Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram, Music, Devotions, and Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1987, bahai-library.com.
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STUDIES IN BABf AND BAHA'I HISTORY
VOLUME FOUR

MUSIC,
.DEVOTIONS,
AND
MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR
R. JACKSON ARMSTRONG-INGRAM, PH.D.

KALIMAT PRESS
LOS ANGELES
Copyright© 1987 by R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram
All Rights Reserved

First Edition

Manufactured in the United of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
(Revised for vol. 4)

Studies in Babf and Bahaf history.

Includes bibliographies and indexes.
Contents: [1] [no title]-v. 2. From Iran east
and west I edited by Juan R. Cole and Moojan Momen­
[etc.]-v. 4. Music, devotions, and Mashriqu'l-Adhkar I
R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram.
1 . Baha'i Faith- History. 2 . Babism-History.
I. Momen, Moojan. II. Armstrong-Ingram, R. Jackson.
BP330.S78 1982 297' .89 83-22
ISBN 0-933770-16-2 (v. 1)
To Karen
CONTENTS

PREFACE IX

INTRODUCTION Xl

PART ONE: The Devotional Heritage 1
Chapter One: From the East 3
(i) Eastern Baha'f Devotional Practice
(ii) The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the
Eastern Baha'f Community
(iii) Eastern Chant and Western Baha'fs
Chapter Two: Early Devotions and the Music
of Louise Waite 27
(i) Early Baha'f Devotions in Chicago
(ii) Louise Waite
(iii) Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise
Chapter Three: Baha'f Hymnody in Community Life 61
(i) The Absorption of Waite' s Hymns into
Baha'f Community Life
(ii) Other Baha'f Hymnodists
Chapter Four: Opposition to the Use of Hymns 87
(i) Early Objections
(ii) The End of the Era of Baha'f Hymnody

vii
PART Two: The Building 1 19
Chapter Five: The Choice of a Site and the
Development of National Organization 121
(i) The Choice of a Site
(ii) The Bahai Temple Unity
Chapter Six: The Bourgeois Design 175
(i) The Choice of the Design
(ii) The Development of the Design
(iii) Further Comments on the Development
of the Design
(iv) The Legitimation of the Design
(v) Opposition to the Design
(vi) The Implementation of the Design

PART THREE: The Practice 237
Chapter Seven: Choral Song and Sermonizing
in Wilmette 239
(i) The Vahid Choral Society
(ii) Early Uses of Foundation Hall
(iii) Developments in the 1930s
(iv) "High Church" Baha' i Practice
Chapter Eight: The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Use 275
(i) The Auditorium Dedications
(ii) Post-1953 Practice
Chapter Nine: Scripture and Culture
in the Development of Western Baha'i
Devotional Practice 311
MUSICAL EXAMPLES 343
NOTES 361
BIBLIOGRAPHY 381
PREFACE

This work draws on research done over the last several
years, mostly since 1982. The use of that research here is
highly selective, and much material of interest that space does
not permit to be discussed here will be presented elsewhere.
As is the case with all who do extended research at the Na­
tional Baha'i Archives, I am indebted to the archivist, Roger
Dahl, for his assistance in locating pertinent materials. I am
also obliged to Richard Hollinger for supplying copies of some
correspondence from the archives of the Spiritual Assembly
of Los Angeles.
I wish to thank all those Baha'is who shared their experi­
ences of devotional activity with me. I owe especial thanks
to Rick Hill and Shery McDonnell Rak for many stimulating
discussions and for their participation in recitals of music by
early North American Baha'fs..
I am deeply indebted to the late Ghazzal Towfiq who as­
sisted me with the identification of Arabic and Persian texts
and in annotating their English translations. I will always
remember the conscientious enthusiasm she brought to our
search.
Naturally, these acknowledgements notwithstanding-as is
the case with any scholarly work-the conclusions presented
here are solely my own and should not be taken to represent
the views of any other individual Baha'i or Baha'i institution.

ix
x Preface

The preparation of this work for publication was assisted
by a grant-in-aid toward my ongoing research and writing
from the Victory Foundation. Such support by independent
foundations is vital to the development of any new field of
scholarly endeavor and I am grateful for the Victory Founda­
tion's assistance with my work as part of their encourage­
ment of vigorous growth in Baha'I studies.
As with all of my writing, mere mention cannot do justice to
the extent to which the forbearance and support of my wife
and family have contributed to this work.
For the record, I will note here the differences between my
doctoral thesis and the present work. Both the introduction
and first chapter have been shortened for the published ver­
sion, with the omitted material mostly intended for use else­
where. The remainder of both versions is substantially the
same, except for largely trivial differences caused by the
different requirements of the two modes of presentation.
Beyond the architectural illustrations used to support the
arguments in Chapter Six, this published version includes a
number of period photographs that I hope will add to the tan­
gibility of my discussion of events over the last nine decades.
Of the architectural illustrations, the one of the Bourgeois in­
terior design of 1920, which is used in the thesis was not avail­
able for use here. A Bourgeois sketch of the interior from the
later 1920s has been substituted . As with the development of
the exterior design, this later interior sketch demonstrates
even more forcibly the use of derivative material as discussed
in the text than does the unavailable one from 1920.

R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram
August 1987
INTRODUCTION

Before its introduction to North America the Baha'f Faith
was, in a broad sense, a Middle Eastern religion. Its adher­
ents extended from Egypt across the Ottoman and Persian
Empires to India, and the host societies and cultures for most
Baha'f communities were Islamic. This was generally true at
the level of daily interaction even in places such as Russian
Turkestan and northern India, where the ultimate reigns of
control were not in Muslim hands. The social and cultural en­
vironment to which the Baha'f Faith was introduced i:Q North
America was, of course, considerably different from that of
the Middle East.
Yinger suggests that:

A complete religion . . . is a social phenomenon: it is shared, and
it takes on many of its most significant aspects only in the interac­
tion of the group. Both the feelings from which it springs and the
solutions it offers are social; they arise from the fact that man is a
group-living animal. 1

And Jones observes:

. . . if alternation or conversion 'is to be manifested it becomes so
as the articulated and ordered arrangement of major constituents
or roles in an interactional setting. To change an identity is to

xi
xii. Introduction

change the manner in which one sees oneself, one's reference
group, and role-set. The 'facts' in the cultural milieu-mores,
folkways, status-systems, sanction mechanisms-also change.
. . . The belief systems to which individuals are converted do not
exist in some d,isembodied state but are tangible in some organ­
isation or group which are an integral part of the larger social
system.2

Obviously, for those attracted to the Baha'i Faith in North
America, Middle Eastern Islamic societies were not ' 'the
larger social system" in which they lived, and the "mores,
folkways, status-systems" and "sanction mechanisms" that
had developed in Baha'i communities within such social sys­
tems were not wholly transferable to the North American so­
cial context. Also, the immediate "reference group" and
' 'role-set' ' for these early North American Baha'is were being
created by themselves as they identified with the Baha'i
Faith. Through the processes of their interaction they created
their own " social phenomenon" by initiating a North Ameri­
can Baha'i community.
Yinger, in broadening his conception of a "complete reli­
gion, ' ' summarizes Joachim Wach as holding that:

. . . all religions, �espite their wide variations, are characterized
by three universal expressions: the theoretical, a system of belief;
the practical, a system of worship; and the sociological, a system
of social relationships. Until all of these are found, one may have
religious tendencies, religious elements, but not a full religion. 3

When the first four North Americans became Baha'is in
1894, they did so under the influence of a Syrian Baha'i who
had come to Chicago and who himself knew comparatively lit­
tle of the Baha'i Faith's theoretical, practical, or sociological
systems. In the following years those who became Baha'i� en­
tered a community that may be characterized as being in a
Introduction xn1

liminal situation-bestriding a culturally Christian past and a
prospective Baha'f future-and:

In this interim of "liminality, " the possibility exists of standing
aside not only from one's own social position but from all social
positions and of formulating a potentially unlimited series of alter­
native social arrangements. 4

The North American Baha'f community had to gradually
negotiate this "potentially unlimited series" in relation to its
growing exposure to and appreciation of the theoretical sys­
tem of belief that it had potentially espoused in accepting a
new faith, and from the process derive not only social but also
practical and ideational alternative arrangements. Both the
process of exposure and the process of negotiation operated
through the activities of particular individuals and groups
(whether official administrative or ad hoc) within the larger
Baha'f community. This led to the development of values and
norms specifically associated with the Baha'f community by
its members and seen by them to differentiate it from other
communalities within North American society.
Yet, as Cohen asserts:

Norms and values do not exist on their own but are everywhere
couched in symbolic formations. They are developed and main­
tained within the psyche of the individual through continual sym­
bolic activities. Often it is the objective symbols that generate the
subjective experience of obligation and not the other way round.
As our subjective life is shifting, vague and chaotic, we are only
too happy to be assisted by the objective symbolic formulations
provided to us by "experts, " leaders, teachers or, generally, the
culture under which we live. Symbols are essentially objective
forms. They may be originally the spontaneous creation of indi­
viduals going through specific subjective experiences, but they
attain an objective existence when they are accepted by others in
xiv Introduction

the course of social interaction . . . subjective and individual now
becomes objective and collective. They develop a reality of their
own, become obligatory and begin to exercise constraint on the
individual. 5

The aim of this study is to investigate some of the symbolic
formations that arose in the process of the development of a
North American Baha'f community, and how those symbolic
formations exercised constraint on the individuals and groups
engaged in that process. The focus of the symbols to be dis­
cussed is the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at Wilmette, Illinois.
The concept of the Mashriqu' l-Adhkar (literally, the Dawn-
- -

ing-Place of the Mention, or Remembrance, of God; "House
of Worship " or "Temple" are used as English equivalents)
in the Baha'f Faith is fairly broad. It may refer to: (a) a build­
ing, fulfilling specific architectural requirements, that is re­
served solely for devotions (unlike a church, for example, it
may not be used for such rites as weddings, funerals, or nam­
ing children, nor may it be used for sermons or lectures); (b) a
building, not fulfilling the architectural requirements, that is
similarly reserved for devotions; (c) a room similarly reserved
for devotions in a building used primarily for other purposes
(for example, a home or administrative center); (d) a complex
of buildings which includes either a, b, or c and a series of
"dependencies, " buildings or parts of buildings catering to
social needs (such as a meeting hall, school, hospital, or­
phanage, etc.); (e) a devotional meeting; or (f) the "heart" of
the sincere worshiper. Within the current North American
Baha'f community the term is usually perceived as applying
to (a) and (d), and most specifically to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
at Wilmette. (There are also Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of class (a) in
Uganda, Australia, Germany, Panama, Samoa, and India.)6
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at Wilmette is probably the most
potent objective symbol of Baha'i social and cultural identity
Introduction xv

for North American Baha'fs, and the process of its erection is
seen as inextricably linked to the development of the adminis­
trative institutions of the Baha'f Faith in this continent.

The centering of thought, devotion and financial offering upon
the great ideal of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar has been the formative
element . . . to bring the Baha'is to maturity throughout this
continent. ...

The building must be regarded as a symbol of the power of the
teachings of Baha'u'llah.7

From 1903, when the idea of building a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
in the Chicago area was first mooted, to 1953, when the build­
ing was substantially brought to its present form, the Baha'f
Faith in North America passed from being a loosely knit net­
work of ' 'cells' ' adhering to a ' 'movement' ' to being a
' 'religion' ' with its own distinctive developed institutions and
parameters of belief and practice accepted as such by the in­
stitutions of its host society. The development of the physical
structure of the Wilmette Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is generally
seen as having been a major motive force in this transition.
Ironically, however, since the building began to be used regu­
larly for devotional purposes in 1953, there has been dissat­
isfaction with that use and, indeed, many Baha'fs now feel
considerable alienation from the use made of the building and
few attend devotions in it regularly.
How is it, then, that a . building which is a positively viewed
physical symbol of Baha'f identity has developed a praxis that
alienates many Baha' fs, pleases few of those who do support
its use, and may be said to function for many as a negative
symbol of Baha'f devotional practice, thus engendering con­
siderable ambivalence toward the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as a to­
tal building and praxis concept? This is the question that I will
investigate in the following chapters by discussing selected
xvt Introduction

aspects of the development of the project and of Baha'i devo­
tions in North America g�nerally.
Hodgen suggests that " change, since it takes place in time,
can best be studied with an eye to the dated records of the
cultural past, ' '8 and it is in this spirit that this study has been
carried out. The view of its past held by the current North
American Baha'i community is generally highly formalized .
Even the "recollections" of those who were participants in
the early days of the community, are often formulaic and not
borne out by the dated records. A frequently occurring exam­
ple is that Baha'is whose memories supposedly go back to the
community before, say, World War I state flatly, "Of course,
we had no books i n those days, " and this is widely accepted.
Actually, Baha'i publishing flourished quite healthily from
1900.
Obviously, the development of such formulas in relation to
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will be considered in this study, but,
equally obviously, the formulas themselves do not form an
adequate basis for a discussion of the actual processes of the
development of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its praxis. There­
fore , much of the d,iscussion is based on extensive analysis of
materials, both personal papers and institutional records, in
the National Baha'i Archives, Wilmette, Illinois; some mater­
ials from other Baha'i archives ; and contemporary printed
sources. As relevant, the discussion also includes material
derived from interviews with selected individuals and my par­
ticipation since February 1982 in the process of developing a
devotional practice for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. .
Alt quotations are reproduced as in the original except that
obvious typing errors have been corrected. Apart from in quo­
tations, this study uses the system of transliteration from the
Arabic to the Roman alphabets that has been standard Baha'i
usage since 1923. The only exceptions are in the cases of
Eastern Baha' is who resided in the West, or who used Ro-
Introduction xvii

manized versions of their names. The spellings that they used
for their own names are followed , rather than correct trans­
literations given.
In citing archival materials in this study, I have followed as
closely as possible the same conventions as for citing printed
sources: using name references to identify the collections and
short descriptions to identify the document, e.g. (Robarts
Papers: True to Robarts, 9 August 1 922), or (Chicago
Records: Minutes, 28 June 1908).9 In the case of the records
of the National Spiritual Assembly, this extensive collection is
divided into various subseries; thus, citations to these records
sometimes include a modifier to the name reference if neces­
sary for clarity, e.g. (NSA Records, Music Committee: NSA
to Committee, 18 February 1931). 10
References to correspondence from 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi
Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice are usually solely
by recipient and date, and letters so cited may be assumed to
be in the general collections of letters from these successive
heads of the Baha' i Faith held in the National Baha'i Ar­
chives. Where this is not the case, fuller references have been
given.
Collections in the National Baha'i Archives include many
copies of letters and other documents, some direct carbons
and others that post-date their original. Unless there has been
a specific reason to do so, no attempt has been made in the ci­
tations to distinguish between originals and copies where
there is no prima facie reason to doubt the general accuracy of
the copy.
A final point that must be made about the use of sources in
this study is that quotations from the Baha'i writings are used
as necessary for the purposes of elucidating the actions of
those Baha'is who were exposed to these texts, not with a
view to providing an adequate analysis of the actual purport
of them. Thus, all quotes from letters of 'Abdu'l-Baha are the
xviii Introduction

translations received by the original recipients, which may or
may not be adequate translations for purposes of doctrinal
analysis but are the relevant texts for a consideration of the
subsequent acts of the recipients and their contemporaries.
Similarly, letters from Shoghi Effendi are quoted to the ex­
tent relevant to the discussion of processes within the North
American Baha' f community, and not for the purpose of sys­
tematically considering his position on any particular issue.
This study does not attempt to present an abstract "Ba­
ha'f" perspective on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its praxis.
Rather, it discusses the particular experience of the North
American Baha'f community in creating its Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar, with its praxis, in relation to that community's de­
veloping perceptions of the aspects of the Baha'i Faith to
which it was progressively exposed within its particular social
and cultural context.
There has been little scholarly study of the Baha'i commu­
nity, and most of what has been published has usually concen­
trated on events of half a century and more ago. As a result,
Baha'is are not used to reading serious analyses of their his­
tory, and especially not of their more recent history. I would
ask that Baha'fs who read this work bear in mind that,
although the actions of Baha'fs should be based on the teach­
ings of the Faith, there is no necessary connection between
those teachings and the activities of Baha'fs . It is up to Ba­
ha'is as individuals and communities to decide to what extent
they base their lives on the writings of the Faith. The degree
to which they do so does not in any way reflect on the station
of the writings or their Authors, but only on the understand­
ing of the Baha'is.
PART ONE:

THE DEVOTIONAL HERITAGE
THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR IN 'ISHQABAD, RUSSIA.
The first Baha'i House of Worship to be constructed.
CHAPTER ONE:

FROM THE EAST

For the first North Americans to come upon the Baha'f
Faith, it was a new idea, but " Ideas are the genes of cul­
ture . " 1 When that idea was accepted as part of their personal
belief systems, they took the first step toward the develop­
ment of a North American Baha'f community, with its as­
sociated cultural practices. However, the introduction of the
Baha'f Faith to North America was not merely a one-way
process. That introduction was also the first step in a process
of change for the Baha'f communities in the Middle East. It
goes beyond my present purpose to discuss this comprehen­
sively, but in the areas of devotional practice and the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar there is much of relevance to the develop­
ments in the North American cgmmunity to be learned by giv­
ing some attention to the donor community of that germ idea.
To date, there has been no comprehensive study of the
Eastern Baha'f community, but I have attempted to draw
upon such materials as are available and, in particular, to con­
sider the degree of exposure that Western Baha'fs had to
Eastern practice.

4 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

EASTERN BAHA'f DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE

When the Baha'i Faith was introduced into North America
in the 1890s, the Eastern Baha'i community had established
forms of devotional song for use with the Persian and Arabic
originals of its sacred text and an associated body of devo­
tional poems and songs. These forms of devotional song are
what Western Baha' is today refer to as "chanting. " How­
ever, these musics were not new forms created for the Baha'i
Faith, but were adopted from traditional Islamic practices
ranging from Quranic cantillation to Sufi songs.
That the early Babi community followed the established
practices of the culture surrounding it is evident from such
references as :Uaji Mirza :Uaydar-'Alf's account of his inter­
polating verses written by the Bab into his reading of the Qur­
,
an in morning devotional meetings of opponents of the Faith,
in mid-nineteenth-century Iran, without this being detected. 2
Also from :Uaydar-'Ali we have an account of Baha'is engag­
ing in devotional song that is presumed by non-Baha'i listen­
ers to be Sufi. Once, while imprisoned because of his religion
in an Egyptian jail in a closed , dark cell and in chains,
:Uaydar-'Alf and his companions:

. . . decided to chant the Tablet of Naqus, which had been re­
vealed by Baha'u'llah for the celebration of the night on which the
Bah had declared His mission. We were eight prisoners and our
voices united in chanting the verses. When the soldiers heard
this, they came in with a lamp for us. They thought that we were
dervishes and that we were chanting something which contained
the mention of God. This attracted their kindness toward us.
Thereafter, the soldiers kept the door of our cell open during the
day and unchained us. 3

The continued use of Islamic forms of devotional song by
Eastern Baha'is is not surprising. There was continuity in the
From the East 5

languages of devotional practice; there were continuities of
literary form and style; and many prominent early Babfs and
Baha'fs were formerly Muslim clergy and theologians trained
in these song styles . Another factor that was probably of
some importance was the lack of physical security for the
community itself. Devotional observance often had to be cir­
cumspect, as . on an occasion in Rasht in 1908 described by
Remey:

I recall one day when we had gathered, nineteen in number, in
the upper part of a dwelling. The friend who chanted the prayers
and holy verses used caution in modulating his voice, so that it
might not carry to the street below, lest it might attract the atten­
tion of unfriendly ears. 4

To attract attention to the fact that a Baha'f meeting was
taking place at all could be dangerous enough; to readily iden­
tify such meetings by a "Baha'i" sound would have been fool­
ish. The established forms of Islamic devotional song. could
be used in Baha'f meetings without either theological or aes­
thetic objection, and , quite sensibly, they were. But these
specific forms were not in themselves part of the faith they
served, and serve, and had no essential connection with it;
that is, they were not, and are not, a required part of its devo­
tional practice.
As well as using sacred text, the Eastern community in­
cluded poetry written by community members in their devo­
tions. According to Browne, ' 'it would be easy to compile a
fair-sized anthology of Babf [and Baha'i] poems. ' '5 The sing­
ing of devotional poetry, whether traditional poems or recent
ones originating in the community itself, was of deep signifi­
cance to Babfs, to the extent that there are recorded instances
of Babfs in the throes of the most hideous martyrdoms ex­
pressing their willingness to die for their faith by singing.
6 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

This attachment to devotional poetry continued in the Baha' f
community. However, the most famous o f the Babi poets did
not live through the transitional period between the Mar­
tyrdom of the Bah and the Declaration of Baha'u'llah. This
poet was Tahirih (1817-1852), a woman whose career was
an important symbol to early Western Baha'f women and
whose example continues to be felt within the worldwide Ba­
ha'f community.
The life and death of Tahirih have not only been considered
exemplary for Baha' i women, but also made an impression
beyond the confines of her country and faith. Her story be­
came known among intellectual circles in nineteenth-century
Europe and inspired much praise and wonderment among
French and English writers on Persia. 6 Her life so impressed
Edward Granville Browne that he wrote of her:

The appearance of such a woman as Kurratu'l-'Ayn is in any
country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as
Persia it is a prodigy-nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her
marvellous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid elo­
quence, her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she
stands forth incomparable and immortal amidst her country­
women. Had the Babi religion no other claim to greatness, this
were sufficient-that it produced a heroine like Kurratu'l-'Ayn.7

