#  Thanksgiving Day Sermons 

 



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[   ![Nathaniel Emmon's Discourse Delivered on the Day of the Annual Thanksgiving (1813)](/sites/g/files/omnuum4416/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/thanksgiving_0.jpg?itok=OTDSCUK_) 

 ](https://dl.atla.com/collections/thanksgiving-day-sermons)Nathaniel Emmon's *Discourse Delivered on the Day of the Annual Thanksgiving* (1813)A collection of [490 nineteenth-century American Thanksgiving Day sermons](https://dl.atla.com/collections/thanksgiving-day-sermons) has been digitized. These sermons reveal the interesting intersection of Christian reflection on what is a secular or civic holiday. Thanksgiving was made a national holiday by proclamation of Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Before 1863, however, many local politicians proclaimed similar holidays. These commentaries by church leaders provide a unique perspective on church-state relations during a formative time in American history.

This collection is the result of a collaboration among the three libraries that contributed sermons to this project: Harvard Divinity School Library, Pitts Theology Library of Emory University, and the Speer Library at Princeton Theological Seminary. The project was funded by a grant from the Cooperative Digital Resource Initiative (CDRI) of the American Theological Library Association.

These sermons can be found in the [CDRI database](https://dl.atla.com/collections/cooperative-digital-resources-initiative) (along with many other types of digitized materials).