For an organization that isn’t yet seventy years old, you might be surprised to hear that USNH has pioneers and log cabins in its history!  Way back when we started, our community’s founders gathered to share pot luck dinners, and traveled far and wide to hear Unitarian preachers. We started out as a Fellowship and in November of 1951 voted to become The Unitarian Society of New Haven.  At the time, we were truly “pioneers” of our faith in Connecticut. Originally, we met in a series of rented places.  Where the log cabin comes in is that our members had to bring everything that we needed for the service and religious education classes each Sunday and then cart it all back home afterwards—coffee in thermos bottles, furniture and art supplies for religious education classes and so forth. Everyone had a job to do and had to show up each week. There was a feeling of closeness because of our small size and interdependence. The feeling of closeness remains, but these days there are enough of us so that we can take turns doing the work to keep USNH running smoothly. The History Archives and Library committee preserves and organizes documents and other materials about our history. This includes papers, photographs, audio tapes and computer files. We are especially proud of the video of our mortgage burning celebration (the original mortgage).  We are also fortunate to have videos of our original and long-time members giving their first-hand accounts of our history.  Our library contains past newsletters, orders of service, committee records and other materials documenting the activities of USNH. We serve as a resource for our clergy and other committees. For example, we provided pictures and helped write the narrative for the celebration of ten years in the new sanctuary.  We’ve provided lists of prior staff, clergy, membership and budget materials.  One very special ministry we have provided is to help grieving family members by researching, locating and sharing taped interviews of their relatives. We manage the Dorothy F. Harned Library. Over 2,000 books have been catalogued and categorized. We created a data base so that a book can be located by author, title or category.  Finally, we make presentations about our history to the congregation and share our journey with prospective members. If you would like to join us in this deeply satisfying and productive work, please email us at library@usnh.org.  We would love to welcome you to our team.