In many respects Tahirih is more important as a symbol
than as a poet, but nonetheless her poetry was and is
regarded as being "very fine. "8 The early North American
Baha'i community only had possible access to three of her
poems in English, two ghazals9 and a mathnavi, 10 but her life
was well known to them. Tahirih' s poetry itself obviously had
more impact in the Eastern community. But even in Persian­
speaking communities there was considerable difficulty in de­
termining the exact authorship of poems attributed to her.
From the East 7

Browne remarks of his search in tlie 1880s for poems by
Tahirih:
Anxious as I was to obtain some of her poems,· I only met with a
very limited amount of success. None of the Babis :at Shiraz
whom I conversed with had any in their possession, and they said
that Kazvin and Ramadan where Kurratu'l-'Ayn had preacfied,
and Tihran, where she had suffered martyrdom, would be the
most likely places to obtain them. 1 1

It was, in fact, in Yazd that Browne eventually saw and cop­
ied the two ghazals that he later translated. The difficulty of
attributing particular poems to Tahirih has been exacerbated
by two main factors. First, that the papers in her possession
at the time of her death are said to have been burned, mean­
ing that such works as reputedly survive are rarely identifi­
able by comparison with autograph copies. Second, the very
quality of her work led to its use by Muslims. Thus Browne
states:

. . . it must be borne in mind that the odium which attaches to the
name of the Babi amongst Persian Muhammadans would render
impossible the recitation by them of verses confessedly composed
by her. If, therefore, she were actually the authoress of poems,
the grace and beauty of which compelled an involuntary admira­
tion even from her enemies, it 'Would seem extremely probable
that they should seek to justify their right to admire them by at­
tributing them to some other writer, and this view is supported by
an assertion which I have heard made by a learned Persian with
whom I was acquainted in Teheran, and who, though not actually
a Babi, did not lack a certain amount of sympathy for those who
were such, to the effect that many poems written by Kurratu'l­
'Ayn were amongst the favourite songs of the people, who were
for the most part, unaware of their authorship. Open allusion to
the Bab had, of course, been cut out or altered, so that no one
could tell the source from whence they came.12
8 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

In 1930, Martha Root spent four months in Iran gathering
material which she later used in her book about Tahirih, 13 in­
terviewing relatives of the poet, visiting sites associated with
her life, and collecting copies of some of the poems attributed
to her. She found the poems to be so popular among the Ba­
ha'fs that they were available sung on records which she "of­
ten heard . . . ort the victrolas in Persian homes. " 14 From
Iran, Root went to India and Burma, where she found that
"the cultured classes know about Qurratu'l-'Ayn and were
deeply interested in her poems. ' ' She was astonished at ' 'how
many of the educated classes in India know the Persian lan­
guage, and they know the life and poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn
better than we in the West know them. ' ' She also found that
"many Indian scholars know Tahirih's poems by heart. " 15
Isfandiar Bakhtiari, a Baha'f resident in Karachi, published
an edition of 1 , 000 copies of the collection of poems that
Root had acquired in Iran in 1 930, and a further edition of
1 , 000 copies in 1933. These were distributed to "the literati
of India. " 1 6
There has never been an edition of Tahirih's poems in En­
glish, perhaps because the value of her life as a symbol to the
Western Baha'f community is unlikely to be greatly enhanced
by increased exposure to her poetry, created, as it was, on the
aesthetic premises of classical Persian literature. 17
Slight as the exposure of early Western Baha'fs was to Ta­
hirih's poetry, it was more than they had to the works of other
early Eastern Babf/Baha'f poets. Writing soon after his expe­
dition to Iran to meet ' 'Babfs, ' ' Browne mentions ' 'the poems
of Nabil, Na'im, Rawha, Maryam, and other Babis who have
drawn the inspiration of their verses from the doctrines of the
new religion. " 18 He states that he intends to discuss their
work at a later date, but, unfortunately, with the exception of
brief discussions of Nabfl and Na'fm in other works, this "fu­
ture occasion" never arose.
From the East 9

Two other Eastern Baha' i poets we might mention here are
Varqa, who was well known to Western Baha'is as having
been martyred with his twelve-year-old son Rul).u'llah in
1896, 19 and 'Andalfb, "a poet of superb accomplishment, "20
who had met Browne in 1888.
Although many editions of these poets' works have been
published in Persian and they are well known among Eastern
Baha'is, very little Persian Baha'i poetry has been translated
into English, and so the main import of these, poets for the
Western Baha'i community has been as legitimatory exam­
ples for the role of poet in the Baha'i community.21
In what contexts, then, were these poems sung, apart from
individual or infor�al group use? A late nineteenth-century
description of Baha' i meetings in Iran (the source, of course,
says Babf) states that they consisted of a reading from the
"Bajan akdas" (possibly the Kitab-i Aqdas is meant here) and
a "sermon, " followed by questions and answers (these were
presumably related to the reading and, if this was the case, it
suggests such an arrangement as is implied by Alkany' s les.:.
son book, see below), the whole meeting taking one to three
hours.22 The meeting was begun and ended with singing by
one ' 'who has a good voice . ' ' It is not clear whether this refers
to chanting of prayers or singing of poems. Also, as the ac­
count later mentions the Nineteen-Day Feasts as the "main
meetings, ' ' it is not clear exactly which kind of meeting this
early account refers to. But as it states that there "are special
meetings for women, which follow the same course as those
for the men, ' ' it seems likely that what is being described is
the program for a weekly community meeting such as took
place in Eastern Baha'i communities.
Various accounts of these weekly meetings by Western Ba­
ha'is who traveled in the East refer to poems being sung as
well as prayers and sacred text, and that this was an accepted
part of community meetings would explain the ease with
10 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

which translations of hymns by Western Baha'is could be in­
corporated into them (see Chapter 3).

THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKA.R IN THE
EASTERN BAHA.'f COMMUNITY

Meetings in Eastern Baha'i communities might simply be
held in the home of a member, but many communities
managed to establish some kind of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. This
was rarely a purpose-built structure, but usually was an ordi-
. nary house that was discretely used by the community for
devotional and other meetings. An Eastern Baha'f writing
around 1908 described the situation in Iran in order to en­
courage the American Baha'is to go ahead with building their
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar:

God Willing, the Friends in America must show an effort in order
to build . . . a Bahai Temple . . . . People in America are enjoying
the freedom of conscience. But the Friends cannot do anything in
Persia on account of the absence of freedom. In most of the cities
in Persia, the Believers have bought houses in The Narne of . . .
Abdul-Baha, using them privately as the Bahai Temples. Many
villages and towns have dedicated houses in The Name of The
Master; such as one house for Mashregol-Azkor, one house for
travelers, one house for Bahai School, and one house for meeting
and teaching The Truth. 23

In a few places in Iran the Baha'is were able to construct
their own buildings. Remey mentions a "Mashrak-el-Azcar"
built in the garden of Tahirih's former home in Qazvin,24 and
. there was the nine-sided mausoleum of Varqa and Rul)u'llah. 25
A few years after Remey's visit in 1908, Moody saw an ambi­
tious building project being undertaken by one community:

I had the pleasure of standing within the walls of an unfinished
Mashrak El Azkar. . . . It is still unroofed, built after the plan of
From the East 11

Ishkabad, but small. It is in a Zoroastrian village eighteen miles
out on the desert. There are fifteen families there and all Bahais.
Last Rizwan three hundred believers gathered there and had a
wonderful Feast.26

The city of 'Ishqabad (Ashkabad) in Russian Turkestan pro­
vided not only the model for this village project but also the
most complete model of a Baha'f community available to the
early North American Baha'fs. 27 By the early years of this cen­
tury, this .community was functioning as a separate religious
community within its city and was in the process of erecting
the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the world to observe the archi­
tectural requirements of such a building and to be supplied
with its requisite dependencies. Indeed, it was reports of the
beginning of this structure in November 1902 that supplied
much of the initial impetus for building a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
in North America.
The land for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 'Ishqabad had been
bought in the late 1880s and approved as a site by Baha'u'­
llah. Although the meeting hall and several dependencies were
built before 1900, it was not until 1902 that 'Abdu'l-Baha
gave instructions to begin building the central place of wor­
ship. He provided a general idea of the plan and design, and
the details were worked out in ' Ishqabad. The foundation
stone was laid on 28 November 1902, with General Krupat­
kin, the governor-general of Turkestan, acting as the tsar's
representative. The structure was substantially completed
between 1902 and 1907 and, although the details of the or­
namentation were not completed until more than a decade
later, the building was usable from around that time.
The best-known and most frequently published description
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 'Ishqabad is that by Charles
Mason Remey, who visited the city in 1908. His description
was originally written in a letter to the Chicago House of
Spirituality in October 1908,28 and was first published in The
12 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

Bahai Bulletin in early 1909.29 Remey subsequently used the
description . in his book Observations of a Bahai Traveller
1908,30 and in other works. 31 It has also been used in many
other places and may be considered the standard description.
Here is a shortened form of it:

The Mashrak-El-Azkar stands in the center of the city, sur­
rounded by a large garden, which is bounded by four streets. It
rises high above the surrounding buildings and trees, its dome be­
ing visible for miles. . . . The building in plan is a regular polygon
of nine sides. One large doorway and portico, flanked by turrets,
facing the direction of the Holy Land, forms the principal motive
of the facade, while the dome dominates the whole composition.
The walls of the temple are of brick covered with a firm and
hard stucco, which in that climate resists quite well the action of
the elements, while the floors are concrete supported by iron or
steel beams.
In plan the building is composed of three sections: namely, the
central rotunda, the aisle or ambulatory which surrounds it, and
the loggia which surrounds the entire building.
The interior of the rotunda is five stories in height. The first
. . . consists of nine arches, supported by piers, which separate
the ambulatory from the rotunda proper. The second story con­
sists of a similar treatment of arches and piers and balustrades,
which separate the triforium gallery, which is directly above the
ambulatory, from the wall of the rotunda. The third story is deco­
rated with nine blank arcades, between which are .shields, upon
which is inscribed, in Persian characters, "Ya-Baha-el-Abha. "
The fourth story contains nine large windows, while the wall of
the fifth story, which is not as high as the others, is pierced by
eighteen bull' s-eye windows.
Above, there is the dome, which is hemispherical in shape. The
rotunda from the floor to the top of the dome is elaborately deco­
rated with fretwork and other designs, all in relief. We were told
that the ultimate aim was that color and gildiqg should be added
to this interior decoration.
The inner dome is of iron or steel and concrete, while the outer
From the East 13

dome o r roof i s entirely o f metal. The intention i s that this shall
be gilded.
The main portico of the temple is two stories in the clear, while
the loggias, which surround the building, are on two floors, the
lower being on the main floor level, while the upper one is on the
level of the triforium gallery. This upper loggia is reached by two
one to the right and one to the of the main en-
and the gallery is entered from the loggia.
On the main floor the principal entrance is through the
door-way, but there are also several minor doors, which connect
the ambulatory with the loggia. An abundance of, light is admitted
through the windows in the upper part of the rotunda, as well as
through the windows of the upper gallery and ambulatory, which
open upon the loggias.
The style of architecture has been used in treating the
details and decorations of the building.
At present the stucco work is not quite completed. The interior
of the rotunda is finished, but the decoration of the loggias and
gallery and ambulatory is only done in part. . . .

The layout of the garden is not yet complete. Nine avenues of
approach lead to the Mashrak-el-Azkar. The main avenue of the
nine, leading to the entrance portico, will be entered from the
street by a monumental gateway. Last July they were completing
the plans for this principal gateway of the grounds.

Another early but, for the North American community at
the time, much less accessible description of this Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar is that by Hippolyte Dreyfus contained in an article
written for a volume of papers published in memory of Hart­
wig Derenbourg, late professor of the Ecole Nationale des
Langues Orientales in Paris. In this article Dreyfus warns his
readers against taking the term "Machreqou'l-Azkar," "le
lieu d'ou montent les ?ikrs" (the place from which adhkar
rise), too literally, as they cannot expect to see whirling white
robes here. 32 (dhikr is the term used for Sufi devotions; adh­
kdr is plural). He also distinguishes it from a mosque as it has
no mihrab, pools for ablutions, or minbar and Friday sermon.
14 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

He then gives a plan of the building, describes it, and dis­
cusses its basis in passages from the Kitab-i Aqdas.
After it was sufficiently completed to be used, a few of the
'lshqabad community went to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar for
- - -

daily morning prayers, but its principal community ,u�e was
for prayer meetings on Fridays and the celebration of ijaha' f
holy days. The ,Muslim context in which the community lived
intruded into the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to the extent that men
and women were seated separately, men on the main floor
and women in the gallery. This separate seating was also the
practice in the rpeeting hall. The Spiritual Assembly, too,
consisted solely of. men, although women did vote in its elec­
tion, and the Baha'f women continued to veil in public. These
concessions to Muslim practice were, at the least, designed to
avoid a possibly violent reaction to too public an expression of
the equality of the sexes, whatever they may also suggest
about feelings within the community itself.
Devotional practice at this Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is further
elucidated by two sources. First, Remey notes that the com­
munity used a cantor:

Sheikh Mohammed Ali upon whom devolves the chanting of the
prayers and holy words in the Mashrak-el-Azcar, who has been
given this service to perform on account of his vocal qualifications
and devotion to the cause. From his brilliant face, smiles and
good cheer, one could hardly believe that his back and shoulders
were a mass of scars from wounds inflicted as torture for his faith
at the hands of fanatical Moslems.83

And second, a small book of lesson notes for teaching Ba­
ha'i children about their faith, published in ' Ishqabad in 1913,
gives some understanding of the ideological underpinning of
devotional practice in the community. 34
Lesson 19 is specifically about the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and,
From the East 15

as is the general case with these lessons, it is recognizably
related to study of a specific passage in the Kitab-i Aqdas:

The people of every nation and various religions have a special
place to which they go at fixed times in worship. For example, the
Mosque of the Mohammedans, the Church of the Christians, the
Synagogue of the Jews, the Fire-Temple of the Zoroastrians and
the Pagoda of the Brahmans and Buddhists.
The Bahai place of worship is the Meshrak ol Azkar, which we
must enter at dawn, which is the best time of the day to be oc­
cupied in the mention of God. Also at noon and in the evening,
repenting of our sins and supplicating God's pardon and forgive­
ness. When we enter the Meshrak ol Azkar we must sit in
lence, in perfect humility and great reverence, turning our hearts
towards God, and entirely absorbed in listening to the holy
verses. As it is written: ''Blessed is he who turns toward the
Meshrak ol Azkar at dawn, praying and supplicating God's
pardon, and who in silence listens to the divine verses. "
Since the Meshrak ol Azkar i s especially established for the
mention of God, all else save this is forbidden. Only sacred verses
should be chanted in the most beautiful fashion and lordly admo­
nitions and exhortations sung in the sacred temple. 35

Lesson 20 discusses in mystical terms, analogous to Sufi
concepts, the effect of chanting sacred text:

He who chants the verses of God in a melodious voice, and he
who listens in deep earnestness with the ears of the soul, enter
into such a condition of inward joy that they would not exchange
it for a kingdom. Verily, through the effect of the holy utterances,
pure hearts become attracted to the spiritual realms which sur­
pass all description and definition.
The special nature of these realms can only be understood by
the souls which are pure and it can be perceived and felt only by
the illumined conscience, the spirit.
Ah! happy is that fortunate soul which ascends to these realms
16 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

on the wings of these holy utterances and through the power of
the spirit of detachment soars into these holy and divine regions
and mounts into this purified atmosphere of reality and spiritual

And in Lesson 25 the author comments on the rationale, as
he sees it, of the permission granted to Baha'fs in the Kitab-i
Aqdas to listen to music:

The holy religious laws permit listening to songs and melodies
and when these are in such wise as not to exceed the limit of
refinement and dignity which are as ornaments to the temple
[body] of man they aid the soul to mount into the loftiest realms of
exaltation. It is well known that this condition is produced when
the Tablets and holy verses are sung, or the odes and enconiums
composed in praise of BAHA'U'LLAH or Abdul Baha are
chanted by a beautiful voice. But when music ceases to
and dignified, becoming frivolous and it is for­
bidden and is unlawful. For in so doing, that which made it law­
ful, that its power of attracting and liberating
souls so as to enable them to mount unto divine horizons, is com­
pletely annulled and the contrary effect is produced: that the
mind is veiled, the soul becomes turbid and man sinks into a con­
dition which is not worthy of his station. 37

Among the "odes and enconiums" sung at devotional
gatherings in 'Ishqabad were translations of some of the
hymns written by North American Baha'is . 38
In the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at ' Ishqabad, then, the North
American Baha'f community had a model for both the ar­
chitecture and practice of their own proposed building. We
shall see that the form of the building in ' Ishqabad was of con­
siderable consequence for the development of expectations
for the form of the North American building, but that practice
in 'Ishqabad was of little importance as a model for practice in
Wilmette, either in the early stages of formulating expecta-
From the East 17

tions or i n the actual use of the building at its various stages
of completion.
For the Baha'i community in 'Ishqabad itself, circumstances
changed with the Russian Revolution. At first, the commu­
nity was. permitted to carry on its affairs more or less as
usual, but with the expropriation of religious foundations in
the Soviet Union in 1 928, ownership of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
passed from the community to the state. The building was
leased back to the Bah�'is at various times, but the commu­
nity itself declined through emigration, and eventually the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar passed completely from the hands of the
Baha'is and was turned over to secular purposes. The build­
ing was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1968 and sub­
sequently demolished.

EASTERN CHANT AND WESTERN BAHA'fs

Early Western Baha'is were exposed to Eastern devotional
practices by going on pilgrimage, visiting the Holy Land to
meet 'Abdu'l-Baha and to visit the tombs of Baha'u'llah and
the Bab. Between 1 898 and 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to North
America in 1912, approximately 1 0 1 North American adult
Baha'is went on pilgrimage, some more than once. 39 In all, this
figure represents somewhere between 5o/o and 1 0o/o of the
North American Baha'is of those early years.
The usual route by which these early pilgrims traveled in­
volved staying in Egypt until receiving notice that it was
to proceed to Haifa, where they would wait until called to
'Akka. The length of time spent in the Holy Land varied
greatly, depending on the current degree of restriction and
surveillance imposed on 'Abdu'l-Baha by the Ottoman
authorities. Some pilgrims could remain only a few days, a
few remained for considerable periods of time. While waiting
in Egypt, or while in the Holy Land itself, it was not unusual
18 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

for interested pilgrims to learn to chant a prayer by rote.
Those few Western believers who became fluent in Persian
or Arabic or who traveled more extensively in the East obvi­
ously had the chance to become acquainted with the Eastern
devotional repertoire, but there is little indication that many,
even of those few, ever learned more than a few pieces.
The learning of a chant by Western pilgrims began with the
first Western pilgrimage in the winter of 1898-1899. An
anonymous account of that pilgrimage probably written by
one of the three young ladies of the Hearst party, records:

The Greatest Holy Leaf had given us each a copy of the Tablet
revealed by the Manifestation when they were all in Constantino­
ple. It was written to revive their drooping spirits, and they used
to chant it every morning while they were there. We learned part
of it which is like a refrain. 40

May Maxwell's account of that same pilgrimage mentions
hearing the Tablet of Visitation chanted at the Tomb of Ba­
ha'u'lhih. 41
In 1905 , Mary Lucas, a professional singing teacher,
learned to chant a tablet in Egypt, which she then performe-d
twice in 'Abdu'l-Baha's house in 'Akka.42 Lucas also mentions
being moved by the chanting of the children of the house­
hold .43 In 1907, Asseyeh Allen wrote to the Chicago c.ommu­
nity on her way back to the United States from the Middle
East that she, Miss Sanderson, and Miss Moore had "chanted
as best we could" for 'Abdu'l-Baha. She added that the
"Master enjoyed my chants and asked me often to sing."44
In her account of her pilgrimage in 1909, Louise Waite
records that Dr. Susan Moody of Chicago, who was passing
through the Holy Land on her way to Tehran, chanted on
three occasions in Haifa and 'Akka. Waite also comments on
her reaction to morning devotions in 'Abdu'l-Baha's home.
From the East 19

For example, on one occasion, when two of 'Abdu'l-Bahci' s
daughters chanted :

There was a wonderful sweetness to Zeah's voice, a tend�r plead­
ing quality that went straight to my heart. After she had finished,
Monever chanted a commune, her voice is also beautiful but of a
deeper richer quality than Zeah's. I realized the great power of
the Word while attending this service, for I could not understand
a word yet the vibrations affected me most deeply. 45

The experience of Eastern devotions by early pilgrims and
by the few Western Baha'is who traveled in Iran, India,
Burma, and Russian Turkestan was shared with the rest of
the North American Baha'i community through books and
pamphlets, letters written home to individuals that were then
duplicated and widely circulated, and by formal and informal
talks about their travels upon their return. Apart from pil­
grimage and the accounts of travelers, however, the North
American Baha'i community was also exposed to Eastern
devotional practice by those few Eastern Baha'is who lived in
their midst.
Obviously, it was necessary for the North American Baha'is
to have among them some people who could translate cor­
respondence to and from 'Abdu'l-Baha, as well as do more
general translating of Baha'i texts. 46 The first one or two
translators did not know Persian, only Arabic, but by 1902
there were translators in Chicago and Washington, D.C., who
were capable, to varying degrees, of translating from either
language. From this time there were, always at least one or
two Eastern Baha'is resident in each of these cities. Because
of their important position as keys to correspondence with
'Abdu'l-Baha, these translators became nationally prominent
in the Baha'i community and could have considerable influ­
ence. While they all would chant in devotions upon occasion,
20 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

one in particular seems to have wished to press Eastern prac­
tice upon the Western community, Dr. Ameen Ullah Fareed.
Fareed came to the United States in 190 1 , at the age of
nineteen, to study medicine in Chicago. There he joined his
father, Mirza Assad'Ullah, who was one of a small group of
Eastern teachers sent to North America by 'Abdu'l-Baha to
increase that community's knowledge of the Faith. During his
first few years in Chicago Fareed served the community as
well as he could in translating, allowing for his inexperience
and limited English. But after his return from a visit to the
Holy Land in 1905 , he seems to have attempted to create a
position of greater influence for himself, in part at least by the
charisma of his Eastern background. Thornton Chase, who
had earlier been very much in favor of Fareed and had
regarded his presence in Chicago as a great asset, wrote
about this episode:

