After consolidation with the Universalists, an annual lecture or workshop was given at the General Assembly. During the 1960’s and 1970’s when Conrad Wright was teaching at Harvard Divinity School, he usually hosted a spring seminar in which some of the latest scholarly research was presented and discussed at a small gathering in Andover Hall. This event was independent of GA presentations, and eventually evolved into an annual spring lecture usually held at the First Parish of Cambridge, MA, Conrad’s home church.

The first annual Conrad Wright lecture was given in 2008 by J.D. Bowers, who had published Joseph Priestley and English Unitariaism in America, an effort to reemphasize the British role in the early development of Unitarianism in the United States. Since its founding in 1901, the Unitarian Historical Society (UHS) had sponsored an annual lecture, which coincided with the May Meetings of the American Unitarian Association. The UHS would hold their annual meeting at this time, and the lecture, which was given at the meeting, was usually published as part of the Proceedings of the Unitarian Historical Society.

For more information see The Living Legacy of C. Conrad Wright: Introduction on the Harvard Square Library website.