information.

UCM-SE12 · Series · 1904-2002/08/19
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains records related to the property on the corner of Sherbrooke and Simpson streets. Construction of the main church building and Channing Hall began in October 20, 1906 and the congregation moved in on September 1, 1907. Unitarian House was purchased in September of 1946 and was located at 3419 and 3421 Simpson street, immediately to the north of the main church property. Channing Hall housed a pastor’s study, a kitchen and rooms dedicated to various purposes over the years. It also housed the Sunday school. Over the years 1968 to 1970 Channing Hall underwent a remodelling. After the purchase of Unitarian House, the buildings were subdivided into classrooms for the Sunday school. It was in use by the church until 1978, when it began to be leased to various tenants.
The Church remained at this property until the fire of May 25, 1987, which destroyed the main church building.

The series is comprised architectural drawings related to the construction and renovation of all buildings on the property, including not only the main church building but also Unitarian House and Channing Hall. Beyond this, it also contains other documents related to the property such as surveyor’s reports, deeds, financial reports on building upkeep, meeting minutes, correspondence related to the building, newspaper clippings, as well as photographs and drawings of the buildings.

This series also contains records related to the post-fire response and rebuilding effort. These include meeting minutes, reports on the cost of rebuilding, proposals for rebuilding/moving and opinion polling of the congregation. There is also a small amount of correspondence related to public response to proposed rebuilding projects and newspaper clippings.

Rawdon property records
UCM-SE13 · Series · 1975/04/17-[after 1987/01/25]
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains the correspondence and copies of legal documents related to the bequest to the Church of a property in Rawdon, QC by Nicholas Jonas, who died December 6, 1971. The process of transfer took some time, so the Church only took ownership of the property in August of 1975. The series includes a travel map of Rawdon with the lot marked in pencil, as well a map of all the lots in the area. Also included are property tax receipts, correspondence with the Jonas family and a copy of Nicholas Jonas’ holographic will, dated December 14, 1959.

Orders of service
UCM-SE1 · Series · 1953-2025
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains the orders of service created by the Church in the planning of services. The orders of service contain both a chronological list of the events of the service as well as a section for weekly notices. The chronological section details the songs to be played, hymns to be sung with lyrics and litanies, as well as when in the service the sermon and announcements will occur.

Orders of service exist for each Sunday service from February 1953 to present. From that time until June 2004, services ran from September of one year through June of the next. Beginning in September 2004, services run year round. Previous to 1953, there are only orders of service for special services like Christmas and these are sporadic.

Unitarian Church of Montreal
Newsletters
UCM-SE6 · Series · 1950-2021
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This series contains the newsletters created by the Church from 1950 to 2021. Published on a monthly basis, these roughly 2-5 page documents typically contain reports of past and future events at the Church. This includes dates, times and topics of future services; acts of civil service like baptisms that have occurred over the past month; the names of new Church members as well as the deaths of Church members and the dates of their memorial services. The information included varies from year to year and also changes depending on the editor and minister of the time, however they often also include news from various Church clubs and organizations, important personal milestones in members’ lives, profiles on Church officers and members, short essays written by the active minister and poetry or selections from non-religious literature.

The titles of the newsletters changed over time, they were called “Bulletin” or “News Bulletin” from 1950 to 1979, changing to “NUUS” until 2009 when the title became “Gathered Here.”

At the file level, the newsletters are organized chronologically into files that contain September of one year into May of the next. The collection of newsletters in the early 60’s is spotty, with there being an almost total absence from 1963-1966.

Unitarian Church of Montreal
Music lists
UCM-SE3 · Series · 1947-09-07 - 1953-01-25
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the music lists created by the Church in the planning of services. They exist for the years 1947-1952, following a September to June schedule, and include the songs and hymns to be played during service in chronological order. They invariably include a "Prelude", "Introit", "Hymn", "Anthem", "Interlude", a second "Hymn", "Offertory", a third "Hymn" and "Postlude" in that order.

The music lists are typewritten on lined notebook paper. Each page contains two music lists for two Sundays. The pages serving as dividers often have relevant calendars (see the calendar series linked under related materials) glued to them.

Minute books
UCM-SE4 · Series · 1842-2023
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

Series consists of minutes books and several file folders detailing the events of meetings and Church goings on from June 1842 to February 2023. The volumes are labelled alphabetically and with their dates up to L, after which point they are simply labelled with their dates or not at all. The volumes are organized in chronological order, both in their boxes and internally, with some variation on the latter. The dates covered in each volume, with notes on their internal arrangement, are noted in an Arrangement note.

The minute books also contain annual reports post-2018. See the Annual reports series (linked in related materials) for more information.

Unitarian Church of Montreal