After his return last fall from Acca, he was Invited (at his own re­
quest) to give a series of Sabbath evening talks to the assembly in
the regular meetings in the hall. He did so at irregular periods. If
many were present, he was ready and all right; if few were
present, he had nothing prepared . He prefaced each talk with a
chant or supplication in Arabic, and then used the Greatest Name
for a public response . . . . There are always strangers at those
meetings who have more or less interest, and it was apparent that
this foreign chanting and use of the Name struck them unpleas­
antly, and in some cases created ridicule. Therefore a hint was
given that it might/be well not to use those things in the public
meeting, but it was not regarded, until at a meeting of the H. of S.
[House of Spirituality] when he was present, the matter was
brought up, and unanimously agreed that it was not wise to use
those forms in the public meeting. M. Ameen [Fareed] objected,
and stated that he should continue to use them (thus defying the
judgment of the H. of S.). He stated that he was commanded to
use them, thus giving us to understand that the Master had so
From the East 21

commanded him. Then we said we would write t o the Master con­
cerning it, when he changed his statement to the effect that his
father had commanded him to use them. Then we proposed to
write to the Master about it anyway, when he replied that if we
demanded it, he would translate the letter to the Master altho' he
was very busy with study. One of those present then said, No, we
will have it translated by another. Then he blushe'd, stammered,
and said that it would not be necessary, as he would not use it (the
foreign prayer and Greatest Name) in that way any more. This
ended the matter, but immediately another meeting was started
at his home (Mrs. Russells and Dr; Moodys), at 10.30 Sunday
mornings, which were given forth as meetings after the way of
the Orient. There he wore the robes, and chanted to his heart's
content.47

In this same letter Chase stated that Fareed's circle of sup­
port consisted of women, whom he later termed ' 'devotees. ' '48
Two apparent relics of this period of Fareed's activities sur­
vive. One is a few pages of notes for a lecture by him on
' 'Oriental Music , ' ' which was to be illustrated with his perfor­
mance of Persian and Arabic "songs corresponding to your
present day popular variety, to be followed by some classical
selections & ending with chants comparing with your sacred
songs & anthems. ' '4� The other is a slip of paper with a tran­
scription of a chant with "Dr Ameen" written on the back. 50
The chant itself is the refrain from the Lawl)-i Naqus. This
was the tablet chanted by I:Iaydar-'Ali and his companions in
Egypt; hearing this tablet was instrumental in converting
Na'fm to the Baha'f Faith; and it was probably this same re­
frain that w�s learned by the young lady on the first Western
pilgrimage.51 I sang this refrain as notated on the slip, for two
Baha'fs brought up in the Baha'f community in Tehran in the
1930s and 1940s, and they said that it is exactly the melody
used in Iran in their youth. The verses of the tablet would be
sung by an individual and all present would join in the refrain.
22 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

It would seem probable that Fareed was teaching such a per­
formance practice to his circle of followers. 52
One other chant known to early Western Baha'fs sur;vives
in notation, a version of The Remover of Difficulties (a well­
known prayer by the Bab) in the original Arabic .53 This
melody my two informants did not know, but they catego­
rized it as an appropriate, typical Arabic chant. I have heard
on one occasion an Eastern Baha'f use a similar melody for
this prayer. This chant was probably well known in North
America; the prayer itself was and is extremely well known.
A manuscript version of the chant appears in Louise Waite's
papers, a printed version in a small booklet of prayers that
was printed possibly around 1910,54 and there is a recording
of Harlan Ober made in 1951 that ends with his chanting of
this melody several times. Ober and his wife chanted this
prayer at the 1916 Baha'f Temple Unity convention. As he
visited the East in 1907, this particular melody may have
been introduced into North America by him.
In both the Waite manuscript and the printed version, the
chant has been provided with an accompaniment. It is possi­
ble that this was composed by Waite. The text of the manu­
script is in her handwriting and evidently has not been copied
from the printed version as the transliteration is much cruder,
appearing to be an attempt to capture a heard text with the
Western alphabet rather than a consistent transliteration
from the written Arabic. However, the music is the same in
both versions. Unfortunately, no account has yet come to
light of the performance of this chant, or any other Eastern
original, with accompaniment, so it is not possible to assess
the position of such a piece as this in the community's devo­
tional life. Nevertheless, the inclusion of it in the little booklet
suggests that such a form was considered suitable for devo­
tional usage by some.
Chants to both these texts were known in Washington,
From the East 23

D.C., as they were sung by a group of Baha' is at Alma Knob­
loch's graveside in 1910 .55 And a letter from Moody describ­
ing a Baha'i women's meeting in Qazvin demonstrates that
Fareed's pupils in North America, at least, were familiar with
other chanted texts:

Tarazeah Khanum . . . chanted the "Shamay shabastanay hagh. "
The air i s the same w e use, but her chanting o f i t is inimitable by
our Western throats. . . . They . . . wanted to know if I knew a
Pers1an prayer. I told them I could not chant like they do, but
they would recognise the words, and s�lected the "Allah-a­
Mabooda" which they often chant. 56

Interest in learning and adapting Oriental chants continued
into the third decade of the century. Ella Robarts, editor of
Children of the Kingdom , received at least two requests from
readers to include such material in her magazine. Mrs. C. L.
Jones wrote, "May I suggest later that you print a Persian
Chant occasionally with music. I know I would appreciate the
supplications. "57 And Ernest Harriso1;1 of Canada asked, "Can
you not also persuade some one to put the Oriental chanting
to modern piano arrangement. I long and yearn to hear it
daily and thereby learn it. "58
One local development of chanting that seems to have dis­
appeared without a trace was created by Edward Kinney.
Various accounts of conventions and other occasions mention
that Kinney chanted, and some of these give the text he used.
However, as yet no music has come to light. It would seem
improbable that Kinney, as a professional musician, did this
for so many years without writing any of his chants down. But
unless some written versions come to light, what he actually
did will remain a mystery. It can be inferred from the descrip­
tion that he definitely "chanted" in English to his own piano
accmnpaniment, and that the performance was highly ap­
preciated in its day. It was Kinney's intention to include
24 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

"some simple and singable chants" in a projected Baha'f
hymn book, 59 which · description may be a clue to the charac­
ter of his performances. Unfortunately, he never followed
through on the planned book. 60
By the 1930s, the term ' 'chant' ' was being used to charac­
terize any setting of the words of Baha'u'llah or 'Abdu'l-Baha
to music, as, for example, in Louise Rich's "Baha'f Chants. " 61
More recently the term has been used mainly to descril:>� the
devotional song of Eastern Baha'fs, although it occasionally is
used to denote improvised singing of sacred text in English.
The Eastern practice is considered by most Baha'fs,
Western and Eastern, to be a Baha'f practice, and thus some­
thing to be suffered on that account even if it is not liked.
However, as these chants have come to be seen as "Baha'f"
in themselves, rather than as a particular culture's vehicle for
delivery of Baha'f texts, this has occasionally been a source of
tension for both individuals and communities, as disliking or
not wishing to use them may be seen as .an attempt to avoid
something which is part of a Baha'f identity.
z
�

[
�
�
l
�
J
�

CHILDREN HOLDING COPIES OF BAHAI HYMNS OF PEACE AND PRAISE.
Detail of group photograph taken at the Naw-Rt1z celebration at the first Baha'i National
Convention, March 2 1 ,
CHAPTER TWO

EARLY DEVOTIONS AND
THE MUSIC OF LOUISE WAITE

The years before 1940 may be characterized as the era of
Baha'i hymnody, as during this period the North American
Baha'i community selectively adopted hymns from its Chris­
tian heritage for its own use and created a genre of Baha'i
hymns in the tradition of that heritage. This genre was incor­
porated into the community's life and the socialization of its
children, and then disappeared from general use almost over­
night. That it ever existed is largely unknown to later Baha'is.
From the consideration of the creation, use, and disappear­
ance of this genre, then, we can learn much of the ideological
concerns of those endeavoring to develop a social and reli­
gious identity for the Baha'i Faith in the Western world.

EARLY BAHA'i DEVOTIONS IN CHICAGO

Little is known of the Baha'i community's devotional ac­
tivity before 190 1 . As a few prayers, some of the Hidden
Words, and some tablets were available to the community, it
is probable that these were used in some meetings. But it is

28 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

not until 1901 that we begin to get records of the conscious
development of community devotional procedures.
At the meeting of the House of Justice in Chicago on 28
May 190 1 , it was ' 'proposed that . . . a Tablet in English from
the Manifestation or Master, be read before each meeting, in
accordance with the desire of a number of believers. " 1 And at
the meeting of 4 June, it was reported that Mirza Assad'Ullah
was in favor of this. In early 1902, Assad 'Ullah repeated this
approval in a letter written from New York:

In the beginning of all your meetings and assemblies chant a
prayer of the Blessed Perfection, so that your hearts may be sev­
ered from this world of dust and nature, and be turned toward the
Kingdom of God, the Exalted One. So, also, close your meetings
by reading a Tablet of the Master, so as to strengthen the hearts
to be nurtured by the Heavenly Food.2

Assad'Ullah further enjoined them to continue "Meetings
of Prayer" in Chicago, though whether this refers to the Fri­
day meetings that had been held at Assad 'Ullah' s lodgings or
the Sunday community meetings is not specified. The Friday
evening meetings had consisted of listening to Tablets
chanted in the original, read in English, and discussed. 3 The
Sunday meetings were more complex.
On 17 November 190 1 , the House of Spirituality decided to
have a member of the House chair each Sunday's meeting,
' 'on behalf of order, ' ' and to accept the offer of Mary Lesch to
lend an ' 'organ . ' ' At the following meeting a committee of
two was appointed ' 'to draft program to guide chairman of
the regular Sunday afternoon meetings. ' ' At the meeting af­
ter that, the "question of securing some songs in leaflet form
was discussed. "4
The minutes of this last meeting also record the first
celebration in North America of the "Feast of the Master"
(The Day of the Covenant, 26 November):
Early Devotions 29

The festivities began with · the hymn "The tie which binds our
hearts together, " in which all took part with organ accompany­
ment. . . . [then a reading and talk by Assad'Ullah followed by
refreshments] . . . . Another Tablet revealed by the Master was
then read, followed by a hymn, after which all gradually left for
home.

On 8 December, it was reported that some progress had
been made in locating song leaflets, but more time was asked
for. More importantly, a program for the conducting of Sun­
day meetings was presented and approved at this meeting:

Program for Chairman's Guidance
1st -Music, singing by believers
2nd-Translation in English of Tablet revealed by the
Manifestation
Reading from the Utterances of Jesus Christ
Translation in English of Tablet revealed by the Master
3rd -Solo, etc.
4th -Address by Teachers
Address by Visitors, if any present
5th -Singing by the believers
6th -Reading of announcements, reports of committees, etc.
-Tablet in Persian, or Arabic, by Mirza Assad'Ullah, to be
followed by an interpretation in English5

Sunday meetings seem to have been held regularly well into
1 902, as the 9 August 1902, minutes note that "the regular
Sunday evening meetings" are being held "as usual. " How­
ever, they ceased in that month. 6 In early 1903, the House
was ' 'considering a weekly service of the Bahais in this City, ' '
which was further described as ' 'a regular Sunday Bahai
meeting of worship, under the auspices of the House of Spiri­
tuality, in a central location. ' ' The plans for this meeting were
developed over the succeeding weeks, and the meetings
30 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

began on 22 February in Room 200 of the Athenaeum Build­
ing, with about sixty attending the first one. 7
For this meeting of worship, the House had "expressly
compiled" and printed the first Baha'i hymn book, Songs of
Prayer and Praise. This was a carefully chosen selection of
nine Christian hymns and a doxology that adequately pro­
vided for " the immediate need , " as its preface stated was the
intent. The hymns were:

From All That Dwell Below the Skies
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Sun of My Soul! Thou Saviour Dear
Softly Now the Light of Day
Come, Thou Almighty King
Nearer, My God, to Thee! (known to be a favorite of
'Abdu'l-Baha)
Abide With Me!
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come

The doxology reflected 'in the rewriting of its last line the
influence of a then well-known prayer thought to have been
written by Baha'u'll,ah but actually composed by Kheiralla
and taught to his stud.ents:

Praise, God, from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him, ye heavenly hosts above;
Praise Him, with knowledge, Faith and love.

These new Sunday evening meetings seem to have been popular,
as in' October 1904 the House could report that:

The general meetings in Chicago, held Sunday evenings, are well
attended and much holy love and enthusiasm is manifested by the
Early Devotions 31

believers. These meetings have been kept u p all summer, even
during the very hot weather, and have been like a central magnet
holding together the people coming from different parts of the
city.8

The Sunday evening meetings continued in Chicago, but it
is evident from the surviving records that there was tension
between those who saw the meeting as a Baha'f community
event and those who saw it as an event to attract non-Baha'fs:
the tension centering on the degree to which talks and discus­
sion were to be a part of the meeting. Thus, on 20 Apri1 1907,
the House d,ecided that at the direction of the chairman,
",members of the Assembly, even if they do not appear on the
Program" could make "remarks, " but on 4 May "After due
consideration, it was decided that no discussions be allowed
at Sunday evening general meeting. "9
On 11 January 1908, the "Greater portion" of the House's
meeting was spent discussing a "suggestion on the part of
Mrs. Russell and Miss Buikema that we make our Sunday
meetings more valuable by reading more of the Words of Ba­
ha'u'llah and Abdul Baha and eliminate talks and addresses
on the part of friends. " 10 And later in 1908, Moritz Schmidt
wrote to the House objecting to ' 'teaching any personal ideas
in any meetings which are for the purpose of worship and
bringing into such talks . . . political or other matters con­
cerning affairs not spiritual whatever. "1 1
In early 1909, the House stated that the Sunday meetings,
now held in the morning, were " intended to interest visi­
tors, " and that the Unity Feasts (Nineteen-Day Feasts) were
' 'special occasions of the coming together of the friends and
the 'House' , when information is given of such matters as
would not be of interest to strangers. ' ' They also noted that
the Sunday meeting previous to their writing had about one
hundred people present, and that there were also in Chicago
small meetings almost daily in homes, a Friday evening study
32 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

meeting, a Saturday afternoon ' 'industrial class , ' ' where chil­
dren were taught sewing and other skills, a children's "Sun­
day school, ' ' and a Sunday evening teaching meeting at the
Moody-Russell home led by Arthur Agnew. 12
In October 1909, the House more explicitly outlined the dis­
tinction they saw between the Nineteen-Day Feast and the
Sunday meeting:

Purpose of Sunday morning meeting, also the nineteen day Feast,
was discussed and it was the opinion of those present that efforts
should be made toward attracting seekers and visiting friends at
the Sunday service; that the Feast gathering should be conducted
in favor of those confirmed in the Faith and to matters of a private
nature. That texts in both cases should be from the Utterances
of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha. That the House of Spirituality
should assume the responsibility of programs in both cases and
that the material food feature of Feast be made as simple as possi­
ble . 13

There was still a feeling among some , however, that the
Sunday meeting was insufficiently devotional in character:

Realizing the marvelous effects of a truly spiritual meeting, such
as I attended daily while in Acca, I felt upon my return that our
Sunday meetings were not so worshipful as they should be. There
was more the interpretation of the Words, which I feel should be
confined to the morning class and to the group meetings. No mat­
ter if strangers do not realize what we are talking about, when
they come under the power of the Sun of Truth, or Word of God,
they will feel its warmth and be cheered and blessed. It may be an
unknown tongue, but the vibration is universal-the one language
understood by the heart alone . . . . Believe me, dear brothers, I
do not want to dictate in the slightest degree. I only want to hum­
bly suggest what l feel is lacking in our Sunday service-what I
keenly felt having just come from that Holy Centre of worship.
Abdul-Baha does not try to conform His teachings to the different
Early Devotions 33

nations or strangers who come to Him. He gives forth the one
great Light to all . . . . . The Truth has been uttered, the seed sown,
and God alone giveth the increase. 14

This tension over whether even one regular community
meeting should be primarily devotional in character would
continue and have considerable impact on the eventual devel­
opment of the use of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. 15 Throughout
this period, however ,' hymns continued to be used at meetings
whether they were primarily devotionally or didactically
oriented. This is evident from the various mentions of Lillian
James and Miss McCoy as " organist" or "pianist" for the
meetings in House minutes, and in the development of the
career of Louise Waite.

LOUISE WAITE

The most significant of the early Baha'i hymnodists was
'Louise Waite. Not only was she the most prolific of them, but
her work was of a generally high standard and was used in the
community to a much greater extent than that of any other
writer. 1 6
Louise Waite was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1867.
Her parents were originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and
they returned to that area when Waite was a young child. She
attended school in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Waite's
parents were Episcopalian and her mother, especially, had a
deep love for hymns and encouraged a devotional attitude in
her daughter with morning and evening prayers. As a girl
Waite would improvise around hymn tunes on the piano, but
she did not have a systematic musical education and never
learned to read or write music.
Waite married, while still "a girl, " a Mr. Spencer of Balti­
more. They had one daughter, Violet, who was to be Waite's
34 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

only child. In one year Waite lost her mother, brother, hus­
band, and daughter, and as a result of this traumatic ex­
perience she left the Baltimore area. She may have lived in
New York for a while, but by the early years of this century
she was living in Chicago.
In Chicago, in 1902, Waite heard about the Baha'f Faith
from a neighbor, Mrs. Nash, and accepted it almost immedi­
ately. On the day she did so, she invited some friends, to her
home to hear about it from Nash. Before Nash's talk she im­
provised on the piano. But when asked to repeat what she had
played, she explained that she could not repeat her improvisa­
tions: "It comes, and then it is gone . " The following morning
the tune came back to her, with words which she wrote down,
and on going to her piano she found that she could repeat the
music. That afternoon she had a musician friend write the
music for her, and she had the song, "If Ye Seek Me, "
printed and circulating within the week.
This first song of Waite's was only directly linked to the Ba­
ha'i Faith by the dedication to 'Abdu'l-Baha on the title page.
To anyone who merely heard it, it would seem a normal reli­
gious concert song. (Indeed, it was reprinted by a California
publisher of church music in 193 1 , without the dedication.) In
November of 1902, Waite wrote the words to her second song,
"The Greatest Name, " which were unmistakably Baha'i.
As a usual part of becoming a Baha'f in those years, Waite
had written to 'Abdu'l-Baha, and she received the first of
more than forty tablets from him in early 1903. Shortly after
this she received. her second tablet, in which 'Abdu'l-Baha
praised the words of "The Greatest Name, " which she had
sent to him, saying that he had chanted it (indicating that it
had been translated into Persian) and that it would be sung in
meetings and the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar forever. After receiving
this second tablet, Waite "received" (her usual word) the
music for ' 'The Greatest Name . ' ' Another tablet that arrived
Early Devotions 35

soon after again praised the words of this song and stated that
'Abdu'l-Baha had had it spread in the Eastern community.
In Apri1 1 903, Waite married Edgar Waite, a salesman with
the Baldwin piano company. During this year she continued
to write and to increase her involvement with the Chicago Ba­
ha'i community. +
In 1904, the Bahai Publishing Society brought out Waite's
first book, Bahai Hymns and Poems, which contained only
words. There was opposition to this book in some quarters, as
some felt that the Publishing Society should print only sacred
text and commentaries and discussions on the Faith. How­
ever, 'Abdu'l-Baha was sufficiently pleased with this little
book to praise it in three tablets. (For unknown reasons, two
of these tablets were not sent when written, and only came to
Waite after 'Abdu'l-Baha's death.) Waite countered the criti­
cism by organizing the first large fund-raising event for the
Temple fund in December 1904. She and Edgar arranged a
concert by professional Chicago artists who were friendly to
the Faith, which raised just over $ 100. At Waite's suggestion,
instead of being merely deposited in the Temple fund, this
money was given to the Publishing Society as an interest-free
loan to finance the printing of a translation of the Hidden
Words that had been ready for some months, but for which
there were no funds. This edition also included ' 'Words of
Wisdom' ' (excerpts from various Baha' i writings) and a selec­
tion of prayers.
Between 1905 and 1908, Waite continued to write and to be
active in the community. In 1905, she first published as a
song-sheet "Great Day of God , " which would become her
most printed song, appearing in tens of thousands of copies in
various publications over the next three decades. In late 1907,
she wrote two of her best loved songs for the Chicago Baha'i
community children's classes, " Softly His Voice is Calling"
and "Tell the Wondrous Story. "
36 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

