Christian Unity Foundation records, 1907 -- 1921

The Christian Unity Foundation was incorporated in 1910 by twelve clergymen and twelve laymen of the Episcopal Church: Rev. William Croswell Doane (Bishop of Albany); Rev. Frederick Courtney (Bishop of Nova Scotia); Rev. Boyd Vincent (Bishop of Southern Ohio); Rev. Charles Palmerston Anderson (Bishop of Chicago); Rev. David H. Greer (Bishop of New York); Rev. Edwin Stevens Lines, (Bishop of Newark); Rev. Canon George William Douglas; Rev. Canon Robert Ellis Jones; Rev. Reese F. Alsop; Rev. H. R. Gummey, Jr.; Rev. Rockland Homans; Rev. Arthur Lowndes; Rear Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich (United States Navy), Colonel Charles William Larned (United States Army); Chief Justice J. H. Stiness; Robert Fulton Cutting, John M. Glenn, Francis C. Huntington, George Gordon King; William Fellowes Morgan; George Wharton Pepper; Lawson Purdy; Charles G. Saunders; William Jay Schieffelin. Reverend Arthur Lowndes served as secretary of the Foundation. Its offices were located at 143 East 37th Street, New York City. The objective of the Foundation was to promote Christian unity in the United States and abroad through research and conferences. The organization sought to gather and disseminate accurate information relative to the faith and works of all Christian denominations, as well as to highlight the problem of divisions within the church and to suggest practical ways for denominations to work together as one body of Christ. In 1921, the Foundation published a book entitled The Problem of Christian Unity. The fact that all of the founding members of the Christian Unity Foundation were Episcopalian led many to suspect that the real aim of the foundation was to bring other denominations into the fold of the Episcopal Church. The organization responded by assuring the public that this was not their aim, and that they would proceed with their mission slowly and with "quietness, gentleness, and humility." However they expressed the belief that "the only way to attain large unity is to start with a small number of men who perfectly agree."