A major project of Rosemary Klein’s presidency is the writing of a history of The Baltimore Ethical Society, a project inspired by the September platform address by Antero Pietila, author of the book “Not in My Neighborhood.”
As one of the senior members of BES, I was asked by Rosemary if I would serve as the “gathering point” for putting such a history together. Happy as I am to do this project, I am going to need a great amount of help from the present and past membership of the society, from the current and former friends of the society, as well as from people who may have “just heard about” the society over the passing years.
In succeeding posts, I will be putting forth assignments for the membership to help in this regard, nothing overbearing, nothing labor intensive, nothing psychologically stressful. Completion of these assignments will be easily accomplished by dropping me a note at the society some Sunday morning, or by giving me a call at 410-987-6776.
The assignments will be as simple as this first one: PLEASE GIVE ME THE NAME OF A PERSON YOU KNEW WHO WAS A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY AT SOME TIME IN THE PAST. If need be, we will publish these names in the newsletter in hopes of jogging the collective memory of us all. Note: Choosing to give a name is purely voluntary, and if you think that the person whose name you give may have an objection to being named, then please respect that objection.
Putting together the history of BES is a project that must involve a wide range of the membership, including, especially, the children of members in the early-to-late 1950s, children who were Sunday School students from around 1952 through the mid-to-late 1960s.
We are hoping that those persons, now successful, accomplished adults, may have stored away, somewhere among their parents’ papers, information that can be particularly useful for the history project. Hopefully, a little search by them through some memorabilia will produce a newsletter, a Sunday morning platform schedule, a seminar activity, a newspaper article, which could serve as a memory-jog for others who were active in the early years.
Your cooperation is greatly appreciated as we move forward on this project. Both Rosemary and I are open to suggestions, ideas and concerns about how we proceed in this matter.
Peace – – – Gordon Stills