In 1908 Waite's influence on the devotional life of the Baha'f
community increased greatly with the publication of her first
book of songs with music, Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise,
and her participation in the founding of the Vahid Choral So­
ciety . 17 In March 1909, Waite wrote the most widely used of
her songs, "Benediction, " and while on holiday at Corinne
True's house in Fruitport, Michigan, that summer, she re­
ceived an unexpected invitation from 'Abdu'l-Baha to visit
'Akka.
Waite financed her trip to 'Akka by selling her piano, which
had been Edgar's wedding gift to her. With her she carried a
letter from the Chicago House of Spirituality asking for direc­
tions abouf music in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. On her journey
through Europe she spoke at various places on the Baha' f
Faith. She eventually reached 'Akka via the usual route of
Egypt and Haifa.
Waite stayed in 'Abdu'l-Baha' s house in 'Akka for five
days. During her stay she had a number of meetings with him,
during which he told her of his approval of her work, gave her
the name of Shahnaz (translated as ' 'melody'' for Waite by his
daughter), and presented her with one of his own pens. Waite
also had a number of meetings with the women of 'Abdu'l­
Baha's household and with a number of distinguished Eastern
Baha'f scholars. She played some of her songs while in 'Akka,
and was surprised to learn from the Eastern visitors how well­
known her work was in their community. Mter Waite's return
to 'Haifa en route to Egypt, she had some further unexpected
meetings with 'Abdu'l-Baha.
Waite returned to the United States via Naples, where she
met Carrie and Edward Kinney, with whom 'Abdu'l-Baha had
instructed her to travel home. The Kinneys had been in 'Akka
shortly before Waite, and as a professional musician Kinney
had discussed music with 'Abdu'l-Baha. During this return
journey Waite was able to read and copy Kinney's notes of
those discussions. They also discussed her work, and she
Early Devotions 37

found that he had set verses from her 1 904 book to music, not
knowing that there was music already written for any of
them. (Unfortunately, none of these Kinney settings have
come to light.) On the Atlantic crossing Kinney and Waite
jointly wrote a "sentimental" song which became popular on
the ship.
On her arrival in Chicago, Waite found two Tablets waiting
for her. One was a personal letter approving her work with
the Vahid Choral Society, and the other was to the Chicago
. House of Spirituality asking that the "Benediction" be used
in Baha'i rn = ·or
n-,

Shortly her return to Chicago, Waite wrote "At Even-
tide, " and for the Bahai Temple Unity convention in 1910 she
wrote "Song of the Temple. " By this time, her songs were
being used by peace societies as well as by Baha'is, and in
the summer of 1910, she published a booklet of five hymns,
Hymns of Peace and Praise, for their use . In 191 1 , Waite at­
tended the Races Congress held in London as an official
Societies' delegate, speaking at various meetings there.
During 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to the United States in 1912, he
expressed frequent approval of Waite' s work, both in public
and in private talks with her. also gave her a prayer for
her personal use, asking for divine assistance in her work. At
the 1912 convention, Waite's "The New Jerusalem" was
Later in this year she wrote "Song of Thanksgiv­
ing, ' ' which was approved by 'Abdu'l-Baha on one of his visits
to Chicago, and "The Song of the Covenant, " on his O IJ'-·'"'�... .....,
instructions.
In 1914 Waite was co-opted onto Jane Addams' Women's
Committee by virtue of her peace hymns. And in late
1914 the Chicago Board of Education gave permission for the
use Waite's peace-oriented "Song of America" in the Chi­
cago schools. In 1915 Waite had a letter from President Wil­
son approving of this song, and at a peace pageant in Chicago
it was sung by a chorus of 5,000 children .
38 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

In March 1915, Waite and her husband moved to Califor­
nia. This move had been contemplated for some time, but al­
though they appreciated the mild climate and the general way
of life there, it was not a wise move financially and their in­
come never recovered to the level it had been at in Chicago.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917,
Waite worked with the Red Cross in California, writing a
booklet, ' 'The White Cross , ' ' to be sold as a fundraiser for
them. Mter the war she was one of a few pioneers teaching
the Baha'f Faith in prisons, organizing by correspondence Ba­
ha'f study classes in San Quentin. In 1919 Edgar Waite be­
came a Baha'f.
After the war Waite continued to write, but none of these
songs had the widespread effect of her earlier compositions,
which continued to be used. The financial difficulties of these
years, exacerbated by periods of ill health, prevented her
from having her music written for her and limited most of her
new publication efforts to words only.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Waite was in some demand as
a traveling Baha'f teacher, both in California and further
afield. She would spend a few weeks or months as the guest
of a community, teaching classes on aspects of the Faith for
Baha'fs and interested non-Baha' fs.
Waite died peacefully in her sleep on 27 May 1939, without
preceding illness but, her executrix felt, yearning to go. Her
period of involvement with the Baha'f Faith had spanned the
era of Baha'f hymnody, her work had formed its most signifi­
cant element, and it would not long survive her.

BAHAI HYMNS OF PEACE AND PRAISE

As the emphasis in this chapter is on the place of hymnody
the devgtional life of the Baha' f community, rather than on
the career of an individual, I will not discuss Waite's work as
a whole but concentrate on her Bahai Hymns of Peace and
Early Devotions 39

Praise as this collection includes the most used of her compo­
sitions. It is difficult to determine exactly how many editions
of this booklet there were, as the plates made for the first edi­
tion were used for subsequent editions and all editions simply
say "Copyright MCMVIII" on the cover. Editions after the
first one had some further songs added, and there were some
changes made to the plates. From these clues and the
documentary evidence, we can reconstruct a possible publish­
ing history of the work. Fortunately, the dates of the first and
last editions are known, and between them there seem to
have been at least three other editions.
The first edition was issued in 1908. The cover reads: "BA­
HAI HYMNS OF PEACE and PRAISE/ 9/ Copyright MCMVIII
by L. R. WAITE. " Despite the last line , the booklet was not
actually copyrighted. The first page presents a ruled box con­
taining '"'Index' ' in bold type heading a list of the titles of the
hymns in order:

Great Day of God.
Hymn of Praise.
The Greatest Name.
Awake ye Nations All.
His Glorious Sun has Risen.
The Day of Certainty.
Praise Thee Oh God .
Alleluia Song.
Tell The Wondrous Story.
Softly His Voice is Calling.

The hymns then follow on pages numbered 4 to 13. The
reverse of page 13 also has a ruled box with this text:

Funds for the publication of this book having been provided, the
proceeds from its sale will be devoted to the building of the Tem­
ple in America.
40 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

The form of the first edition is slightly confused by the exis­
tence of a copy inscribed in Brittingham's hand, "I.D. Brit­
tingham/ Sept. 1908 , " which has the funds notice printed at
the front and the index at the back.18 Otherwise, this copy is
the same as described above. It would seem likely that the
printer struck off a few sheets with the plates for "Index"
and " Funds . . . " in the wrong places, rather than this repre­
senting an entirely separate edition.
The other edition for which · the data is certain, the last, was
issued in 1927. The cover of this edition has ' 'By Louise R.
Waite (Shahnaz)" added beneath the title and is the only edi­
tion to have this. The index box has the bottom rule removed
and four more hymn titles added:

At Eventide.
Sweet Peace.
Benediction.
Anthem of all Nations.

These four hymns appear on pages 14 to 17. The funds no­
tice appears after the additional hymns. This edition con­
sisted of 1 , 038 copies (38 copies being the printer's overrun
on an order of 1 , 000 copies). 19
According to Waite, the edition that preceded the 1927 one
was one which she had authorized Mary Lesch to bring out
under the auspices of the Bahai Publishing Society, with any
profits to go to their work. Thus, in the Lesch edition the
funds notice is omitted. The other contents of this edition are
the same as in the 1927 edition. Waite mentions that she gave
this permission to Lesch after she moved from Chicago to
California, which would mean after March 1915� Waite also
says that ' 'Mr. Talbott who had done all of my music printing
held my plates. ' '20 The account book of the Publishing Society
includes an entry that states that on 10 July 1917, the Society
Early Devotions 41

"Paid Talbot & Co for 1000 Songsters & Bens ["Benedic­
tion" in sheet form] $37.40 . " 21 Talbot[t] was not the Publish­
ing Society's regular printer, so this entty probably refers to
tne printing of Waite's plates, and therefore the Lesch edition
seems likely to have been issued in 1917.
We have seen that the Lesch and 1927 editions include four
more hymns than the 1908 edition, but there is also an edition
that contains only three more. In the Lesch and 1927 editions,
"Anthem of all Nations" is listed last in the index, after
"Benediction. " In fact, "Anthem" is on page 16 and "Bene­
diction" follows on page 17. The reason for "Anthem" being
out of order in the index becomes clear when we find that the
index in the edition with only three added hymns stops at
"Benediction, " which appears on page 16 of that edition. Ob­
viously, once the three extra hymn titles . had been added to
the plate, they could not be rearranged to admit "Anthem"
before "Benediction" in the index, even though that became
the page order when "Anthem" was added. What, then, is
the date of the edition with the three additional hymns?
Receipts for contributions made to the Temple Fund from
sales of the hymn books show the following payments:

$ 14 August 1908
$8 �uly 1909
$32.50 February 1910
$3 December 1910
$3.50 May 191 122

Although these receipts present a far from complete record,
they may be illuminating. The comparatively large amount of
$14 in August 1908 was contributed after the publication of
the first edition. The large amount of $32 . 50 in February
1910 may have resulted from the publication of<othe edition
with the three added hymns. This new edition would have
been especially attractive as it included the ' 'Benediction, ' '
42 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

which was fast becoming Waite' s most popular piece. Among
the three hymns added to this edition was ' 'At Eventide, ' '
which was written in December 1909. The omitted HAn­
them , ' ' which would be added to later editions, was written
by 191 1 . It seems unlikely that Waite would have added only
the three hymns to the booklet after "Anthem" was written,
so the songs included also suggest 1910 as a possible year for
this edition.
However, 1910 may not be the date for the edition with the
three added hymns. In March 191 1 , Chase wrote to a Baha'f
in Germany who had asked him to send some hymn books
that "I sent to Chicago and requested that some of the Hymn
· Boo�s should be sent to you, on my account. I have received
answer that another edition of the hymns is being published
and, as soon as it is out from the press, some will be sent
you. "23 This must refer to Waite's booklets, as in July Chase
wrote to her saying that he presumed she had sent the "Hym­
nals" to Germany and asking her to let him know how much a
dozen would cost for Los Angeles. 24 If these references are in­
deed to the edition with three added hymns, then the date of it
is evidently early 191 1 . Chase' s March reference seems to be
too early for his remark to refer to an edition including "An­
them of All Nations. " However, there is always the possibil­
ity that there was more than one printing of the edition with
the three added hymns. At any rate, there seems to have been
an edition of this description sometime in 1910-191 1 .
If the date is early 191 1 , and there was only one printing,
then the large contribution to the fund in February 1910
might simply be from accrued sales of the first edition of
1908. That first edition initially sold for 20¢ . That the Febru­
ary 1910 contribution from hymn book receipts is not evenly
divisible by 20 but is by 10 may then reflect a reduced price to
clear the first edition to make way for the expanded reprint.
There was at least one further edition of Bahai Hymns of
Peace and Praise, as there are copies that include both "An-
Early Devotions 43

them" and the funds notice, and so are not the Lesch edition,
but do not have' "By Louise R. Waite (Shahnaz)" on the cover,
and so are not the 1927 edition either. In February 1915,
Waite wrote to Miriam Haney, ' 'Will you also anriounce to
the friends that a new edition of the hymns is out with the
Benediction included[.] Mrs. Lesch has them now for sale and
will continue to handle them in the future. ' '25 At first glance
this seems to refer to the Lesch edition, putting the date nf
that at 1915. However, this was written before Waite moved
from Chicago, and Lesch had been distributing the hymn
books since at least 1912. The Publishing Society records
make it clear that Lesch was buying the books from Waite in
batches as she needed them and simply acting as distributor.
Lesch's accounts show that she received 100 hymn books
from Waite on 7 May 1914; and on 1 1 February 1915, she
seems to have received a similar number. She had not previ­
ously received such large numbers, although she had bought
some hymn books from Waite in September 1913 and April
1914. Waite described the books to Haney as a new edition in
February 1915. However, the edition may have come out be­
fore Lesch's receipt of 100 copies in May 1914.
As Waite specifically mentions the "Benediction" in �her re­
marks to Haney, it might be thought that her comments refer
to the edition with the three added hymns, as this was the
first with that song. However, Waite is quite specific in her
1927 letters to Windust that the edition immediately preced­
ing the one of that year was the Lesch edition, which I have
dated as probably 1917. That the Lesch edition is later than
April 1916, is confirmed by a postcard of that date from
Waite to Joseph Hannen on which she states that Lesch "han­
dles' ' the hymn books for her in return for half the proceeds
going to the Publishing Society (the other half going to the
Temple Fund), but that Waite had paid the cost of publica­
tion.26 As there is definitely an edition that includes ' 'Anthem' '
apart from the Lesch and 1927 editions, it must thus predate
44 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

the Lesch edition. If the edition with only three added songs
had come out as late as 1914 or 1915, there is insufficient
time to compass this further edition between it and the Lesch
one in 1917. So the new edition mentioned by Waite in 1915 is
most likely the first edition including ' 'Anthem . ' '
The date of the first edition with all four hymns added can­
not be estimated as precisely as that of the other undated edi­
tions. As it contains "Anthem " it must be 191 1 or after. If it
had been issued shortly before or during 'Abdu'l-Bah<fs visit
to North America in 1912, however, it would seem likely that
it would have been associated with him in some way, as are
Waite's other productions of that time. Thus, I will assign
1913-1915 as the probable date range for this edition.
This attempted reconstruction of the publishing history of
Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise suggests that there were at
least five editions: in 1908, 1910-191 1 , 1913-191 5 , 1917, and
1927. Probably, each edition was around 1 , 000 copies, total­
ing around 5,000 copies in all. The price of the booklet varied
over the years. The first edition sold for 20¢ a copy in 1908.
From at least 1912 the booklet was being offered by the Pub­
lishing� Society for 10¢ . 27 The 1 927 edittion sold for 30¢ a
copy. By the early 1930s, this last edition was sold out. That
so many copies of this work could have been sold when the to­
tal adult Baha'f 'community of North America was probably
short of 1 , 500 at any time during the period amply testifies to
its popularity.
During the period that Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise was
in print, other compositions of Waite's (as well as a few from
the booklet) were available in sheet form and were sometimes
used. However, the most used single sourc� of music for Ba­
ha'f meetings was this booklet. Indeed, it is generally referred ·
to in records of community meetings as simply ' 'the Bahai
Hymns . ' '
Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise includes examples of
Early Devotions 45

Waite's various types of devotional songs, with the exception
of the elaborated solo concert type, of which she wrote a few.
Five of the hymns are explicitly Baha' f in their text ("The
Greatest Name, " "Tell the Wondrous Story, " " Softly
Voice is Calling, " "At Eventide, " and "Benediction"), and
the remaining nine are of a type referred to at the time as
"universal. " This latter type were so called as their texts
have no specific Baha'f references but are nonetheless satu­
rated with Baha'f meaning. To non-Baha'fs they would seem
like ordinary hymns.
Five of the universal hymns ( "Great Day of God , " "Awake
Ye Nations All, " "The Day of Certainty, " "Praise Thee Oh
God, " and " Sweet Peace") comprised Hymns of Peace and
Praise, which Waite published in 1910 for the use of
groups. In a review of this booklet, the Rev. ]enkin Lloyd
] ones (a prominent Chicago clergyman) stated that they
forth the great longing of the human heart for universal
brotherhood, unity and peace which is seeking for utterance
in a thousand ways in these days . " He also invited "more at­
tention to the fundamental strain" in them. In closing, he
described the last stanza of "Great Day of God" as "the
prayer of the Twentieth century' ' and quoted it in full. 28
Such universal hymns were an important element in contact
between Baha'is and non-Baha'fs, as their use could put a
Baha'i stamp on an occasion without alienating other par­
ticipants. Thus, at the Race Unity Convention organized by
Baha'is in Washington, D.C., in 192 1 , with the participation
of non-Baha'f (the first of a number of such conven­
tions), stanzas from "Great Day of God" were used to open
and close each session. The words of the hymn were included
on the printed convention program and 19,000 copies of this
program were distributed to publicize the aims of the conven­
tion. The program was also reproduced in facsimile in various
Baha'f publications at the time and subsequently. The spread
46 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

and use of Waite''s specifically Baha'i work in that community
will be discussed in the following chapter.
As we have seen1 Waite's career as a composer began with
her discovery of the Baha'i Faith. Her first song, "If Ye Seek
Me, " is a concert style solo of much charm. The words had
come to her after the music. In the case of her next song,
"The Greatest Name, " the words came first and she "re­
ceived" the music some months later. For those of her later
songs for which we have details of the composition process,
she "received" words and music simultaneously. Waite
looked upon her compositional ability as a gift of faith rather
than a personal accomplishment. After the dedication to 'Ab­
du'l-Baha in Bahai Hymns and Poems ( 1904), she included the
following verses:

No praise be mine for songs here ·written,
Thou my inspiration art;
Thine the thought, I do but catch it,
But reflect it from my heart.
Thine the songs, I do but sing them,
Though imperfect be my tone;
Aught they may contain of merit,
Help or comfort, Thine alone.

Waite seems to have made a distinction between her songs
and her poetry. She could write poetry (and she wrote some
quite good blank verse and other poems) of herself, as it were;
but songs were given to her. Sometimes she did receive po­
etry, but this was usually the mode through which her songs
came into being. That songs were poetry with music put them
in a distinct category for Waite. To her:

In the final analysis of all things, physically, mentally and spiritu­
ally , we are brought face to face with the great truth that Life is
Love, and Love is Life,. and its audible Voice is MUSIC.
Early Devotions 47

Music to the realm of Spirit, to the realm of Love belongs,
And the heart becomes enraptured thru sweet melodies and
songs.
Music cheers and music strengthens, music lifts our souls
above;
Music is the heart's own language;
Music is the Voice of Love.
(This is from a paper on Music which I gave before I went to
Acca. It is very significant that Abdul Baha said to me when
there, some months after: "Music is the heart's own language; its
vibrations uplift the spirit; it is very beautiful and a great art. ")
L.R.W.29

As she could not read or write music, Waite regarded her
musical compositions as wholes rather than the sum of parts.
The way they came to her was the way she played them; and
the way she played them was the way she wanted them
recorded in notation. This could be difficult when she did not
have a sufficiently sympathetic scribe to work with. She com­
plained at various times of individuals who "corrected" her
work in their copying rather than writing what she played.
This was especially so after she moved to California. During
the period she wrote the hymns included in Bahai Hymns of
Peace and Praise, she had professional musical friends in
Chicago who would take the time to play over for her what
they had written so that she could ensure it was what she had
intended.
Waite had been exposed to Christian hymnody on a daily
basis in her childhood , and for her it was a completely familiar
realm of discourse. Indeed, it was a familiar realm for most
early Western Baha'fs; it is not uncommon to come across
phrases from hymns incorporated in their correspondence
and other writings as figures of speech. Waite's own composi­
tions draw on this familiarity, her acquaintance with Baha'f
writings and the views held by Baha'fs in her day, and her
48 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

own growing body of work. Thus, in the received entities of
her compositions we find echoes of Christian hymns, quotes
and paraphrases from Baha'f writings, and phrases and im­
ages from her own earlier work.
As we might expect, Waite does not seem to have revised
her received songs to any appreciable extent. Where early co­
pies exist of the words of songs which would be given perma­
nent printed form with their music, differences between the
early text and the final form are trivial, usually consisting of
matters of punctuation and capitalization. An exception to
this is her first explicitly Baha'f song, "The Greatest Name"
(see Musical Example 3).
There are two early versions of the text of ' 'The Greatest
Name" extant. One was included in Bahai Hymns and Poems
(1904: pp. 6-7), and there is a typewritten copy that evidently
predates that published version. 30 The first noticeable distinc­
tion between the two earlier versions and the one included in
Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise is that they have nine
stanzas, whereas the final version has eight. The last stanza
of all three versions includes "Allaho Abha" in the first and
last lines. At some stage it either occurred to Waite or was
pointed out to her that, although the early versions had the
pleasing number of nine stanzas, in the course of the text the
Greatest Name was repeated ten times. As repeating the
Greatest Name nine times is a specific Baha'f devotional act
in itself, by cutting the number of verses to eight for the final
version Waite increased the devotional content, as one now
repeated the Greatest Name nine times in the song. This must
have been her intent, as there seems no other reason to have
dropped the verse she did; and the fact that the Greatest
Name is repeated nine time� is mentioned by her and others
as one of the song's merits.
The changes that were made in the text of ' 'The Greatest
Name, " apart from the omitting of one verse, are probably
related to its music. After the music was received, the previ-
Early Devotions 49

ously received text must not have fit quite comfortably to it.
In the first version the opening line was, ' 'We as Bahais, do
proclaim, ' ' which would fit the tune as published only if Ba­
ha 'is was correctly pronounced as three syllables. This pro­
nunciation was never really adopted by Western Baha'fs, who
have always preferred to pronounce the word in two syllables.
In the version printed in 1904, the line is, "We, Bahais, do
proclaim. " This is too short, however Bahd 'fs is pronounced.
This 1904 version, though, is presumably the one first as­
sociated with the tune, as the music was received in 1903.
There may have been two variants of the beginning of the
tune, as the first lines of stanzas one to four of the 1904 ver­
sion of the text are too short to fit the tune as published in
1908. The 1908 text lengthens each of theS,e lines. The first
lines of the other stanzas in the 1904 version were retained
unaltered in 1908, as they fit the tune. In the final version the
first line is altered to, "With joyful hearts we do proclaim. "
This is a degree of change in one line that is rarely met with
elsewhere in an entire song. Other lines had their scansion im­
proved or were made more euphonious: ' 'That dispels dark­
ness through its might' ' became ' 'Dispelling darkness by its
might. "
When words and music were received together, the music
must have helped to establish and maintain the poetic struc­
ture. Verses Waite wrote without any musical connection
(apart from those in blank verse, which are usually well struc­
tured) show weaknesses and infelicities that do not usually oc­
cur in her song texts.
The only other song in Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise
that seems to have undergone considerable rewriting is "Al­
leluia Song" (Musical Example 4). In the earlier version of
this song (1904: p. 28) the first stanza was:

Alleluia! Alleluia!
Christ our Lord has come again
50 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

To fulfill His Glorious promise
Given through the Sacred Pen.
Once again He comes to save us,
Once again our sins He bears,
Tho' the Lord of all Creation,
Yet no diadem He wears.

