Universalists loved their newspapers. They spread Universalist doctrine and culture, particularly in areas where there there were no churches or no resident ministers. Controversies played out in them, news propagated through their pages and late into the pre-consolidation era, the polity required notices be published in them. Last week, I found more than a decade of pre- and post-consolidation Universalist magazines, which are the antecedent of today’s UUWorld, and the heir of dozens of Universalist titles. Universalist loved their periodicals, but not always liked paying for them and so the history is made up of consolidation upon consolidation.

I was looking for, and today found, this chart (linking from this list of publications at the Harvard Divinity School Library site) which I had seen before but lost the citation. It charts out the antecedents of the Christian Leader, which would be renamed on more time to the Universalist Leader before being merged with the Unitarian Register. Which means that these aren’t all of the Universalist periodicals that existed. Some winked out of existence before it could be merged with another. And then there’s the Universalist Herald, which survives and never merged, still going since 1847. (Go ahead and subscribe.)
So I’m going to put in a plug for the still extant Universalist Herald. I’ve subscribed to it, off and on, since 1998. It is at present, the only independent Unitarian Universalist publication I’m aware of. And while print media has declined globally, it retains value for its durability and un-hackable medium. Instead of being an organ for the official denomination to push a message, the Herald also reflects what remains of a grass-roots and somewhat eclectic Universalist remnant. I’ve found some inspiration, connection, and solace in it. More of a connection than I have found in some “official” UU spaces. For those who read this blog, the Herald might be worth a read. It’s also not an expensive investment.