Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago records

Biography/Profile

The Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago was established in 1882 as the Society for Ethical Culture of Chicago, an outgrowth of the ethical culture movement, founded by Felix Adler in New York in 1876. Ethical culture stressed the identification of religion with moral law and the application of this law to everyday life. In the preamble and statement of principles adopted by the Chicago Society, these emphases were made explicit:

As there are general laws governing physical life upon our obedience to which our physical health is dependent, so there are laws, as yet but imperfectly understood, underlying our moral and intellectual life, on which our moral and intellectual well-being depends. The study of these laws is of the highest importance...

Having constantly before us the spectacle of debasement and misery resulting from the violation of these laws, often through ignorance ... we feel that a sacred duty rests upon us, while we seek to correct our own lives in whatever may be amiss, to do all within our power to raise our less fortunate fellow-men out of the sorrowful condition into which they have fallen. (Board of Trustees Minutes, October 26, 1882. Approved at the annual meeting of the Society, June 11, 1883.)

Following a series of lectures by Adler in Chicago in 1882, a group of men including Judge Henry Booth, Arthur B. Hosmer, and George C. Miln formed an executive committee to carry out preliminary organization of an ethical society. Although modeled after the New York City Society for Ethical Culture, the Chicago Society was an autonomous organization from its inception. Eventually the ethical societies in the U. S. formed a loosely federated association, the American Ethical Union. The Chicago Society was governed by an elected Board of Trustees, who were also responsible for selecting the Leader. The Leader was salaried, his duties including lecturing at the Sun- day meetings, organizing the ethical classes, and directing the philanthropic activities. The members were expected to contribute toward the financial needs of the Society, but no dues were assessed. As the membership grew substantially, the usual ladies' and young people's associations developed.

In his opening lecture, April 1, 1883, William M. Salter, first Leader of the Chicago Society defined the Society's purpose as "a nobler private and a juster social life." ("The Basis of the Ethical Movement..." Chicago: Max Stern, 1883, p. 3. Emphasis in original.) One of his first efforts toward social welfare was the organization of the Relief Works, a group of public health nurses assigned to immigrant districts and supported by the Society. In 1888, the Society sponsored the first of a series of economic conferences between businessmen and workers; that same year a member, Joseph W. Errant, organized the Bureau of Justice to provide legal assistance for the poor. The Society also became involved with the settlement house movement. Salter promised Jane Addams and Ellen Starr his 'unqualified support' when they called on him with plans for their "scheme" at Hull-House. (Jane Addams to Mary Linn, February 26, 1889, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Quoted in John C. Farrell, Beloved Lady, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967, P. 53.) Residents of Hull-House and others prominent in the social welfare field were frequent guest speakers at the Sunday meetings and other lecture series. In January, 1898, Salter proposed the establishment of a "neighborhood guild" in the 7th Ward. A kindergarten and a modest settlement program of classes and charities was begun in March, 1898, at 135 W. 14th Street, under the direction of W. H. Noyes. Henry Booth House, named in honor of one of the founders of the Chicago Society, received its financial support from the Society for many years. At present it is formally independent, but several members of the Society sit on its Board.

The character and functioning of the Society have been in many ways a reflection of the personality and interests of the leaders. Salter, as discussed above, was deeply involved with social welfare work, maintaining close ties with Hull-House. Salter served from 1883-1892 and from 1897-1907, exerting tremendous influence on the formative years of the Society. The interim period 1893-1896 was filled by M. M. Mangasarian, who eventually left the ethical movement to form the Independent Religious Society. After Salter's retirement in 1907, the Society had no resident Leader for several years. A Board of Lecturers was created including Nathaniel Schmidt, Charles Zueblin, Jane Addams, and others. In 1913 Horace J. Bridges was named Leader. He served until 1944, and was active in the Chicago Urban League and various literary associations. His successor, A. Eustace Haydon, retired professor of comparative religion at the University of Chicago, assumed the platform duties in 1945 on the condition that all executive functions be performed by the Board of Trustees. Haydon was succeeded in 1956 by Rudolph W. Gilbert.

The Society for Ethical Culture legally changed its name to the Chicago Ethical Society in 1911 and to the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago in 1969. These changes were essentially semantic-attempts to restate the essential concept of the Society in a contemporary idiom. The ethical societies (American Ethical Union, N.Y., N.Y.) and the humanist societies (American Humanist Association, San Francisco) are-affiliated at the international level as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, with headquarters in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Chicago Society offices are located in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue; the present Leader is Harold J. Quigley.