The second stanza in the earlier version was the same as
that published in 1908, except that the first word of lines four
and five was "Wise, " not "Glad. " The first half of the third
stanza was different:

Alleluia! Alleluia!
Sing it forth from shore to shore;
Spread the Message of Glad Tidings:
Christ our Lord has come once more.

The second half of the stanza was the same , except that in
the penultimate line it had "His Kingdom" rather than "God's
kingdom. ' ' Obviously, the intent of the revision of this song
was to decrease the Christological content and make the text
more universal in character.
In other cases we can detect links between an early text and
a later hymn, although the latter goes beyond being simply a
revision of the former. The words of " Softly His Voice is Call­
ing" (Musical Example 5), written in late 1907, are evidently
related to " Sometimes, " written on 16 July 1903:

Sometimes I almost hear His voice,
Calling so sweet and low;
Sometimes I almost see His face,
With Love Divine aglow!
Sometimes I almost feel His hand,
Laid gently on my head,
And peace most sweet then comes to me;
My hungry heart is fed .
Early Devotions 51

0 Master! let me closer come,
More like Thee grow each day;
So that these heavenly Sometimes
Become one grand Alway.31

The relationship between earlier and later texts can be
much more oblique, however. "The Morning Star, " written
on 19 February 1904, contains echoes of "His glorious Sun
has Rjsen" and foretastes of " Great Day of God , " "Awake
ye Nations All, " and "The Day of Certainty" (Musical Exam­
ples 6-9):

Awake! all ye that sleepeth
And from your slumbers cease.
The golden morn now breaketh,
Now comes the day of peace.
God's glorious Sun has risen,
Its rays shine forth afar,
And in the clear horizon,
Behold! the Morning Star,
Why spend your hours in sleeping
This precious time away?
The night of gloom hath yielded
Unto the "perfect Day . "
The curtains that make dark your soul,
Arise and open far;
There in the clear horizon,
Behold! the Morning Star.
Awake, and hear the trumpet,
By God's own angels blown;
Spend no more time in sleeping,
The night of doubt hath flown;
The Sun of Truth hath risen;
Naught can its glory mar,
And in the clear horizon
Shines forth the Morning Star.
52 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

Awake with might and power;
Awake and loudly
Proclaim to slumbering servants
The coming of their King.
Baha'u'llah, all glorious,
We praise Thee near and far,
And Abdul-Baha Abbas,
Our radiant �Morning

Fairly early in her career, Waite established a repertoire of
phrases and imagery which she continued to use throughout
her life and in her best works presented in refined form. As a
conscious poet might draft and redraft the same material,
Waite received complete works that had a familial relation­
ship to previously received pieces. It would seem that such
derivation went on largely unconsciously. To Waite, each
received work was a ' 'thought' ' she had merely caught and
reflected. This unconsciousness of derivation also applied to
her use of Christian hymns as models. It would seem that
Christian hymnody was so integral a part of her psyche that
she could produce complete songs that are quite evidently
related to specific Christian hymns without being conscious of .
the relationship. Occasionally, a song of Waite's will call to
mind a Christian hymn, as "Tell the Wondrous Story" (Musi­
cal Example 10) brings to mind "I Love to Tell the Story, "
although there is little more than a thematic similarity be­
tween the two. But in some cases there is an evident organic
relationship between the Christian hymn and Waite 's song. A
case in point would be "At Eventide" (Musical Example 1 1).
"At Eventide" is more like one of Waite's concert style
songs in character than most of her hymns, but it is evidently
intimately related to the well-known hymn "Abide With Me, "
which must have been a part of Waite's hymnic consciousness
from childhood. Fortunately, the circumstances of the compo­
sition of "At Eventide " are known. There is a copy of a talk
Early Devotions 53

given by Windust in Chicago on 19 December 1909, which
has the details attached. 33 The latter part of Windust's talk
was on the importance of "personal devotions" and the in­
struction by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i Aqdas to "Chant the
Utterances of God every morn and eve. " Windust concluded
his talk with the following paragraphs:

How blessed it will be when not only one member of every house­
hold obeys this Command, but the whole household together will
fulfill this Covenant of God. It is an old saying, and a good one,
that, "They who daily pray in their homes, do well; they who not
only pray, but read the Word, do better; but they do best of all
who not only pray and read the Word, but sing the praises of
God. " Surely, the Bahais have an abundance of material where­
with they may fulfill every phrase, i.e., prayer, the reading of the
Word, and singing. Although we are commanded to read the
Word of BAHA'O'LLAH every morning and evening, yet we be­
lieve the Tablets of Abdul-Baha will also be read daily. His
Words seem especially appropriate in the evening. This is just a
personal opinion. The former is like the seed, the latter is like the
fruit; the former is like the sowing time, the latter is like the har­
vest; the former is like the dawn, the latter is like the eventide.
As for the songs, we are blessed in having our Bahai hymns.
During the past cycle-it is generally conceded-when a people
attained to where they had their songs, it was co-incident with the
dawn of national life for them. Already, the Bahais in the Occident
have attained to that position-thanks to our good Mrs. Waite­
and I believe that remarkable composition of hers, the "Benedic­
tion, " written at the time of the Convention this year, will in fu­
ture, be sung in every home on occasions of rejoicing or sorrow. It
is an ideal "good-night" song.

A note by Gertrude Buikema says that this meeting was the
first that Waite attended after returning from pilgrimage, and
so Windust "Took the opportunity to pay a tribute to the
great service she has rendered in the field of music . ' ' The
54 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

copy of "At Eventide " with the talk has the note that the
song was " called forth" by Windust's remarks. After having
discovered the thoughts that inspired "At Eventide, " it would
be helpful at this point to quote "Abide With Me" for pur­
poses of comparison with Waite 's song:

Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide,
The darkness deepens-Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
0 thou, who changest not, abide with me!
I need thy presence every passing hour;
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Thro' cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee!
In life, in death, 0 Lord, abide with meP4

When this hymn was used by the Baha'i community in Chi­
cago, the word "Light" was substituted for "cross" in the last
stanza.35
Although "At Eventide" is not simply a contrafact or ver­
sion of ' 'Abide With Me, ' ' it is intimately related to it. There
is the general thematic resemblance. There are closely
related phrases: ' 'The darkness deepens' '/' 'when darkness
falls around us" ; "ebbs out life' s little day"/"life's short day
is ended" ; "Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away"/
' 'Earth's sorrows dim and burdens fall away ' ' (the difference
Early Devotions 55

in attitude between these two related lines is striking); ' 'I
need thy presence every passing hour"/"Love's holy pres­
ence doth all fear allay. " And through Waite's more expan­
sive melody we hear echoes of the other tune. "Abide With
Me" is evidently the seed for "At Eventide. " Equally evi­
dent, "At Eventide " is much more than a merely derivative
song. Waite's song expresses quite explicitly Bahcfi feelings.
It draws on the imagery of her own hymns as well as on
"Abide With Me, " her recent experience of visiting 'Abdu'l­
Baha, and her acquaintance with Baha'i scripture. "And
death's glad tidings fall upon our ear" in the last stanza refers
to Baha'u'llah's Hidden Words from the Arabic No. 33 (No.
32 in the current numbering) in the translation published with
the proceeds of the concert Waite organized in 1904: "I made
death for thee as glad-tidings . . . " (The currently used trans­
lation is, "I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. ")
Thus, in this song Waite presents a remarkably successful
synthesis of the heritage of her Christian upbringing and her
new Baha'i identity.
Before leaving this consideration of some aspects of the
songs gathered in Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise as compo­
sitions by Waite to turn to a discussion of how they were in­
tegrated into the life of the community, it is necessary to
consider ' 'that remarkable composition of hers , ' ' as Windust
termed it, her most important contribution to Baha'i devo­
tional life: "Benediction" (Musical Example 12). This piece
was performed more than any other at Baha'i meetings dur­
ing the era of Baha'i hymnody and was so absorbed into the
fabric of Baha' f life that its use even survived the end of that
era to some extent. For many Baha'is, the ' 'Benediction" was
the musical expression of Baha'i devotion and a deeply mov­
ing affirmation of their faith. This is Waite's account of its
composition, written a few days after the event:
56 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

On Tuesday March 23rd. [1909] the last session of the first Bahai
Temple Unity Convention was held in Mrs. True's home, and
she had engaged luncheon for all of the delegates at a little res­
taurant near by, kept by one of the believers. I went there at 10
A.M. to help her prepare for them. Five other of the dear sisters
were there, and we all worked hard until 2 :30. I came home very
very tired, but 0! so happy! On my way home-it was only about
four blocks from my house-I heard in my innermost soul these
words-

May God's Love now hover o'er us
As a dove with outstretched wings,
While His Peace that flows around us,
To each heart sweet comfort brings;
May we now receive His Spirit,
And Its radiance shed afar;
Now and here in Love abiding-
In the realms of El-Abha.

The music-tender and beautiful-came with it. I hastened home
and sat down to my piano entranced. 0! if you dearly loved one
could have heard and felt what I did then. I pray God that I have
caught . enough of that marvelous essence and held it fast in this
Benediction, that I may share my joy with all mankind. I felt and
spiritually saw that blessed white Dove actually hovering over me,
pure, white, and glistening, and the Spirit of Peace that emanated
from it fell in heavenly showers upon me. I lost Louise Waite
forever. I was baptized with a New Name and I sailed out upon a
ocean of Peace, Love and Life, and exquisite Harmony and
Melody and my White Dove was still with me and also Abdul
Baha's tender words: "I pray God to make thee a sign of Love, a
standard of agreement, a means of Harmony and a spreader of
Peace amongst all peoples" [from 'Abdu'l-Baha's first Tablet to
Waite in 1902]. Surely those who hear or sing this Benediction
must feel in a measure what I so blissfully felt, and feel the
PRESENCE that seemed to be with me as I played it over and
over. To me every note tells a wondrous story of LOVE and
Early Devotions 57

PEACE and the ecstatic Joy of the in taking of the Holy Spirit
with all Its "quickening Powers"-which is LIFE.36

By 191 1 , Waite had added a " Prelude " to the "Benedic-'
tion" which was intended for solo performance, with all
present then joining in on the "Benediction" itself. As well as
being available in Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise, "Benedic­
tion" was available until the 1930s in sheet form (with or
without the " Prelude " in the later years).
During the nineteenth century it had become accepted for
women to compose hymns and sentimental ballads. However,
they were more likely to compose texts than music. Ammer
notes that for a collection of hymns by women published in
1885, 2,500 hymn texts were gathered representing more
than 820 authors. At the last moment, it was decided to in­
clude music, and tunes by 52 women were gathered. The
compiler stated that, given more time, she could probably
have found more m,usic by women. 37 The implication from the
background to this volume, that to find music by women you
had to search but to find texts was easy, is evident.
Waite grew up at a time when it was not exceptional for a
middle-class American woman to write verse, but for her to
write music was much more so. It was taken for granted that
the young Waite should play the piano and sing, but regarded
as unnecessary for her to be musically literate. The inade­
quacy of her musical education undoubtedly limited the pro­
ductiveness of Waite's career, particularly after 1915, when
she was increasingly unable to have her work transcribed. In­
deed, that much of her later work is in blank verse and other
nonmusical forms cannot be unrelated to the frustration she
must have felt at not being able to have her songs properly
recorded.
Waite's financial difficulties also circumscribed the devel­
opment of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise. Although she
58 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

was able to issue a few of her other songs as sheet music (e.g. ,
" Song of the Covenant" and " Song of Thanksgiving, " which
were both written in 1912, the former at the express request
of 'Abdu'l-Baha), she was not able to issue a further expanded
edition of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise that would include
songs written after ' 'Anthem of All Nations' ' as she wished to
do.
Waite continued to write songs into the 1930s. Sometimes
she compensated for her inability to have new music written
by writing new texts to her published tunes or to other hymn
tunes. She also was able to have the words of some new songs
printed. However, as none of these newer songs made it into
the covers of ' 'the Bahai hymns, ' ' their penetration of the life
of the community was relatively slight. Of the hymns that
were in Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise, some of them be­
came so well known that they could be sung, with or without
books, by Baha'is who spoke English anywhere in the world.
Numbers of Baha'is were familiar with them in other lan­
guages, too. The best known of these songs assumed almost a
folk quality from their ubiquity, as to many they seemed sim­
ply a part of Baha'i life. They were an important element in
producing a feeling of Baha'i cultural identity in North Amer­
ica and of affinity between North American Baha'is and those
they visited in other Baha'i communities overseas.
�
g�
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e:.

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!!'

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F

THE NAW-RUZ CELEBRATION IN 1 909
held at the first Bahai Temple Unity Convention. Standing at the back are the members
Choral Society.
CHAPTER THREE

BAHA'I HYMNODY IN
COMMUNITY LIFE

THE ABSORPTION OF WAITE'S HYMNS INTO BAHA'i
COMMUNITY LIFE

The Chicago House of Spirituality had published its Songs
of Prayer and Praise in 1903 just as Waite was beginning to
write hymns. The House's selection remained in use, but it
was gradually supplemented by copies of Waite 's hymns
which were being circulated in duplicated form (by the same
distribution network as copies of tablets and other items of
interest) with words only. Although Waite's music was not in­
cluded with the first circulated copies of her hymns, assis­
tance was given occasionally for using them by mentioning
well-known tunes that would fit. Thus, on a sheet that must
date from early 1903: the words of " His glorious Sun has
Risen" are given with a note that the tunes of "Jerusalem the
Golden" or "Greenland's Icy Mountains" may be used. The
first of Waite's hymns to be available with its music was prob­
ably "Great Day of God, " which appeared as sheet music in
1905.

62 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

The selection of nine hymns and a doxology in Songs of
Prayer and Praise must have soon seemed rather limited, and
other Christian hymns were used as ,well as the new hymns by
Waite. An example of how songs from these three sources
were used is the program for the Baha'f funeral of Mrs. Good­
ale in 1905. The singing consisted of two hymns from Songs of
Prayer and Praise ( "Sun of My Soul" and "Nearer My God to
Thee"), another Christian hymn ("Lead Kindly Light"), and a
"Requiem" hymn especially written by Waite for the occa­
sion to the tune of "All Through the Night . " 1 The music
sung at meetings could also be varied by the inclusion of solo
pieces, usually in the middle of the program.
The desire for a wider selection of hymns was presumably
behind the adoption of Brewer 's Edition of Sacred Songs and
Hymns (1905) by the Chicago community in 1907 as a replace­
ment for the 1903 selection. A copy of Brewer survives which
has been imprinted with "The Bahai Assembly" on the front
and back covers and which has emendations in Chase's hand
to some of the hymn texts. 2 There also survive a few scraps of
paper on which Chase scribbled the programs of three Sun­
day community meetings he chaired in 1906 and 1907.3 On 23
September 1906, Songs of Prayer and Praise was still being
used, as Chase uses numbers from it to identify the hymns be­
ing sung (as he had done on the program for Goodale's
funeral). In the notes of the programs for 26 October and 3
November 1907, the hymns are listed by title and page num­
ber, and these correspond to the contents of Brewer.
That Brewer had been adopted by late 1907 as the Chicago
community hymn book is confirmed by entries in the minutes
of the Spokane, Washington, Assembly. These record that
on 13 December 1907, "The Bahai Hymnals which brother
Lehman brought from Chicago to the Assembly were used for
the first time. " In a number of subsequent entries over the
next few months, the titles of the hymns sung at meeting are
Bahd 'i Hymnody 63

given. All the titles mentioned are hymns included in Brewer,
not all are in Songs of Prayer and Praise, so the former must
be the book brought from Chicago by Lehman as a ' 'Bahai
Hymnal. "4
The Brewer selection, however, was shortly to be displaced
in both Chicago and Spokane by Waite' s Bahai Hymns of
Peace and Praise. After its publication, which was probably in
mid-June 1908, this booklet spread quickly around the coun­
try. The Spokane community began using it on 10 July 1908,
and seems to have used it exclusively thereafter, as the
hymns used at meetings in subsequent months are all from
Waite's booklet.5 The Kenosha, Wisconsin, community took
delivery of five dozen of the booklets for their use by the end
of July 1908. 6
As little research has been done on the life of most Baha'f
communities in the early years of this century, I have had to
rely on the uneven availability of early minute books and
accounts of meetings in correspondence to attempt an assess­
ment of how quickly Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise pene­
trated general community life on a national scale. Another
difficulty is that in some cases those aspects of meetings that
were considered so normal as to be taken for granted were
not necessarily recorded in the minutes . Some community
secretaries scrupulously recorded the details of meetings;
others used general terms like "singing, " "a hymn, " "scrip­
ture" ; and others simply noted that "the usual service" was
held. Thus, although mention of Bahai Hymns of Peace and
Praise or hymn titles from it confirms its use, lack of mention
does not confirm that it was not used. For example, the min­
utes of the Portland, Oregon, community do not give much
detail of their meetings and do not mention hymns or singing
more than five times between November 1906 and May 1910.
However, on 19 May 1910, it was noted that "There is left
only 2 Hymn books-40¢ . ' ' So, although there is no record in
64 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

their minutes of the books arriving or being used, the mem­
bers of the Portland community had been buying them and
presumably were using them. 7
The amount of material currently available on the various
early communities is too incomplete to draw firm conclusions
about how quickly Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise was ab­
sorbed into community life nationally. That the booklet went
through so many editions proves its general appeal and subse­
quent availability to have been considerable. The question is
how to distinguish between individual ownership of it in par­
ticular places and its integration into community practice in
those same places. It seems that the booklet was almost im­
mediately integrated into community life in the Midwest and
probably to some extent in the Northwest (information on the
latter area is much less complete). By 19 10, it was being used
as far west as Honolulu. 8
The widespread acceptance and use of Bahai Hymns of
Peace and Praise by communities on the East Coast seems to
have been delayed. There were individuals in New York, for
example, who corresponded with ' Waite and praised her
work; but when the Bahai Temple Unity Convention was held
there in 1913, the song sheet printed for use at its meetings
had the words of three Christian hymns: "Joy to the World, "
"Nearer My God to Thee, " and "Blest Be the Tie that
Binds. " The first was under the rubric, " INCARNATION AND
ADVENT, ' ' and the second and third were each headed ' ' THE
CHRISTIAN LIFE. ' ' Significantly, the words of the third hymn
begin in the standard way, "Blest be the tie that binds/ Our
hearts in Christian love . " In Chicago, from the time of the
1903 hymn book this had been altered to "in holy love. "
Waite's "Great Day of God" was also sung at this conven­
tion, 9 but this is one of her universal songs rather than a spe­
cifically Baha'f one. The New York community had been
accustomed to use Christian hymns at its public meetings. It
is possible that with their ties to churches in the city some of
Bahd '{ Hymnody 65

the New York community were not entirely comfortable with
Waite's explicitly Baha'f hymns. 10
In Jersey City, New Jersey, meetings opened and closed
with devotional exercises, including singing, from 1908 to
1910, but what they sang is not recorded. 1 1 Accounts of meet­
ings in Washington, D.C., do not often mention hymn singing
of any kind , but by 1910 Waite's hymns were being used. 12
The "Form of Meeting" adopted in 1909 by the Baltimore
community, which had close links with the Washington com­
munity, does not mention singing at all. 13
In Chicago, Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise had com­
pletely displaced the use of Christian hymns by 1910. Waite,
however, tried to encourage the continued use of suitable
Christian hymns along with her own:

Friday night [ 1 1 March 1910], Mr. Windust, in a most beautiful
spirit, brought up the subject of singing the old hymns with the
Bahai hymns. It was discussed but no definite resolution made. I
sat silently and heard it all, not a vibration was there in my heart
save the thought of "THY WILL BE DONE. " I felt two hymn
books did not express unity, but other than this, there was no
J.'-''-UUJ�. or desire save HIS WILL in my heart. If, as the mother of

those hymns, I loved my child, I had, like Abraham, laid it on the
altar of GOD'S WILL. All must be sacrificed in His Cause, even
the spirit of man.
Saturday morning, while working out a thought for my lesson
[for the following day's community meeting], I was directed by
the Spirit to the Tablet on page 90, beginning-"0 maid servant
of God! know thou that in the sight of God the conduct of women
is the same as the men-The nearer we draw to God, the nearer
comes to us. "
. . . . as I wrote the words- "the nearer we draw to God, the
nearer He comes to said aloud-this is the real "Nearer
My God to Thee. " Then I realized that it was Abdul Baha's
vorite hymn, and by His request, Mr. Kinney had sung it in the
Holy Tomb, at the Holy Threshold of Oneness.
66 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

I dropped all and ran to my piano and I played an arrangement
of my own, which my dear Mother had so many times had me
play for her; one I have not thought of for over 9 years. A love for
our old hymns swept over me; I took my precious hymn book
[given to her in 1880 by her mother] and ran it through. Sing the
old hymns? Yea, indeed sing the old hymns as never before! Sing
with hearts overflowing with the joy of certainty! Sing the old and
new! Let them join hahds and stand before the altar of Oneness,
in Unity and Love, and so resurrect them, for this is the great day
of resurrection of all things. So I came down to the hall [on Sun­
day] with our purple covered hymn book [Brewer, 1905] in my
hands and I opened the Service with playing "Nearer My God to
Thee" and I was back again in the Holy Tomb and then the Ser­
vice was closed by all singing one verse of this glorious hymn. . ..

