Setting a goal for 2026

The Ethical Culture Movement will celebrate its sesquicentenniel anniversary on May 15, 2026.  That will be 150 years since Felix Adler made his Founding Address in 1876.  I expect there will be some wonderful celebrations, remembering the past, applauding our accomplishments, toasting the future.  My own interests lie more in the area of the body of writing that Ethical Culture has inspired.  It's not, I think, a very large corpus.  What there is seems quite scattered, even lost to common view.  I suspect, however, that there is quite a bit more than seemed initially evident when I became a member of the Ethical Society of Austin just a few years ago, and I have set out to find it.

Whatever I find, I will try to document in this "biblioblog" and in the more formal bibliography of Ethical Culture that I hope to create.  I have in my possession, for example, several volumes of the early EC serial, Ethical Addresses (published 1895-1914).  I have reviewed the contents enough to see that there is quite a bit from our past that has relevance to our present.  I want to make these volumes and their contents more accessible to my fellow members.  I wouldn't mind having more discussions of how things have changed--or stayed the same--in our society and in our Ethical Culture Societies, starting with these same references.  I am hopeful that a bibliography that includes the individual articles (platforms and essays) will both inform and inspire our members in their individual pursuits in Ethical Culture.  

I am also hopeful that others will help contribute to the task of preparing this reference resource, especially by uncovering more pamphlets and publications in the archives of their Societies--or even in the desks and cupboards of their older members, but also in the direct tasks of developing bibliographic entries that, if possible, also point the user toward access.  With our 150th anniversary as a target, we can certainly make a good start on recovering our lost past and securing solid footing for our future.

If you would be interested in a really inspiring scavenger hunt, please leave a comment below.