American Unitarian Association

{{Short description|Religious denomination in the United States and Canada}}

{{Infobox religion

| name = American Unitarian Association

| main_classification = Unitarian

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| polity = Congregational

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| area = Canada, United States and Japan

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| headquarters = Boston, Massachusetts, United States

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| founded_date = May 26, 1825

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| separated_from = Congregational churches

| merged_into = Unitarian Universalist Association (1961)

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The American Unitarian Association (AUA) was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it consolidated with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.{{cite web|title=Timeline of Significant Events in the Merger of the Unitarian and Universalist Churches During the 1900s|url=http://div.hds.harvard.edu/library/bms/merger_timeline_1900s.html|website=Harvard Divinity School Library|publisher=Harvard Divinity School|access-date=1 July 2014}}

The AUA was formed in 1825 in the aftermath of a split within New England's Congregational churches between those congregations that embraced Unitarian doctrines and those that maintained Calvinist theology.{{cite book |last=Youngs |first=J. William T. |title=The Congregationalists |publisher=Praeger |series=Denominations in America |volume=4 |edition=Student |date=1998 |location=Westport, Connecticut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOuBhis1-7QC |isbn=9780275964412 |page=127}}

According to Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary (i.e. chief executive) of the British Unitarians for 20 years, the AUA was founded on the same day as the British and Foreign Unitarian Association: "By a happy coincidence, in those days of slow posts, no transatlantic telegraph, telephone or wireless, our American cousins, in complete ignorance as to the details of what was afoot, though moving towards a similar goal, founded the American Unitarian Association on precisely the same day—May 26, 1825."{{harv|Rowe|1959|loc=Chapter 3}}

The AUA's official journal was The Christian Register (1821–1961).

Beginning in 1825 the AUA published "tracts" for free distribution[https://archive.org/search?query=%22Tracts+of+the+American+Unitarian+Association%22 Search results: Tracts of the American Unitarian Association], archive.org. Retrieved 24 September 2023.[https://archive.org/details/tractsofamerican1262amer/page/n5/mode/2up Tracts of the American Unitarian Association], Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1826. Retrieved 24 September 2023. and in the 20th century "pamphlets" for free distribution.[https://archive.org/details/listoffreepamphl00amer/page/n11/mode/2up A List of the Free Pamphlets issued by the American Unitarian Association], Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1913. Retrieved 24 September 2023. The AUA also published books and several book series including The Devotional Library,[https://www.worldcat.org/title/904043768 The harp and the cross : a collection of religious poetry], worldcat.org. Retrieved 22 September 2023. The Theological Library,[https://books.google.com/books?id=kuMTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1 The Altar at Home: Prayers for the Family and the Closet], Boston: Walker, Wise and Company, publishers for the American Unitarian Association, 1859, publisher's catalogue. Retrieved 22 September 2023. Memorable Sermons[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=se%3AMemorable%20sermons se:Memorable Sermons], worldcat.org. Retrieved 22 September 2023. and The Beacon Series: A Graded Course of Study for the Sunday School.[https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=se%3ABeacon%20series;%20a%20graded%20course%20of%20study%20for%20the%20Sunday%20school se:Beacon Series: A Graded Course of Study for the Sunday School], worldcat.org. Retrieved 22 September 2021.Edna H. Stebbing, [https://archive.org/details/hebrewbeginning01stebgoog/page/n6/mode/2up Hebrew Beginnings: Old Testament Narratives, Part I], Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1909. archive.org. Retrieved 23 September 2023.