Now, I also ask with all my heart, soul and spirit that our old
hymns be sung again; Sung with our spiritual eyes and ears and
mouths opened, and singing forth His Glorious Praises from
whatever book we open, having the single eye, which giveth light
to the whol� body. 14

There was a further attempt to encourage the use of suita­
ble Christian hymns along with Waite's songs with the re­
issue <:>f Songs of Prayer and Praise in 1912. This edition
included the previous nine hymns and doxology and added to
them five popular pieces by Waite:

His glorious Sun has Risen
Tell the Wondrous Story
Great Day of God
Temple Song
Benediction

These added songs were not printed directly from Waite's
plates, as this booklet had a smaller page size than Bahai
Hymns of Peace and Praise, and s� the music had to be
reduced. The only song by Waite that was added that did not
Bahd '( Hymnody 67

come from her booklet was "Temple S ong, " which she had
written for the Bahai Temple Unity Convention of 1910.
This expanded reprint of Songs of Prayer and Praise does
not seem to have been a great success. The edition size is not
known, but it would seem probable that it was 1 , 000 copies,
as the editions of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise seem to
have been. At any rate, by 1923 there were still 800 copies
unsold. 15
The Christian hymns retained in the 1 9 12 revision of Songs
ofPrayer and Praise probably appealed to many individual Ba­
ha'is and communities, but they were all readily available
elsewhere and the selection was still as small as in 1903. We
have already seen that the 1903 selection had been replaced
by Brewer to give the Chicago community more choice. As to
the Baha'i hymns included, they were also too few, and such
general favorites as " Softly His Voice is Calling" were omit­
ted. The collection, therefore, addressed an issue rather than
a market. In respect of the issue, communities continued to
sing Christian hymns, Baha'i hymns, or any mixture of the
two they pleased. The new edition of Songs of Prayer and
Praise was neither necessary nor adequate to assist them.
By the early 1920s, the use of Waite' s hymns had become a
feature of the socialization of Baha'i children. Waite had writ­
ten "Softly His Voice is Calling" and "Tell the Wondrous
Story" for the Baha'i children's classes of Chicago in late
1907. Most communities with children organized special ac­
tivities for them from fairly early on. When 'Abdu'l-Baha
visited North America in 1912, he met with children's groups
in Washington, D.C . , Chicago, and Oakland, California. On
each occasion the children sang ' 'Softly His Voice is Calling. ' '
From 1919, Baha'i children's activities became more na­
tionally coordinated through the efforts of Victoria Bedikian
and Ella Robarts. Bedikian organized a loosely affiliated na­
tional and international network of children's "Gardens. "
68 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

These were mostly operated by Baha'is, but some were run
by others and they all were open to Baha'i and non-Baha'i
children. Bedikian herself was particularly concerned with
the needs of children from deprived backgrounds. She or­
ganized these Gardens through her mammoth correspon­
dences and was generally known to their participants, and to
most Baha'is, as Auntie Victoria. She also produced a con­
siderable quantity of printed matter: poems, illustrations with
and without text, of various sizes, and a number of magazines
under various names in the 1920s.
Robarts began organizing her "Bahai Juniors" activities in
1919. In the same year she began publication of The Maga­
zine of the Children of the Kingdom , which she continued un­
til 1924. A large part of each issue consisted of accounts of
Baha'i children's activities, often written by the children them­
selves. Waite wrote for both Robarts' and Bedikian's maga­
zines, contributing stories, poems, and even an occasional
song. The main influence Waite had on children's activities,
though, was through Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise, whose
integration into the socialization of Baha'i children is recorded
in Robarts' corresponaence, from which she drew the items
for her magazine.
In May 1920, Robarts received a typical request from a
young woman who was beginning a children's class: "I also
would like to be able to get some children's songs, I mean Ba­
hai hymns. I think singing is very essential in working with
the little ones. " 1 6 It seems to have been through the answer­
ing of such requests that Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise en­
tered fully into the life of those communities, especially those
more recently founded, which had not yet adopted it.
Another woman wrote to Robarts about her community's
plans for children's classes: " . . . we of course will lay out
different plans to amuse them and keep their interest, beside
teaching them some of the beautiful hymns . . . . We are now
teaching them, 'Softly His Voice is Calling. ' " 17 Indeed, teach-
Baha 'i Hymnody 69

ing the children the Baha'f hymns was often the first suitable
activity that came to mind.
" Softly His Voice is Calling" continued to be the favorite
piece for children, but other songs were also taught. In
November 192 1 , Frances Olds (age 13) of Oma:ha, Nebraska,
wrote to Robarts that her community had celebrated the
Birthday of Baha'u'llah, and "Softly His Voice is Calling" had
been included in the program. In the Kenosha, Wisconsin,
community what the children had learned in their classes was
featured at the community's holy day celebrations. At Naw­
Rtlz 192 1 :

The evening was mostly devoted t o the children with speaking,
music & reading. At the end of the program Parveen Bagdadi [a
child] of Chicago chanted for us. There were Bahais from Chicago
& Racine. In all about 74 were present. The meeting was closed
with the Benediction. After which refreshments were served. 18

Later that year, the children had a program for ' 'Abdul
Baha' s Day" (Day of the Covenant). This program included
Waite's first song, "If Ye Seek Me, " sung by the "Bahai Jun­
iors, " and later "Softly His Voice is Calling, " sung by the
"Little Juniors. " At Naw-Rtlz 1922, the Kenosha Juniors also
sang two songs. The "big Juniors" sang " Sweet Peace, " and
the "small Juniors" sang " Softly His Voice is Calling"
again. 1 9
In Geyserville, California, the community met on 7 January
1922, for the memorial meeting held in each community forty
days after the death of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Lawrence Tomlinson (a
child) played "Softly His Voice is Calling" on the violin. His
mother noted that he was then learning the ' 'Benediction. ' ' 20
Lawrence's endeavors must have been successful, as he
played the "Benediction" at the Geyserville Naw-Rtlz cele­
bration that March. Mildred Meyer ' 'played the Bahai songs
on the piano, " and, Mrs. Tomlinson noted, "It makes one
70 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

happy to see the Juniors active in the Cause. "2 1 At the "Rain­
bow Sunday School" held for the Geyserville children, Mrs.
Tomlinson also noted, "Lawrence plays the Bahai hymns on
his violin and the children sing them. "22
Amelia Collins of Pasadena, California, taught ' 'three beau­
tiful little girls in the morning-to see them hold the sheet and
sing from it ' Softly His voice' and two of them cannot read is
heavenly. " She also remarked that before she left for pilgrim­
age in early 1923, "Little Jane McGee of 4 as a present to me
learned the first verse of the Softly His voice is calling and the
older sister of 7 taught it to her-that being her gift to me. "23
By the mid-1920s, the place of Waite's hymns in the life of
the community had been considerably reinforced by this inclu­
sion in the national effort to socialize Baha' f children to a com­
mon standard. Here is one last quote from "Charlotte, " who
wrote to Bedikian, "I am a little girl nine years old and belong
to the Garden of Favor. I have been)earning Baha' i prayers,
the Benediction, and 'Softly His Voice is Calling Me. ' ' '24
The influence of both Bedikian and Robarts spread beyond
North America. Bedikian's Gardens were organized in many
countries and Robarts' magazine circulated among Baha'fs in
Europe, the Middle East, and as far away as Australia. A girl
reporting on "the Bahai Children's Festival" at Esslingen,
Germany, held in March 192 1 , noted that Fraulein Stabler
sang "this is the day of fulfilment" (Waite's "Song of the
Covenant"), showing that at least this one of Waite's post­
Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise compositions became known
in Germany. 25 There is an account of a later meeting at Ess­
lingen in April 1930 at which a "litte girl recited the 'Benedic­
tion. ' ' ' Her recitation is retranslated from the German in the
report with charming naivety: ' 'May God's Spirit be upon us,
as a white dove, His Peace gladden · our hearts, and our faith
be strong. How great is His Love, His aid so near. We feel
ourselves in God's Lap in the Kingdom of El-Abha. "26
The degree to which Waite's hymns had entered the con-
Baha 'i Hymnody 71

sciousness of the. North American Baha'f community by the·
mid-1920s may be demonstrated by an incident that occurred
during the 1926 national convention. On the afternoon of 30
April discussion became a little heated and the convention
chariman, Roy Wilhelm, made the following remarks:

I am going to ask Mrs. Waite to play one of the Baha'i songs so
we can all sing. We have some energy here that is pushing pretty
strong and I think we had better run off a little static. (Laughter)
(At this point the delegates and friends joined in singing "Softly
His Voice is Calling" accompanied by Mrs. Waite on the piano.)27

Waite's songs acted as a unifying force and a reminder of
their ultimate concerns to those attending Baha'f meetings.
As with the children, adults around the world used Waite' s
compositions. One of the first Baha'f communities outside
North America to adopt her work was that in Iran. The words
of Waite's first explicitly Baha' f song, "The Greatest Name, "
which she had sent to 'Abdu'l-Baha, were translated into Per­
sian on His instructions and were circulating in the Eastern
Baha'f community by early 1903. 'Abdu'l-Baha continued to
have Waite's hymns (and those of the few other Western Ba­
ha'fs who wrote them) translated and circulated, using distin­
guished Persian Baha'f poets to recast the rough translations
from English. The circulation and use of such translations
meant a great deal to the Eastern community, as it was tangi­
ble proof to them that the Faith had taken root in the West.
The general reaction may be represented by a letter from the
Baha'i community of Benah in Azerbaijan to Chicago in 1 906:

. . . the pamphlets and the books written by the American be­
lievers ought to be sent to Persia and the works and writings of
Persian believers be forwarded to America. · To carry out this no­
ble plan will be conducive to great attraction of hearts and the en­
kindlement of souls. Therefore, in these days, the verses which
were written by the maid-servant of God, Louise Spencer [Waite],
72 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

(Upon her be Beha-Ullah-El-Abha) were sent to Teheran, and our
beloved Lord Abdul-Beha (May our lives be a sacrifice to Him!)
has commanded the believers to translate them and forward them
to all the assemblies. After its translation their honors, Niar and
Sina (two Persian teachers who are eminent poets [translators
note]) have rendered it into Persian poetry, and forwarded a copy
of it to Benah (Azerbeyjan [translator's note]) all read it in the As­
sembly of Benah, with great joy and happiness and invoke confir­
mation and assistance from the Center of Oneness for the
maid-servant of God, Louise Spencer. Through this Bounty the
believ�rs became more attracted, more ignited, and they have
found a new life and they thanked God that the Sun of the True
Knowledge has dawned from the West and the shining Luminary
appeared from the Horizon of the East and has burned the dark
veils of the people of the Occident.28

The translation of Waite's "The Greatest Name" remained
in use in the Eastern community for some years. In 1916,
Moody noted that as part of the program at the first annual
examinations of the religious classes for the girls of the Baha'i
community in Tehran it was chanted by the teachers and assis­
tant teachers, with the girls joining in the refrain. 29 Moody's
correspondence during her many years in Iran often mentions
the use of Waite's hymns.
One of the areas in which a culturally Persian Baha'i com­
munity exi�ted outside Iran was India, and there, too, Waite's
hymns became familiar. In 1920, Martha Root wrote to Waite,
' ' Did I tell you about the Irani children in Poona, India, sing­
ing your beautiful Baha'i hymns? It was so sweet to hear them
singing in English your songs in that far-away land. " 30 On 26
February 1939, the devotional program to end a Baha'i Youth
Symposium meeting in Poona included "Benediction. " 3 1
Waite's hymns were used in the Eastern community in
three different ways : in English with the original tunes; in
Persian translation with the original tune; and in Persian
translation chanted in traditional style. The most versatile use
Bahd '£ Hymnody 73

of them seems to have been by the Baha' i students at the col­
lege (now American University) in Beirut. They used them in
all three ways, and there are a number of references in vari­
ous individuals' correspondence to their "glee club " . These
students were in Egypt in the autumn of 1913:

At six o'clock we went to the house of Hadji Khorassani, where a
large room was filled with turbaned brothers. Mrs. Stannard, my-
self and Miss an American believer who is now living in
Egypt, were their The boys from the College at Beirut
formed a glee club and they sang the Bahai songs with a dash and
earnestness which I have never heard before, with the possible
exception of the way our American children sometimes "On­
ward Christian soldiers. " They are the songs of Mrs. Waite of
Chicago, translated into Persian by .two of the best poets of Tehe­
ran and sung to the American music. It was beautiful. 32

In 1915, the students spent their summer in Haifa, despite
the occasional bombardment of parts of the town by naval
vessels:

1 Not a day passes that your hymns are not sung by the stu-
dents and myself. Every night the sacred quiet atmosphere of Mt.
Carmel brings back the distinct echo of your songs, and
you, as the creator and composer of these immortal songs, are liv-
in our hearts and spirits . . . . How wonderful it is that God has
you this Divine Gift, and through your musical you
have united the of the Eastern and Western friends. I have
learned the Persian setting of several of these hymns and when I
am in America I will sing them to you and you will be glad, be­
cause the hymns are translated into Persian by two of the most
celebrated poets of Teheran-Nayai and Sina-and they are beau­
tiful and thrilling. Some of them have become most popular and
every little child sings them, or as he walks along whistles them.
Especially are they very beautiful when they are sung in chorus.
They move the hearts of all the listeners. 33
74 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

Among that group of students in Haifa in 1915 was Shoghi
Effendi. Not only the students but the children living in
'Abdu'l-Baha's household were well acquainted with Waite's
songs:

We were three weeks in Haifa. The little children of the Holy
Family and of the believers have learned Mrs. Waite's songs,
translated into Persian, and in the evening when the believers
1 gather, these little ones sit down on the divan, all anxious to be

called upon in turn to sing these songs. 34

Lua Getsinger wrote to Waite, "You are lovingly remem­
bered and spoken of in the Land of Desire [the Holy Land].
The little children here sing your heartfelt ·songs in the
Presence of the Glorious Beloved [ 'Abdu'l-Baha]-what more
can you desire?' '35
Waite's reputation among the Eastern community was con­
siderable. Fuad Rouhani of Tehran (who was the grandson of
Tayere Khanum, a leader of the Baha'f women in Tehran and
a poet who had corresponded with Waite before her death in
1911) wrote to Waite iti 1925:

Of course I had heard of you so very often before (there is no Ba­
hai who has not) . . . . My mother tells me a great deal about you
the letters you used to write to my grandmother (when I was
only a little boy), and of the Bahai literature you used to send her.
To my utmost happiness, a few typed copies of your Bahai hymns
and songs, as well as some letters were found among my grand­
mother's papers, and I have kept them as a valuable treasure.
How proud we all are of such precious souls as you, to whom all
the friends owe so much!36

Jenabe Fazel, an eminent Baha'f teacher of international re­
pute, wrote of his expectation of meeting Waite on a visit to
North America: ' 'We have heard your melody when we were
Bahd 'f Hymnody 75

in the East, and we were anxious to see the nightingale of
Abdul-Baha, who is enchanted and enraptured in His love. " 37
In Europe, Waite' s hymns were sung in English, German,
and Esperanto in Germany. In England and Scotland they
were sung in English and occasionally in Esperanto. In 1913,
Lady Blomfield wrote to Waite (after apologizing for her
previous letters to Waite being lost with the Titanic!): "One
was to thank you for the delightful Bahai Music, which we so
greatly appreciate . . . We often sing your hymns and Bene­
diction at the gatherings. " 38
In 1924, an Australian Baha'i, Amy Florence Wilkins,
visited London to attend the Conference of Some Living Reli­
gions Within the British Empire. This conference was or­
ganized by the School of Oriental Studies and the Sociological
Society in conjunction with the British Empire Exhibition at
Wembley and lasted from 22 September to 3 October. The
conference itself was held at the Imperial Institute in South
Kensington. Two Baha'i papers were presented at the confer­
ence on 25 September. The London Baha'is also organized
various other associated events. One of these was a meeting
at the home of Mrs. George on 28 September. This meeting
began with tea, and there was a devotional program before a
number of talks. The devotional program was described by
Wilkins: ' ' Mter a short time of silence we had several
prayers, and then a little girl repeated with great reverence
the wonderful prayer for healing the sick. Hymns were sung
from the Bahai selection. ' ' 39
In Australia itself Waite' s hymns were also known. In 193 1 ,
Keith Ranson-Kehler (an American Baha' i who was touring
the world visiting Baha' i communities) wrote from Sydney:
" Shahnaz, it would warm your sweet and sensitive heart to
hear the Friends here singing your hymns: they make a great
feature of them, and there is not only congregational singing
but always a good soloist to sing one at each meeting. "40
76 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

In the early 1920s, Waite's hymns were becoming known to
the small Baha'f community in Japan. In 1920, Ida Finch
wrote from Tokyo, " Mr Kubotu will be very happy to have
your permission to translate your beautiful hymns. ' ' She then
noted that Waite's hymns were being used by Japanese stu­
dent friends of hers, and ' 'I thank you on their behalf for the
privilege of having them translated into the language which is
most familiar to them. "4 1 In the same year, Agnes Alexander
wrote to Waite from Tokyo, "I have sung the Esperanto
Benediction hymn and think it wonderful. "42 In 192 1 , a
Japanese friend wrote to Finch, ' 'I have with thousand thanks
received a Bahai Hymn Book along with your letter. "43
To conclude this discussion of the absorption of Waite's
songs into Baha'f community life, I will consider once more
her "Benediction. " Waite's description of receiving this song
which was quoted above was written to Isabella Brittingham.
Brittingham replied, ' 'The Benediction is very beautiful and
will go down through time as the Experience of His Presence
when His Convention was ended (outwardly) in Chicago. " 44
Shortly after receiving the song, Waite sent a copy of the
words to Mary MacNutt in Brooklyn. MacNutt commented,
' 'The Benedicti@n you wrote is beautiful. I copied it and will
give it to the dear ones here. " 45
Within a short time, it was no longer necessary to copy the
"Benediction, " as it was available in sheet form with its
music. This first sheet edition is immediately identifiable, as
it is the only one that does not have 'Abdu'l-Baha's comment,
' 'Sing this melody in all gatherings of Love and Harmony of
the beloved of God, ' ' printed beneath the title. He wrote this
comment on a copy of the first edition which Waite showed
him in Haifa in October 1909. The translation was made at
Waite's request immediately after that interview by his
daughter Monever Khanum. When Waite returned from her
pilgrimage, she found that 'Abdu'l-Baha had written about
the ' 'Benediction' ' to the Chicago House of Spirituality:
Baha 'i Hymnody 77

The song and anthem that Louise R. Waite raised in the Assem­
bly of the Unity of Bahais reached to the ears of the people of the
Kingdom. It bestowed joy and fragrance upon the spritual ones.
J ask God that this song may be sung eternally and this melody
and anthem become everlasting.

The immediate and continued response of the Baha'f com­
munity to the ' 'Benediction' ' was extraordinary. It evidently
struck exactly the right devotional note for most Baha'is of
the time. It is out of the question to list here any significant
number of the thousands of occasions on which the "Benedic­
tion" was sung. I will but recount a few of the reactions to it,
beginning with two middle-class Scottish women. Possibly in
early 1913, Isabella Mears of Edinburgh was in London for
only one day, a day that a Nineteen-Day Feast was being held:

In the beginning and at the end they sang the "Benediction. "
During the meeting one could the Presence of the Benedic­
tion, which filled the hearts of the congregation. It penetrated the
whole assembly; it went out from the words of the speaker; it en­
tered the thoughts of the listeners and bound us into one strong
brotherhood. Afterwards when my friend and I were waiting for
the leaving time at the great animated depot, we were still fully
conscious of the Presence of the Benediction. The Benediction
came home with me-it remains with me even now.46

Mears was president of the Edinburgh Esperanto Society,
and she translated the "Benediction" into Esperanto. The
story is taken up by Mears' friend, Agnes Sitkin, who wrote
to Waite:

I procured your address from my friend Miss Marion Jack of Lon­
don that I might write and try to give you some idea of what your
most beautiful Benediction has been and still shall be to us in
Edinburgh . . . . We have used it every Sunday at our Bahai meet­
ings and I have just finished a most refreshing time in Retreat at
78 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

Rhodes-Wallace School near Edinburgh where all the members of
groups were so fond of it. Mrs. Wallace asked me to play it daily
and at all times of worship. Personally it is to me much more than
I can express. Mrs. Wallace also feels as I do that it is the charm­
ing obligato that sings all day in our hearts.
Then my friend Mrs. Mears at whose house the Bahai meetings
are held has put it into esperanto, of which I am sending you a
copy. Mrs. Mears has greatly enjoyed doing it and she would like
to have some printed copies, perhaps double sheets, on one side
music and English words, and on the other side the Esperanto.
Our Edinburgh Esperanto Soc. wish copies. Now how is this to
be accomplished do you think. Of course it is for the spread of the
good Cause alone and to supply the demand for copies. We have
written copies of the words for meetings but people wish the
music too. Will you kindly let me know your mind on the sul'>ject;
and of any question of copyright.
With much love and joyous gratitude to the happy composer of
such pure and soul refreshing music. 47

In order to make the "Benediction" even more readily usa­
ble by the community, Waite had a phonograph recording
made of it in late 1923. One side of the record had the "Pre­
lude" and "Benediction" sung by Ragna Linne with Waite at
the piano. There was also a violin obligato by Carl Hatch, but
this is so faint on the recording (at least on the copy I have
heard) as to be practically inaudible. The other side of the rec­
ord had Waite playing the music (with the subliminal violin) in
order "that the friends can use her record to accompany them­
selves in singing. " The record was available for $ 1 . 00 a copy
and half of the proceeds were to go to the Temple Fund. 48
In 1929, E.A. Rogers wrote to Waite of his reaction to hear­
ing ' 'Benediction. ' ' Rogers was president of the Montezuma
Mountain School for Boys in Los Gatos, California, which was
a somewhat "advanced" boarding school. He was one of
those who in the 1920s associated with Baha'is and would
Baha 'i Hymnody 79

even call themselves Baha' is, but who were more Baha'is by
some ethical or social sympathy with the principles of the
Faith than Baha'fs by faith. By the definitions of later de­
cades, most of these people would be considered friendly to
the Faith rather than Baha'is as such. Rogers disassociated
himself from Baha'f identification with some ascerbity in the
early 1930s, after Shoghi Effendi insisted that Baha'is abstain
from involvement with party politics. Rogers reaction to the
"Benediction" is of interest because his was a largely social
and political conception of the relevance of the Baha'i Faith:

I want to tell you of my personal impressions of ' 'Benediction. ' '
When you first played i t for us, I was moved t o tears. I felt my
mother very near. She seemed to be able to nearer because of
the vibrations of the music.
Since then my secretary has played it twice for me. It carried
me out into the great spaces, nearer to God.
It is not written for time or space. It is the everlasting dance
music for the eternal electrons themselves , and helps them find
their way.
Thank you so much for sending all this beautiful music to us. I
so enjoyed the poem too. Come when you can to visit us. I
remember you with joy. 49

The ' 'Benediction' ' did not appeal only to Baha'is and those
who sympathized with the Faith. As with the friends of Mears
and Sitkin in Edinburgh, it would seem that it resonated with
general devotional taste. This appears to be true even for
the music alone. Waite recounted this experience of her
husband's:

Just last week Edgar went to tune a piano for an old lady, he had
not been there for a year. After he had finished the tuning, he
played a bit, just improvised. The old lady said, won't you play
that beautiful piece you played for me when you were last here,
80 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

you said Mrs. Waite composed it. I forget the name, but it was
heavenly. Edgar said, was it the Benediction? and he began play­
ing it. Oh yes, she exclaimed, that is it, I think it is the most beau­
tiful thing I ever heard, it brings such a wonderful peace into my
heart. 5°

In both their words and music, Waite 's songs provided ex­
actly what most of the Baha'i community in North America
and overseas ·wanted for their community devotions. Both the
number of copies of her works bought and the myriad of writ­
ten references to their use testify to the approval and accep­
tance of her songs by the majority of the Baha'i community.

