William J. Potter
About the Author
William James Potter (1829–1893) was a Unitarian minister who served New Bedford’s First Congregational Society from 1859 to 1892. He helped organize the Free Religious Association, arranged its first public meeting in 1867, served as secretary, and became its president in 1882. Potter worked with Francis Ellingwood Abbot on The Index and later edited it. His religious liberalism joined scientific inquiry with social service and abolitionism.
Resources by William J. Potter
First Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Free Religious Association
The Free Religious Association’s first executive report, presented in Boston on 28 May 1868 by its secretary, William J. Potter. It explains the association’s principles, reviews its first year of lectures and correspondence, and discusses possible future publishing and educational work.
Boston: W. F. Brown & Co., printers, 1868. The report occupies printed pp. 3–15 and is followed by a publisher’s notice for the first annual proceedings. This contemporary account documents the association’s international correspondence and its broad understanding of religious fellowship.
Read LessThe Free Religious Association: Its Twenty-Five Years and Their Meaning
The official 1892 twenty-fifth-anniversary pamphlet of the Free Religious Association of America. It includes a report of the annual convention and William J. Potter's address tracing the association's antecedents, founding, public work, principles of religious freedom and scientific inquiry, and hopes for broader fellowship among religions, followed by the association's constitution.
Read LessArticle and chapter contributions
Entries this person contributed to inside a larger issue or volume. They are not listed as authors of the whole issue.
- Proceedings at the Third Annual Meeting of the Free Religious Association, Held in Boston, May 26 and 27, 1870 — Address of William J. Potter (Contributor) — 113
- Freedom and Fellowship in Religion: A Collection of Essays and Addresses — Christianity and Its Definitions (Author) — 178