Henry S. Huntington

Henry Strong Huntington Jr. (1882-1981), was a Presbyterian minister who advocated the healthful advantages of nudism. He established the Burgoyne Trail Nudist Camp near Otis, Massachusetts. He was editor of the magazine, The Nudist. He was also an advocate of eugenics. Clerical career Huntington was born in Gorham, Maine, where his father was a Congregational church minister. He graduated from Yale University in 1904 and was ordained as a minister in 1911 at the Auburn Theological Seminary, and became the minister of the Hope Presbyterian Church in Watertown, N.Y. After his ordination he became survey secretary of the Presbyterian Synod of New York. During World War I, Huntington was a member of the American Red Cross Commission in Palestine. After the war, he became active in the Interchurch World Movement and from 1919 to 1925 he was associate editor of the periodical, Christian Work. Nudism Huntington first encountered the nudist movement on a trip to Germany in 1926. His interest continued after later trips to Britain, France and, a further visit to Germany. In 1929, he joined the American League for Physical Culture, an early promoter of organized nudism in the United States. He helped to prepare the league's statement of principles and standards. This statement became the American nudist movement's statement on the meaning and philosophy of nudism.