OTHER BAHA'f HYMNODISTS

Although Waite's work was the most influential in the de­
velopment of early North American Baha'i devotions, there
were others within the community producing songs. A num­
ber of early Baha'is wrote songs, and those who sent them to
'Abdu'l-Baha were encouraged to make them available to the
community and to write more. Despite this encouragment,
few, apart from Waite, did produce any extended body of
work; and most of those Baha'is who were professional, or at
least accomplished, musical performers tended to concentrate
on the performance of materials from their general repertoire
at Baha'i events rather than participate in the development of
a specifically Baha'i repertoire. It is worth discussing, how­
ever, such information as is available about some of those
who did produce new material and the occasions of its use.
Given her educational and professional background, one of
the most potentially interesting people for the development of
Baha'i devotional music was Charlotte Gillen. That her work
did not have more influence was probably due to the relative
geographical isolation of the Seattle Baha'i community for
which she produced it.
Baha 'i Hymnody 81

Gillen was born on 10 July 1869, in Springfield, Ohio, and
as a child attended the United Lutheran church. She studied
music from the age of eight, and began to teach professionally
at the age of twelve. She studied at Boston Conservatory, and
then headed the music department at Stetson University in
Deland, Florida. At this time she also directed the choirs and
played organ for the local Baptist and Presbyterian churches.
In 1894, she married Richard Gillen, M.D. They had a daugh­
ter Evelyn June, and in 1901 moved to Seattle, Washington,
where Gillen opened the Seattle School of Music. Gillen be­
came a Baha'I in 1 907, hearing of the Faith through Ida
Finch, who had been taught by Isabella Brittingham. In 1912,
Gillen and her daughter went to Chicago to meet 'Abdu'l­
Baha and were present at the dedication by him of the site for
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Shortly after the death of her hus­
band in 1916, Gillen moved to the village of Chelan, Washing­
ton, where she lived until 1944, there running an apple orchard
and playing the organ in the local Roman Catholic and Epis­
copal churches each Sunday. Gillen visited Chicago and the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 1942, and in 1944 she sold her orchard,
attended the Baha'f Centenary celebrations and the dedica­
tion of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette, and then embarked
on a five-year tour of the United States teaching the Faith. In
1950, she moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where, at the age of
8 1 , she enrolled at the University of Wyoming to assist in es­
tablishing a Baha'I club there. She was present at the 1953
dedication in Wilmette, and in 1959 she moved to Alaska to
help teach the Faith there. After somewhat more than a year
there, Gillen returned to Washington, where she died in Seat­
tle on 25 May 1962.51
As to Gillen's musical contributions to the Baha'I Faith, she
recorded on her historical record card in the mid-1930s that
she "Invented first chants to Bahai prayers and Greatest
Name for Seattle believers. " Unfortunately, there is little in­
formation currently available about the early Seattle Baha'f
82 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

community and its devotional practices, and it is unknown
how many pieces Gillen may have written for it or to what ex­
tent they were used. There is no indication of their having
·

been used outside Seattle.
The only music of Gillen's which is available is an undated
setting of the Greatest Name. 52 This piece consists of a sim­
ple, single voice setting of "Allah-0-Abha" (Allah-u-Abha)
repeated nine times, with a keyboard accompaniment. The
setting is notable in putting the musical accent correctly on
the second and fifth syllables rather than on the first and
third, which is a common error.
There is a surviving account of one early meeting con­
ducted by Gillen. It was held in the statehouse in Boise,
Idaho, where Gillen was visiting to teach,the Faith. The meet­
ing occurred on New Year's Eve of 1916-1917, and Gillen ar­
ranged it as one of a number of meetings dedicated to peace
planned by various Baha'fs across the United States for that
evening. This is her description of it:

[A] judge, a Christian Scientist gave a good address for fifteen
mins. Then I gave a fifteen minute talk on BahaOllah's peace
message explaining from '�Universal Principle' ' [ Universal Princi­
ples of the Bahai Movement Social, Economic, Governmental, 1912]
about the international police and arbitral court. All paid close at­
tention and I had to spea.k strongly as the rotunda is very wide
and people were all around the circle and the upper floor. I
opened with the prayer Pg. 1 in little book then sang Come Thou
Almighty King with audience. After that the judge spoke. After I
spoke we sang America. At the stroke of midnight I read the mid­
night prayer and "Unite the hearts etc . " and all listened with pro­
found silence. I closed with the words Glory be to the people of
Glory as I thot [sic] the crowds would not understand Ya Baha El
Abha.53

According to Gillen, this was the first religious meeting of
any kind held in the Idaho statehouse, as, when it had been
Baha 'i Hymnody 83

completed, the governor had been so concerned with getting
the furniture in place and the building in use they had forgot­
ten to hold a dedication! The combination on this occasion of
a Baha'f prayer and a Christian hymn to start, talks, singing
again (even if here a patriotic hymn due to the nature of the
occasion), more Baha'f prayers, and then closing with the
Greatest Name (a very Isabella Brittingham touch, if here
paraphrased in English) suggests that Baha'f meetings as
Gillen had known them in Seattle were similar to those in
communities for which we have more information. Perhaps in
community meetings in Seattle, Gillen' s setting of Baha'f
prayers substituted for read prayers or the Christian hymns,
and, as Ida Finch of Seattle was one of those who introduced
Waite's hymns into Japan, it is probable that Waite's hymns
were used, too.
The only other musician in the early North American Ba­
ha'f community who was active in producing Baha'f devo­
tional materials and had a background comparable to Gillen's
was Edward Kinney. I have already discussed his chanting,
and some of his hymns will be discussed below.
Two other writers who produced a moderate-sized body of
work were Margaret Duncan Green of Washington, D.C., and
Mattie Watson of Chicago. Around 1912, Green wrote twelve
sets of verses which she sent to 'Abdu'l-Baha. Six of these are
available and five of them are singable as hymns, three of
these being explicitly Baha'i. There is no record of any of
Green's songs being used in North America, but there is a
reference to them being sung by the Baha'f students at the
University of Beii'U,t. 54
Mattie Watson wrote a number of song texts and verses
over the years, but there is no record of any having been
sung. The words of her "The First Bahai Temple Song, "
which, as is noted on the printed copy, may be sung to ' 'Robin
Adair, " were read at a meeting on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar site
in Wilmette on 23 May 1908. Watson also wrote a number of
84 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

acrostics on the names of early Chicago Baha'is, several
gospel-type song texts, and som� contrafacts. As with other
minor songwriters in the Baha' i community, it seems possible
that her work was used occasionally by small groups of her
friends but that it was not used frequently enough to be men­
tioned in the record. It is also possible that the crudity of
structure in verses such as hers, which makes them not as
read ily singable as more accomplished efforts, militated
against their being used, however worthy and acceptable
their sentiment.
There are a few writers contemporary with Waite for whom
only one song is known.
Mrs. Emily Olsen lived mainly in Chicago, but may have
been related to a number of Baha'is named Olsen in Wiscon­
sin. In the early years of this century, she was responsible for
the translation of a number of Baha'i books into Danish. In
1905 , she published her hymn, " Praise be to Thee, 0 Lord of
all Creation, ' ' set to her arrangement of a Danish melody. 55
This may considered a Baha' i hymn, as it uses the Greatest
Name in two of its three verses. The charming syncopated
tune and Olsen's words fit well together. The Chicago House
of Spirituality, meeting on 15 July 1905, approved a letter of
thanks to Olsen which acknowledged receipt of one hundred
copies of the song sheet of this hymn which she had donated
to the community. 56 Although quite deserving of continued
use, this hymn does not seem to have survived alongside
those of Waite which were being adopted by the community
at this time. Olsen was herself a friend of Waite, and in 1907
sent a copy she had made of the words of Waite's newly writ­
ten songs, "Softly His Voice is Calling" and "Tell the Won­
drous Story, ' ' to the RaCine community, noting that the music
was not yet written down. 57
Emma Holmes' song, "The Comforter Has Come , " was
sung for the first time at the morning session of the Bahai
Baha 'i Hymnody 85

Temple Unity convention on 30 April 191 1 , by Mountfort
Mills. It was 'sufficiently well received to be repeated, by
request, at a later session of the convention.58 At the 1912
convention, Mills sang this song again at the opening Feast
on 27 April. 59
Henry Grasmuk wrote a contrafact to "Nearer, My God, to
Thee, " which appears on an undated song sheet. 60 The first
verse runs thus:

0 Thou, my Light and Guide,
Draw me to Thee,
Cleanse Thou this heart of mine
And make me
0 Thou, our Glorious King!
Spread Thy Eternal wing,
Till each poor aching heart
Finds shelter there.

The song sheet is only recognizable as having Baha'f con­
nections by its having a 9 on the front. I have found no infor­
mation on the use of this song or of further compositions by
Grasmuk. As he seems to have lived in the New York area, it
is possible that it was used there.
Howard MacNutt' s "Easter Hymn" appears on a song
sheet dated 1913. 6 1 This is an Easter resurrection hymn writ­
ten in four parts with organ accompaniment. That it was for­
mally printed with music suggests that it may have been
used, and its writing may have been connected with the New
York Baha'is' involvement with St. Mark's (see Chapter
Seven). As this is the only known musical work of MacNutt's,
it seems possible that his friend Edward Kinney assisted with
the setting, at least.
Marian C. Hotchkiss' song "Mashrak-El-Azcar" opened
the first session of the Bahai Temple Unity convention on 29
April 1912. 62 This is the only known song by Hotchkiss, and
86 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

the song sheet shows it to be a well-conceived song with a
pleasantly syncopated tune, keyboard accompaniment, and
explicitly Baha'f text. A copy of the song sheet held in the Na­
tional Baha'f Archives has a note stating that the song was
"received" as compensation for forgoing a trip to 'Akka and
giving the money to the Temple Fund.
Others of Waite's contemporaries wrote verses that may be
described as "hymnoid" in form, 63 rather than actual hymns
(Thornton Chase, Louis Gregory, Marie Watson, among
others), and there is no indication that these were sung, or in­
tended to be sung, although many could be fitted easily to a
suitable hymn tune. Chase did write one text with the aim of
assisting Baha'fs to learn the correct pronunciation of Ba­
ha'u'llah' s name, as singing the name to a suitably rhythmic
tune "gives the proper accents. " 64
It is readily apparent from this consideration of Waite's
contemporaries that none of them came near to equalling her
output or popularity, as expressed by the degree to which the
songs were used in the community. Her work, then, stands as
the preeminent expression of the era of Baha'f hymnody.
CHAPTER FOUR

OPPOSITION TO THE USE OF HYMNS

Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the era of Baha'f
hymnody is that it ended. The use of hymns, whether
Waite's, Christian, or the occasional compositions by other
Baha'fs that were used, was such a ubiquitous and seemingly
essential part of Baha'f community life that for it to end al­
most overnight was revolutionary. This was especially so as it
happened without anything else taking the place of hymns.
Hymnody was simply removed from the gamut of Baha'f com­
munity devotional experience.

EARLY O BJECTIONS

There were basically two types of objectors to the use of
hymns: those who objected to the use of specifically Baha'f
hymns but found universal hymns by Baha'is and selected
Christian hymns acceptable; and those who objected to any
hymns at all. As the provision of hymns for the community
was so largely the work of Waite, there was room for a con­
siderable personal element in .objection to their use. For

·ss Part One: The Devotional Heritage

some, the objection may have been to Waite rather than to
the hymns.
Although there are various strands of objection discernable
throughout the era of Baha'f hymnody, we must not lose sight
of the fact that confirmed objectors were only a small part of
the total community. That their objections eventually tri­
umphed is related to the influence of personal position and
status rather than the force of numbers.
There was some objection to Waite's work from the begin­
ning. The publication of Bahai Hymns and Poems in 1904 was
objected to by some, as they felt that the Publishing Society
should concentrate on the writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l­
Baha with the occasional exception of a book like Dealy's
(1902), which explained the teachings. 1 However, this objec­
tion was to the mode of publishing rather than to the content.
Waite met this objection both by the fund-raising concert she
organized in Decemher 1904 which financed the Hidden
Words (1905) and by having the publication of her future
work privately financed. All the editions of Bahai Hymns of
Peace and Praise, apart from the one which she allowed to be
printed for the benefit of the Publishing Society, were funded
by her or her friends and provided a return to the Temple
Fund. Her sheet music publication operated on the same
basis.
There was also objection to the content of Waite's work at
this time. Around the beginning of January 1905, Waite re­
signed from the post of Corresponding Secretary for the
Woman's Assembly of Teaching. Apparently, a committee of
two had been appointed (it is not clear by whom, but possibly
by the Woman's Assembly) to visit the various group meet·
ings held in homes ih Chicago to report on ' 'the nature of the
teachings that were being given. ' ' The report on the meetings
in Waite's home was unfavorable. Waite said that she seemed
to ' 'have been classified as one who is not a true Bahai whose
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 89

verses are like 'morphine pills , ' and whose teachings are
'too wide and broad to be in keeping with Bahaism: ' ' ' She
therefore wished to resign, lest she lead anyone astray through
correspondence. She later explained the objections more
explicitly:

I have been told that I do wrong to point people to nature, yet
does not our Master do so constantly? To the orange, to the egg,
the diamond, the sun, moon and stars, the trees, the seasons, all
these to illustrate His Teachings; and yet, if I see God's reflection
in these things, and express it in verse, I am not a true Bahai. If I
say there are many roads to the One Goal, I do not say there are
many goals, but many roads leading to the one, and, when there,
each will see that God is but One, and that He has manifested
Himself in all His Splendor and Glory through Baha'u'llah. But
still in a lesser degree through all of His Prophets and Mes­
sengers. They too were the way. Never do I for one moment by
thought, or word, or deed, intend to lessen the great and glorious
Truth of our Rel�gion. 2

Whatever the feelings of the committee of two, it would
seem that the matter was patched up. The exact details of
what happened are not available, but by February the House
of Spirituality recorded without comment that Waite's home
' 'would be open to all for the study of the utterances of
Baha'u'llah every Wednesday afternoon" beginning 24
February.3
This objection t o Waite's work seems t o have be�n rela­
tively trivial although evidently hurtful to her. Indeed, it may
have been limited to the committee of two itself. However, a
more fundamental objection to some of her songs was. to be
raised later. Some felt that the use of Waite's specifically Ba­
ha'f songs labeled the community as distinct, and that this
was likely to put off non-Baha'fs who might otherwise be
sympathetic to Baha'f principles. In early 1910, Sohrab wrote
90 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

to Waite from Washington, D.C. , sympathizing with her over
the objection of a new believer in Chicago to the singing of
Baha'f hymns:

I am indeed very sorry that some people object to the singing of
the beautiful and inspiring songs of "Tell the Wondrous Story"
and "Softly His Voice is Calling" . I always loved dearly these two
hymns, better than all the rest, and our Baha'is here sing them ev­
ery Sunday at our meetings. Oh! the children love them very
much and sing them so gloriously. To me it is hair-splitting and
inconsequential when we try to persuade ourselves and others
that people object to these heavenly songs. Last summer I did a
little traveling when I left Chicago, and wherever I went I heard
these songs on the lips of the Baha'is. I am heart and soul in favor
of their singing in our meetings, public and private . . . If in this
.

day we are afraid to declare His Name in our congregations and
gatherings, in ,song and praise, in anthems and melodies, then it is
better not to call ourselves by His Wonderful Name; the old name
and the old garments will answer just as well the purpose. 4

This same new Baha'f (probably Harry Thompson) also ob­
jected to the singing of any other songs. He maintained that
the day for hymn singing was over and cited the objectionable
nature of music to ' 'Orientals. ' ' Although Waite did not agree
with him, she wrote to 'Abdu'l-Baha to get an authoritative
answer to the points rather than argue. 'Abdu'l-Baha replied
to her query in early 1912 :

This wonderful age has rent asunder the veils of superstition and
has condemned the prejudice of the people of the East.
Among some of the nations of the Orient, music and harmony
was not approved of, but the Manifested Light, Baha'u'llah, in
this glorious period has revealed in Holy Tablets that singing and
music are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls. In this dispen­
sation, music is one of the arts that is highly approved and is con-
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 91

sidered to be the cause of the exaltation of sad and despondent
hearts.
Therefore, 0 Shahnaz, set to music the verses and the divine
words so that they may be sung with soul-stirring melody in the
Assemblies and gatherings, and that the hearts of the listeners
may become free from the bond of sorrow and sadness, the soul
and the spirit may become tumultuous and rise towards the King­
dom of Abha in supplication and prayer.

