Rev. Arthur Foote II  (1911-1999)

11th Minister of Unity Church: 1945-1970, Minister Emeritus

Biography

Arthur W. Foote II (Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography)

Foote, Arthur II (1911-1999) (Harvard Square Library)

Biographical Introduction (Harvard Square Library)  Arthur Foote II, minister for 25 years of Unity Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, carried forth in our time the family heritage of ministry through music. His uncle, Arthur Foote, a noted musician, was a composer, a teacher, and a founder of the American Guild of Organists. His father, Henry Wilder Foote, was both a minister and a hymnologist. He wrote the classic study, Three Centuries of American Hymnody, as well as the definitive studies of both Unitarian and Universalist Hymn Writers and Hymns. With good reason, he eminently served as co-editor of a precious work entitled Hymns of the Spirit, first published in 1937. His son, Arthur II, served as Chairman of the Unitarian Universalist Hymnbook Commission, which produced the sequel volume, Hymns for the Celebration of Life, in 1964.

Works

• Taking Down the Defenses, Beacon Press, 1954, ASIN: B0007HCT7I

  • • Taking Down the Defenses (Hardcover), Essex Publishing Company, 1972, ASIN: B000NWK1Q8

    • Taking Down the Defenses: A Collection of One Hundred Brief Essays and Meditations (Beacon Paperback Series, Vol. 541),  Beacon Press, 1977, ISBN 807011177

• Hymns for the Celebration of Life, Beacon Press, 1964 (one of several editors) 

• Henry Wilder Foote, Hymnologist, Hymn Society of America, 1968.

• "Meditations" (Harvard Square Library)

• "Prayers for Today" (Harvard Square Library)

Historical Collection, Anderson Library, Unity Church-Unitarian Arthur Foote holdings.

May Peace dwell with our hearts,

And understanding in our minds;

May courage steel our wills, and

Love of truth forever guide us.

--Arthur Foote II

Mentions

The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota's Mental Institutions, 1946-54 by Susan B. Foote, University of MN Press, 2018.

Archives

Arthur Foote II and Rebecca (Clark) Foote (Southwest Harbor Public Library Digital Archive)

Includes photos: wedding, Rebecca as a child, at the Henry Wilder Foote home, and more. 

UNITY CHURCH (ST. PAUL, MINN.): An Inventory of Its Church Records at the Minnesota Historical Society

Includes: correspondence, sermons,  and other church records during Rev. Foote's ministry. 

Family

• Grandfather and Grandmother: Henry Wilder Foote and Frances Anne Eliot 

• Father: Henry Foote II, Unitarian minister (Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography)

• Named after great-uncle:  Arthur Foote, Unitarian composer, (Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography)

• Sibling--one of four: Caleb Foote (UMass Amherst Library)

• Spouse: Rebecca Clark

Photos top and bottom left: UUDB

Right: Southwest Harbor Public Library