Harriet Merrick Warren

In memory of Mrs. William Fairfield Warren, first Corresponding Secretary and Editor of Woman's Missionary Friend. 

The bottom of the window honoring Mrs. Harriet Merrick Warren features information about her work with the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. 

Dr. Dana Robert calls Harriet Merrick Warren (1843-1893) the "intellectual center" of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. She was involved in many educational reform efforts; she was a founder and trustee of the New England Conservatory, board member of the New England Deaconness Home and Training School (later subsummed into Boston University) and a leader in the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women. She was the first corresponding secretary of the New England Branch (see photo below). She was editor of influential and important missionary journal “The Heathen Woman’s Friend” (re-named “The Woman’s Missionary Friend.”) Her husband, Dr. William Fairfield Warren, was the first president of Boston University.

Mrs. Harriet Merrick Warren is remembered in her stained glass window with the medallion featuring a quill and paper reading, “Write for these words are true, and faithful,” as she was the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society’s first Corresponding Secretary and Editor of the Society’s journal, Heathen Woman’s Friend later renamed, Woman’s Missionary Friend. She edited the journal until her death in 1893.

Harriet Merrick was born in Wilbraham, MA the daughter of a preacher and prominent member of Hampden County, John M. Merrick. Her father was a trustee of Wilbraham Academy where Dr. William Fairfield Warren, Harriet’s husband, attended school. Education was very important to the Merrick family. It is not surprising that Harriet pursued a degree from Wesleyan Academy and was able to speak several languages.  

She married William F. Warren  in 1861. William and Harriet Warren spent years in Germany, learning about the ways they educated students in that country. Dr. William F. Warren served as Missions-Anstalt for the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He brought many of the ideas, principles, and practices he was exposed to in Germany back to the Methodist General Biblical Institute in Concord, New Hampshire, where he taught. In 1867, the Biblical Institute moved to Boston, MA. In 1869, William F. Warren was part of the group of men that helped charter Boston University.

While William was away at Annual Conference, preaching, or working on the chartering a major university, Harriet was busy writing and advocating for women. She held executive positions on committees within the  New England Annual Conference and in groups beyond the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, including the General Executive Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dr. Robert heralds her as major leader of "woman's work for woman” in her 1996 publication, American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice.  Additionally, she had these positive words of praise for Harriet, “When the women organized themselves, they founded a journal to keep contact among the branches and to promote their work. At the same time that the women were founding the missionary society, men were moving the Concord Biblical Institute to Boston to found Boston University, led by the School of Theology. Tapped to be first president was the missionary William Warren. His wife Harriet became first editor of the journal Heathen Woman’s Friend, which she edited until her death in 1893. The journal always showed a profit. Mrs. Warren also was part of the team of women who appealed to the mission board to allow the existence of the national WFMS. She also helped found the New England Conservatory.”

You can view the papers of William Fairfield Warren at Boston University Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center. Some of Harriet’s papers are part of this archival collection. Contact the Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center to make an appointment to view these primary resources.