June 20, 1917: Born, Syracuse, NY, eldest child of Clair and Lena Littell
1919-1924: Lived at Sherman and Meadville, PA, with his parents and siblings
1924: Moved with his parents and siblings to Mount Vernon, IA, where his father, Clair Littell, became a professor at Cornell College
1933: Licensed to preach in Methodist Church
1937: Earned BA in History and Political Science from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA; senior paper: “Background to Religious Liberty in the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution”
1937-1940: Attended Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY, earning his BD in Church History in 1940
1937-circa 1942: Officer in the National Council of Methodist Youth; also active in the Youth Committee Against War and the United Student Peace Committee
1939: Married Harriet Lewis, having met her through their shared leadership in the National Council of Methodist Youth; attended the First International Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam; toured Germany and other parts of Europe
1940-1942: Minister of Youth and assistant to Henry Hitt Crane at the Central Methodist Church in Detroit, MI. Harriet Littell worked as Director of Youth Work for the Detroit Annual Conference
1941: Daughter, Jeannith was born
1942-1946: Attended Yale University, earning his PhD in 1946
1943: Daughter, Karen was born
1943: Elected Kent Fellow of National Council on Religion in Higher Education
1944: Ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church
1944-1949: Director of Religious Affairs, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, MI
1945: Daughter, Miriam was born
1949-1951: Officer, Chief Protestant Advisor, Office of Military Government US and the High Commission for Occupied Germany
1950: Son, Stephen was born
1952: Doctoral dissertation published under the title, The Anabaptist View of The Church: An Introduction to Sectarian Protestantism
1952-1953: Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Religion, Boston University, Boston, MA
1953-1958: Director, Franz Lieber Foundation, Bonn, Germany
1954: Published German translation of, Towards the Conversion of England
1953-1958: Founded and led the Ecumenical Committee of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
1955: Co-founded International Association of Evangelical Academies and Lay Institutes with Eberhard Mueller (Europäischer Leiterkreis der envagelischen Akademien und Laieninstitute)
1957: Published The Free Church.
1958:  Received Grosse Verdienstkreuz, German Federal Republic
1958-1960: Professor of Church History, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
1958-1983: Consultant on Religion and Higher Education, National Conference of Christians and Jews
1959: Delivered ecumenical address at the “Rally of the Church” (Kirchentag) in Munich; elected member, Phi Beta Kappa Associates; established first US graduate course in Holocaust studies (The German Church Struggle and the Holocaust) at Emory University; Co-founder, Association of Coordinators of University Religious Affairs (ACURA)
1960: Published The German Phoenix and Weltkirchenlexikon: Handbuch der Oekumene
1960-1962: Professor of Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
1962: Published From State Church to Pluralism
1962-1997: Editorial Board, Journal of Church and State
1962-1969: Professor of Church History, Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL
1963: Delivered keynote address at the National Conference on Religion and Race, Chicago, IL
1963-1964: Founding Executive Board Member, American Academy of Religion
1964-1978: Vice-Chairman, Foundation for Reformation Research
1966: Member of Planning Committee, North American Conference on the Theological Issues of Vatican II, University of Notre Dame, IN; father, Clair Littell died
1966-1969: President, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, IA; National Faculty Adviser, the Inter-Seminary Movement (ISM)
1966-1976: Founder and chairman, Institute for American Democracy
1968-1997: Editorial Board, Journal of Ecumenical Studies
1969: Published The Church and the Body Politic and Wild Tongues: A Handbook of Social Pathology
1969-circa 1973: Co-founder and first chairman, Israel Study Group (later called Christian Study Group on Israel and the Jewish People)
1969-1986: Professor of Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
1970: Co-founded the Annual Scholars Conference on the Church Struggle and the Holocaust; chairman 1970-1976, 1984-1985; mother, Lena Littell died
1970-1978: Co-founder, president, newsletter editor, Christians Concerned for Israel
1972: Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (appointed also in 1980 and 1986)
1972-1996 (at least): Chairman of Board, William O. Douglas Institute
1972-1976: Co-chairman of the Planning Committee, Bicentennial Conference on Religious Liberty, Philadelphia, PA
1973: Visiting Professor, Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany.
1973-1993: Adjunct Professor, Institute of Contemporary Jewry at Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1974: Published The German Church Struggle and the Holocaust
1974-1996 (at least): Executive Committee Member, National Committee on American Foreign Policy
1975: President, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Social Issues, University of Washington; published The Crucifixion of the Jews
1975-1985: Founded Annual Conference on Teaching the Lessons of the Holocaust, served as chairman from 1975 to 1979
1976: Co-chaired and keynoted Conference on Religious Liberty, which published the report “Religious Liberty in the Crossfire of Creeds”; founded PhD in Holocaust Studies at Temple University; founded National Institute on the Holocaust (later named Anne Frank Institute and then, the Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights); appointed Council member at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
1978: Wife, Harriet Lewis Littell died; Walker-Ames Visiting Professor, University of Washington; National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel succeeds Christians Concerned for Israel
1978-2002: Published nationally syndicated column, “Lest We Forget”
1978: Member of the Advisory Board to the President’s Commission on the Holocaust
1979-1993: Presidentially appointed member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, served on the Church Relations Committee
1980: received Jabotinsky Medal from Israeli Prime Minister Begin for contributions to American/Israeli friendship; published “Reflections on the Holocaust” with Irene Shur and Marvin Wolfgang for Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences; married Marcia Sachs
1980-1983: Lecturer, Overseas Educator Seminars, Yad Vashem (Jerusalem)
Circa 1980-1990: Active as a supporter of religious liberty: established The Hamlin Institute, an agency to advocate for religious liberty, worked as a consultant and expert witness, including with  leaders of the Unification Church and the Church of Scientology
1981: Published A Pilgrim’s Interfaith Guide to the Holy Land
1982: Recipient, Philadelphia Annual Brotherhood Award
1985: Received the Religious Freedom Award from the International Association of Scientologists
1987: Recipient, Humanitarian Award of the City of Philadelphia; honoree of Festschrift (commemorative publication), Faith and Freedom
1988: Member, Executive Committee, “Remembering for the Future,” Oxford, England (also planned and participated in subsequent conferences in 1994 (Berlin) and 2000 (England))
1989: Elected President of American Professors for Peace in the Middle East
1990-1991: Inaugural Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust Studies, Richard Stockton College, NJ (appointed also in 1996-1998)
1990-1996: Active in the American Academy of Religion
1991: Received Ladislaus Laszt International Ecumenical Award for work with Israel and Christian-Jewish understanding, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
1993-1994: Robert Foster Cherry Distinguished Visiting Professor, Baylor University, TX
1996: Received Buber-Rosenzweig Medal of the German Societies
1997: Published Hyping the Holocaust: Scholars Answer Goldhagen
1998: Distinguished Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton
2007: Brother, Wallace Littell died
2009: Sister, Eloise (Littell) Reinhardt died
May 23, 2009: Died, Lower Merion, PA