[Ads-l] Serenity Prayer (early instance March 9, 1933)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The following citation presents the second oldest full instance of the
Serenity Prayer (I think). This post mentions three instances.
However, Fred Shapiro or Stephen Goranson may know of other early
instances of which I am unaware.

[ref] 1933 March 9, The Atlanta Constitution, Y.W.C.A. Regional
Conference Closes On Thursday, Quote Page 6, Column 7, Atlanta,
Georgia. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
The address of Mrs. Harrie K. Chamberlin, national president, will
bring the conference to a close this morning, her subject being, "A
New Role for Leadership." She will request Y. W. C. A. board and staff
members to carry to their associations "hope for the future based upon
experience of the past, with the courage to change what must be
altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and insight to know
one from the other."
[End excerpt]

A partial match for the Serenity Prayer was found in an entry dated
October 31, 1932 of Winnifred Wygal's diary located at the Schlesinger
Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute
for Advanced Study Harvard University. Fred described this citation in
his 2014 article in "The Chronicle Review". See below for a link to
the article.

The earliest full version of the Serenity Prayer appeared in the March
1933 issue of "The Woman’s Press" within an article titled "On the
Edge of Tomorrow" by Winnifred Wygal. Fred also described this
citation in his article in "The Chronicle Review".

Website: The Chronicle Review (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Article title: Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer?,
Article author: Fred R. Shapiro,
Date on website: April 28, 2014
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Who-Wrote-the-Serenity-Prayer-/146159/

Garson

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