From the Archives allows us in the Humanist Library and Archives to share some of our wonderful items and our learning with you!
It also includes entries from the former A2R (Alternatives to Religion) blog, a collaborative project between Conway Hall and Bishopsgate Institute which sparked exploration of some of the ways people have tried to make sense of the world and live together ethically without the need for faith in a God or gods. The key themes linking this broad movement are Freethought, Ethics, Humanism, Rationalism and Secularism. Material for these entries came from the British Humanist Association, The National Secular Society and Conway Hall Ethical Society. Posts were written by archivists, Nicky Hilton and Carl Harrison.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Conway Hall Ethical Society was connected to both the great and the good of the age. Many came to address the Society at their Sunday and mid week lectures including Bertrand Russell, William Morris, Sidney Webb and the suffragettes Marion Phillips and Marion Holmes.
In 2004 Conway Hall celebrated it’s 75th anniversary. South Place Ethical Society (now Conway Hall Ethical Society) for who the Hall was purpose built in 1929, celebrated with an evening of talks, tours, music and exhibitions.
Late Victorian advertisements for children’s parties organised by the Soiree Committee of South Place Ethical Society, (1896-1900). The parties involved performance, dance and games.
Peter Cadogan was Chairman of Conway Hall Ethical Society from 1970 to 1981. He was a firm believer in freedom on speech, taking the controversial decision to allow the British National Front to hold meetings at Conway Hall, despite his own anti-fascist convictions.
Conway Hall Ethical Society has a long history of running public lectures, discussions and a library service. This advert from their former home at South Place, (c.1910) highlights a continuity at the heart of the Society.
Conway Hall Ethical Society (formerly South Place Ethical Society) has a long history of promoting liberty, ethics and justice, as well as supporting social, political and secular campaigners. In 1909 the Society publicly demonstrated its support for Senor Francisco Ferrer, a Spanish anarchist who used his fortune to promote secular education and campaign for political freedom.
Illustrations of South Place Chapel, Moorgate, 1924 and Conway Hall, Holborn, 1931.
From even a quick browse of the archive, it is clear that Conway Hall Ethical Society has a long tradition of forging connections with kindred organisations. Included in this illuminating collection is a snapshot about Gora and the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada, India.
Conway Hall Ethical Society has been hosting and arranging courses of lectures since the late nineteenth century. Here are come early examples of lecture series on offer between 1890 and 1900.