The new Chicago Baha'f was not the only one to have a par­
ticular objection to the Baha' f hymns. Another who pressed
Waite on this issue was Alice Buckton, although she had no
objection to hymn singing as such. Buckton was an English
Baha'f who also spent time in the East Coast cities of the
United States. She was a fairly well-connected, middle-class
woman of sufficient means who was associated with settle­
ment work in London. She also wrote Christian religious
dramas that were performed on both sides of the Atlantic.
Buckton disassociated herself from the Faith in 1914.
Waite later recounted her experience with Buckton:

When I was in London in 1911 at the Races Congress, Miss B­
was very anxious for me to make changes in our hymns, that they
might be "universally used" and also sell generally and bring in
more money for the Temple. She took one of the hymn books and
some of her blue pencil changes were: "Songs of Peace and
Praise" , not "Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise" . The hymn of
the "Greatest Name" was left out entirely (after such a wonderful
Tablet about it). Then, "Tell the Wondrous story, tell it far and
near of the loving Father, holy Name so dear" not "of Baha'u'l­
lah" . Also, in "Softly His Voice Is Calling" not "Abdul Baha we
turn to Thee" , etc . , but "Love is the power which giveth life,
Love is the perfect way." There were many other changes writ­
ten in, but these were the most important. I told her I would pray
over it. I returned to America and prayed and thought deeply
92 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

over it, but it seemed as if my heart would be hurt to change
those hymns, written to the Beloved Himself. Yet I wanted to
cooperate in every way possible with Miss B- . 5

When 'Abdu'l-Baha was in Chicago, Waite had an interview
with him on 5 May 1912. She showed him the copy of Bahai
Hymns of Peace and Praise that Buckton had marked and
asked him what she should do. He asked who had requested
such changes. When Waite replied that it was Buckton, he ex­
plained that she was very ' 'young' ' in the Faith and that
Waite should only make changes if he told her to do so. (In­
deed, during that visit to Chicago 'Abdu'l-Baha did make a
change in one of Waite's songs. In "The New Jerusalem" , he
altered "Wherein God's sun shall ever shine" to "Baha's
sun, " thus making the song explicitly Baha'f.) He further ex­
plained that Buckton's work was in the churches, but Waite's
work was "to sing of the New Kingdom and to declare the
Names to the people . " 6
It was difficult for Waite to champion the singing of Baha'f
hymns, however, as she was the sole author of such songs
whose work was widely adopted by the community. She ex­
plained her position thus:

In objecting to our Bahai Hymns in any way, one is objecting to
His expressed will. I personally cannot say so, for at once the op­
posers say, "She wants them sung because she wrote them. "
This is so absolutely false, for if I could have had my own way, I
never would have given out anything I wrote, for I only wrote to
Him, my Beloved, and after I sent Him a copy, as I always did, I
should have preferred to lay it aside in the of my heart, but
he would not have it so, as His Tablets prove. 7

A much more public show of opposition to Waite's work,
and to singing in general, occurred at the 1915 National Con-
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 93

vention. That year the convention was held in San Francisco.
Waite had moved to Los Angeles less than two months be­
fore, and she traveled from there to San Francisco to attend
the convention. · Afterwards, she wrote of her experience
there to Agnes Parsons, a wealthy and prominent Washing­
ton, p.c. , Baha'f:

I felt very sad all the while I was there. I had written on several
weeks before that I had a new song which Abdul Baha had
wished me to "send out" and I had had it published especially for
this convention and hoped it might be sung. When I arrived I was
.
informed that there would be no music, and there was none . Once
or twice they sang to close a long session, but without a piano and
.
all did not know the words as there were no books. My new song
went unsung and unnoticed, in a way, how heartily I wished I had
not brought it. It seems so strange that in spite of all Abdul Baha
has said of the importance of music & written with his own pen
on the Benediction "Sing this melody in all gatherings of love &
harmony of the beloved of God" that they should, because of per­
sonal prejudice held for this poor instrument, refuse to obey. I
grieve over it deeply, and wish I could remove my personality
from their minds & hearts. 8

The documentation available for the 1915 convention is
more fragmentary than for most of the other early Bahai
Temple Unity conventions. This increases the difficulty of
determining what happened. The ban on music was such a
departure from previous practice that it would seem it must
have been sanctioned by at least some of the Bahai Temple
Unity Board. If the local arrangements committee had im­
posed it on its own initiative, there would surely have been
some protest. Waite suggests that the ban originated in a per­
sonal prejudice against her, and later events show that there
was some influence at work against Waite at the level of the
Bahai Temple Unity Board.
94 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

At the Board's meeting on 1 7 August 1916, "It was unani­
mously agreed that the Executive Board convey to the Pub­
lishing Society the request that it issue no compilation of
hymnsl songs, chants, or append its name as publisher of
such, except after submission to Mr. Kinney, and others who
may be selected, for approval. ' '9 This may be related to
Waite's permission to Lesch to bring out an edition of Bahai
Hymns of Peace and Praise for the benefit of the Publishing
Society. There is no indication that the society had any other
compilation in mind. That the Publishing Society did issue an
edition of Waite's booklet does not necessarily mean that it
went through this approval procedure. The Board requested
that it do so, but at this time the Board had no direct control
over the society, and it (which for practical purposes meant
Mary Lesch) might not choose . to comply.
At the National Conventions in 1916, 1917, and 1918, there
was music again. It seems that, in each of these years, a song
by Kinney was strongly featured-the only years in which this
happened. None of these songs was specifically Baha'f. The
conventions of 1916 and 1918 featured his "International An­
them" and that of 1917 his "National Anthem" (Musical Ex­
amples 13-14). The differences between these two songs are
significant. " International Anthem" was a plea for peace and
unity; "National Anthem" was a jingoistic call to arms. The
gulf between the sentiments of these two songs typifies the
split in Baha'f opinion over the war at that time. Some felt
that Baha'fs should stand fifmly behind the United States to
defeat the enemy. Others felt that, while obeying their gov­
ernment, as was their religious duty, Baha'fs should continue
to declare the evils of war and the need to work for peace.
The reports of the 1916 to 1 9 18 conventions in Star of the
West are somewhat sparse in mentions of music, but there
seems to have been more music used than they suggest.
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 95

Waite stated that Linne had written to her that ' 'there was
music at each meeting" of the 1916 convention.10 Also, a
printed sheet of the words of ' 'hymns for use ' ' at the 1917
convention survives. The sheet has the words of eight songs:

Joy to the World
Tho' We Have Wandered Far (Kinney)
National Anthem (Kinney)
Great Day of God (Waite)
The Greatest Name (Waite)
International Anthem (Kinney)
Awake Ye Nations All (Waite)
Benediction (Waite)

This is quite a catholic selection with something to suit ev­
ery shade of controversy over the war, or hymn singing, at
Baha'i meetings. That both Kinney's "National Anthem" and
"International Anthem" were included (to say nothing of
"Awake Ye Nations All") suggests that those planning for
the convention were not sure what attitude toward the war
those attending would wish to express in song. The third Kin­
ney song on this sheet, "Tho' We Have Wandered Far" (Mu­
sical Example 15), was published in sheet form in 1918. It is a
charming song whose title and words suggest an ironic stance
toward KJnney's "National Anthem" which was published
the previous year. However, the text addresses itself to the
individual ' 'wounded, broken heart'' and there is no explicit
social message as in his " International Anthem " of 1916.
Waite's work was not totally excluded from the conventions
of these three years. Apart from the inclusion of her songs in
the 1917 song sheet, at the 1916 convention Linne sang the
"Benediction" to open and close the convention and the 1918
convention also opened with this song.
96 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

It would seem that there was a determined attempt be­
tween 1916 and 1918 to push Kinney forward as a replace­
ment for Waite . I say "push" as it seems highly unlikely that
Kinney took the initiative to attempt to oust Waite himself.
Kinney had known and admired Waite' s work since Bahai
Hymns and Poems (1904), some texts from which he had set.
He had known Waite personally since 1909, and there is no
indication that their relationship was ever other than cordial.
Kinney seems to have had regard for Waite's ability as a com­
poser, even though she did not produce the kind of work he
would have·. In 1920-192 1 , when ideas were being gathered
for possible fund-raising activities to assist in providing for
building the newly chosen design for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
Kinney suggested holding concerts, and he offered to make
arrangments of "Mrs. Waite' s lovely melodies. " 11 In 192 1 ,
Waite wrote that she was confident that Kinney ' 'could bring
out my idea unchanged , as he is a Bahai and in the same
vibration, ' ' if he was available to write down music for her.
However, as they were "many miles apart, " she would trust
him to revise and "put in good form" the music for her song
"The New Liberty Bell" which had not been well transcribed
by the assistance she could obtain in Los Angeles .12 Neither
Kinney's various comments on Waite nor Waite's on Kinney
suggest that there was bad feeling between them at any time.
Kinney seems to have been a very amenable person and to
have been drawn into disputes on other occasions by the prin­
cipal parties involved. It would seem that he was being used
by one or more members of the Bahai Temple Unity Board in
an attempt to supplant Waite and her work. While (or possb
bly because) Kinney was a well-educated and proficient musi­
cian, he did not have Waite's affinity for a popular tune that
was readily singable. He also seems to have felt uncertain
about his ability to write verse. There are some printed copies
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 97

of his three songs on which he has written changes to the
words which are largely for the worse.
Whoever was behind Kinney was disappointed, as Kinney's
songs seem to have had relatively limited use in the commu­
nity, and the conventions of the 1920s returned to using
Waite's songs. The maneuvering of the years from 1915 to
1918 seems to have resulted from opposition to Waite (and
possibly to Baha'f hymns) rather than from opposition to
hymn singing as such. Perhaps the dearth in 1915 reflects the
lack of perceived alternatives to Waite at that time and led to
the encouragement of Kinney to provide such for the follow­
ing year. This would seem particularly likely as, to judge by
the practice of the preceding and following years and the
comments of those who then attended conventions, the lack
of singing in 1915 was probably quite unpopular.
Apart from the three songs composed by Kinney, there was
another effort to broaden the scope of Baha'f hymnody (or,
more specifically, the hymns used by Baha'fs) around this
time. In 1920, Howard MacNutt wrote to Corinne True:

I am instructed by the Spiritual Board of Consultation of Greater
New York to write to the Bahai Assemblies of Boston, Washing­
ton and Chicago, looking to the purpose of compiling from
ing hymnals a collection of hymns and hymn tunes suitable for
use at Bahai Meetings. The sanction of Abdul Baha, by his own
statement, already rests upon any unified work by the Assem­
blies above named. The of suitable hymns and tunes is ap­
parent. The material from which selection can be made is most
abundant; much of it is of superior excellence, universal in its
theme, and adapted to the Cause we .a...,.....ac-.an1'"
...

MacNutt suggested that a committee of two be appointed to
correspond with New York on the matter. Carl Scheffler re­
plied to MacNutt's letter, and MacNutt sent him further sug-
98 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

gestions as to the way in which they intended to carry out
their plan:

We wish to proceed with this important and needful work without
delay. Will you call your sub-committee together and decide upon
the best hymnals which in your opinion should be used in our
process of selection? We will then be able to reduce and sys­
temize the work in the four centers and make our examination
and search from the same sources. · This will insure unity and
agreement in the compilation. 14

It is noteworthy that MacNutt does not mention Waite or
other Baha'i hymnodists in these letters, and that the need for
a hymnal is described as urgent, as if Baha'is were just wait­
ing for something to sing. This suggested hymnal may rep­
resent a continued strand of feeling against Baha'i hymns in
New York as well as a final effort in the anti-Waite campaign
launched in 1915. However, the compilation never did appear.
At the 1929 convention, Kinney brought up the question of
MacNutt's hymnal:

I would like to make one request for the National Assembly to
consider; also, I'd like to state it before the delegates , because it
has to do with the request of 'Abdu'l-Baha years ago, made to
Howard MacNutt, and through him to me, that we compile a Ba­
hai Hymn Book. I left it to Mr. Howard MacNutt, and as time
went on, just after the storm at Palm Beach and just before his
death I spoke to him seriously about the matter.
He said, ' 'Well, I am afraid you will have to take that up your­
self. " I did not realize what that would mean then, but as you
know, shortly after that, before the half year had passed out
Howard had passed on, and I feel that it is important. I neglected
it simply because I relied upon Mr. MacNutt to take the initiative,
according to 'Abdu'l-Baha's word, but now that leaves me the
only one to carry out his own particular request. If material can
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 99

be sent to me and if the National Spiritual Assembly agree, I will
undertake this matter at any moment.15

There was no immediate response to Kinney's statement,
and a little later Mrs. Ford (an East Coast Baha'i) remarked to
the Chairman: "I don't believe you heard Mr. Kinney's re­
marks about the hymn book. That was very important. ' ' The
Chairman, Allen McDaniel, then asked Kinney if he had put
his suggestion as a motion, and Kinney replied:

No, but I want to call the attention of the delegates to a very im­
portant thing. We have not any hymns that we recognize except
just a few, and I feel that we are constantly needing them, and we
ought to begin at once to do something about it. I made those re­
marks because of a special request made by 'Abdu'l-Baha, which
was important. It was not made to me, so I am not responsible for
anything more than informing you that 'Abdu'l-Baha specifically
requested Mr. Howard MacNutt to do this, and Mr. MacNutt ne­
glected to do it, and has passed on, and it leaves me in the posi­
tion that if I should die perhaps I will have to tell him why some
day.ls

On further prompting by the chair, Kinney made his sug­
gestion a motion and it was seconded by Windust. On
McDaniel asking if there was further discussion, Mr. Duckett
of Los Angeles said, "Mrs. Waite has compiled a hymn book
and 'Abdu'l-Baha has approved this hymn book. I think it is a
very wonderful hymn book. ' ' To this Ford replied:

It does not mean we will give up Mrs. Waite's hymn book, but
that now the Baha'i Cause needs a larger variety of hymns. That
is what Mr. Kinney has in mind. There are other hymns besides
those of Mrs. Waite's, and there are great hymns in existence
which very well express Baha'i, and I think Mr. Kinney's idea
should be a compilation and publication of the new hymns. 17
100 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

After the suggestion was made by Mrs. Finch that the
book should include some chants, to which Kinney replied
that he intended it would, the question was put and the mo­
tion carried.
This is the last mention of the MacNutt hymnbook I have
found. At what time 'Abdu'l-Baha had asked MacNutt to
work on a hymn book is not clear. Certainly, as early as 1905
he had written to MacNutt of his approval of Kinney working
on chants. It would seem that the attempt at a MacNutt com­
pilation in 1920-192 1 might have been a further effort against
Waite after the failure of the attempt to use Kinney to sup·
plant her work. Certainly, the implication of MacNutt's let­
ters is that the need was for a compilation from generally
accepted Christian hymnals. Kinney's revival of the idea in
1929 probably reflects his conscientiousness rather than total
sympathy with an anti-Waite position. He may also have
reasonably felt that a wider choice of hymns would be useful.
Why this could not be met by simply using a good Christian
hymnal and selecting from it (as was done earlier with
Brewer) is unclear. It is also unclear why there was not to be
encouragement for other Baha'is, including Kinney, to write
hymns for the community's use. The comments made on Kin­
ney's suggestion by Duckett and Ford suggest a distinction
between those who were quite satisfied with Waite's work
and those who wished "a larger variety, " which would be
drawn from Christian sources. 'Abdu'l-Baha had encouraged
any Baha'f who had sent verses to him to write songs for the
community. Waite was the only one to consistently do so. It is
interesting that those who were dissatisfied, for whatever rea­
son, with Waite's work sought to supplement or replace it
with Christian hymns rather than encourage a general flour­
ishing of hymnody within the community. This may indicate a
tacit recognition that Waite was unbeatable on her own ground
as well as a disinclination toward specifically Baha'f hymns.
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 101

In the mid-1920s, the Chicago community faced some oppo­
sition to the form of their meetings which included an objec­
tion to hymn singing. A few people led by Moseley agitated
for changes:

The situation here is becoming more difficult every day instead of
seeming to clear up. I attended a consultation meeting last even­
ing. The Assembly, that is, a few members of the Assembly
[community] met with the Spiritual Assembly and, led by our
friend Mr. Moseley, they expressed the idea that all meetings or
any meeting where hymns are sung or where there was an at­
tempt at a public address was contrary to the spirit of the Cause
and was an attempt on the part of the Board [Spiritual Assembly]
to foist ritualism on the Cause. They are not satisfied with any at­
tempt that is made to give a public presentation in the Bahai Hall
and vote to have such meetings abolished . 18

The objectors further described those who ran the current
meetings as "ex-church members who conducted the meet­
ings like a Methodist church affair. ' ' 19 The dispute blew over,
possibly because Moseley left town. (He later turned up in
California to cause other trouble there.) The issue of music at
meetings in Chicago was discussed again in the mid-1930s, as
was noted in the local Baha'I newsletter:

The Assembly appointed a committee composed of Mr. Harry
Walrath and Mr. Allah K. Kalantar to report on a survey made to
determine the desire of the community with regard to Music at
Feasts and public meetings. The Assembly has voted that music
at Feasts is optional with the hosts, but no decision has yet been
reached concerning music at public meetings.20

There may not have been too strong a diversion of views on
the subject, as no further mention of the survey was published.
102 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

THE END OF THE ERA OF BAHA'f HYMNODY

In 1935, Waite was personally involved in a dispute over
her hymns, particularly the ' 'Benediction, ' ' in Los Angeles.
Waite was told by members of the community that the Spiri­
tual Assembly had "ruled that in the future the Baha'i Bene­
diction be eliminated from all programs, save the Feasts, and
that at these it be optional as to whether it be called for by the
chairman of the program or not. " Waite commented:

I was not at the last Feast so do not know whether that ' 'new rul­
ing'' was read in the report of your Assembly meeting and actions
taken, but personally no word has been officially sent to me.
This is an old smouldering fire, which I hoped the water of
Love had quenched, but it is evident that it has burst forth into
flame once more. Some years ago, when the Baha'i hymns and
Benediction were sung at every meeting-the desire by some to
stamp them out was set aflame and I was made most unhappy­
not because they were mine in the sense that I was the channel
through whom-as Abdul Baha said, many times and to many of
the friends both in America and Europe-that "Baha'u'llah gave
them to the Baha'i world through me"-but in this personal oppo­
sition of some of the Baha'is it seemed that the Words of Abdu'l­
Baha were ignored.
This fire in time partially died out, but now I know the smoul­
dering embers are still there and have been fanned into a flame
again by some new breeze of opposition-the result being your
"new ruling. " 2 1

Waite continued that she felt it best if the "Benediction"
was omitted in all meetings from then on rather than let the
issue of whether or not to use it be a source of conflict. She
stated that she had realized when she returned from a trip in
Janaury 1935 and heard that a young visiting English Baha'i
had objected to the Baha'i hymns that the problem was going
to arise again. She personally was upset when people asked
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 103

her after the most recent meeting she had attended why the
" Benediction" was not played, or apologized to her for it be­
ing left out: ' 'All of these questions and apologies are to me
most unpleasant, and I most heartily dislike the personal
aspect of it all . ' ' The Spiritual Assembly replied that Waite
had been incorrectly informed of their attitude toward the use
of the ' 'Benediction' ' :

It was suggested by the Spiritual Assembly that it be "optional"
at the public meetings, subject to the chairman calling for it, if no
musical program had been arranged by the music ,committee, and
not that it be "ruled out" anywhere.
Since this was merely to eliminate confusion of programs and
had nothing to do with personality, the secretary was not in­
structed to notify any one, and the reason the suggestion was not
read at the Feast was probably due to the illness of the recording
secretary, and when another recording secretary was elected it
was overlooked. 22

The Assembly also enclosed a "resolution" which they had
sent to the National Spiritual Assembly and which had been
approved by them. This resolution superseded their previous
ruling, and the Assembly hoped that Waite would "cooperate
with it in the attempt to eliminate the personal angle from all
endeavors to establish the World Order of Baha'u'llah on the
basis of a harmonious whole, and that you will continue to dis­
courage any discussion of the matter so disturbing to you,
hoping that the friends will soon be able to appreciate the Ba­
ha'i Benediction and hymns, not only because Abdul-Baha
loved them but for their intrinsic value also . ' ' The resolution
referred to was published in the Los Angeles community
newsletter with an excerpt from the National Spiritual As­
sembly letter supporting it. The resolution referred to both
the "Benediction" and the use of the so-called "prayer for
Shoghi Effendi" (in reality an excerpt from a letter):
104 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

"As regards the chanting of Tablets in the Temple, Shoghi Ef­
fendi wishes in this connection to urge the friends to ·avoid all
forms of rigidity and uniformity in matters of worship. "-Baha'i
News, July 1935
The Spiritual Assembly has been conscious for some time that
in this Community there has been a tendency for rigidity to creep
into our meetings, specifically with regard to the pl'aying of the
Benediction and the saying of what is erroneously termed the
prayer for Shoghi Effendi.
With regard to the Benediction, it has become so much a matter
of form to play it at every meeting that on occasions when it has
not been called for by the chairman, a request has been made for
it. The Spiritual Assembly is of the opinion that the conduct of
meetings is, subject to the approval of the Spiritual Assembly, en­
tirely a matter for the appropriate committee or feast chairman to
decide. In addition a music committee has been appointed for the
purpose of collaborating with other committees in making the
programmes of meetings and feasts. Whether any one item is in­
cluded in the programme or not is a matter for those who arrange
the meeting to decide. In any case the Spiritual Assembly is not
in favor of making any particular song or prayer an essential part
of every meeting. The friends are earnestly requested to cooper­
ate with the Spiritual Assembly in their efforts to ensure that
nothing be allowed to become a form or ritual, both of which are
opposed to the spirit of our beloved Faith.23

In this dispute over the use of the ' 'Benediction' ' we can
again see that those opposed to it were in the minority and
that the general assumption was that it should be used.
In 1938, the Spiritual Assembly of San Francisco wrote to
the National Spiritual Assembly that on a recent visit to that
city Lorol Schopflocher had told the Baha'fs there that they
were disobeying the Guardian by using the "Benediction. "
The Assembly referred to the statement by 'Abdu'l-Baha
printed on the "Benediction" and remarked that they were
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 105

' 'not aware of any instructions from the Guardian abrogating
those words. " They asked the National Spiritual Assembly to
advise them if any instruction had been received from Shoghi
Effendi that the "Benediction " should not be used. 24 The
NSA replied:

. . . as far as our records go, there has never been any ruling one
way or the other about the use of Baha'i Benediction. No Assem­
bly has ever been ordered to use it nor ordered not to use it.
In fact, the National Assembly has recently written the Guar­
dian to ask him to explain the relation of Mrs. Waite's music to
the Cause at the present time in view of the well-known words of
'Abdu'l-Baha, about them.
When his reply is received we trust that the matter will be clari­
fied once and for all for the entire American Baha'i community.25

Before turning to the National Spiritual Assembly's own at­
titude and that of Shoghi Effendi, it seems appropriate to look
at the background of Schopflocher' s statement. Schopflocher
was a woman with considerable financial resources at her dis­
posal who spent much of her time traveling about the world
visiting Baha'i communities. She was immensely egocentric,
and whatever she wished was, as far as she was concerned,
the way that things should be. She seems to have had the abil­
ity to impose this view upon others so that they cooperated
with in creating her reality. (On one occasion, when cross­
ing the Atlantic in the Hindenburg, she had the captain
"buzz" her home in Montreal. )
Schopflocher's mother was (according t o Schopflocher) as
morbidly obsessed with religion as Waite's was construc­
tively religious. Schopflocher's elder sister had died in in­
fancy, and after this her mother was transformed from a bon
vivant into "a person obsessed with a single idea-to obtain a
seat in Heaven beside her beautiful child. " She did not find
106 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

any church that came up to her own fervor and so ' 'Her own
home became her church-and ours. " As a child, Schop­
flocher seems to have been as self-willed as she was as an
adult, and her temperament led her to clash with her mother,
who she believed regarded her as an inadequate substitute for
the lost baby. Schopflocher related of her childhood : "There
was little time for play or 'recreation' other than the singing
of hymns and listening to long discourses on the Bible and
other dull subjects in the programme laid down for me . . . .
When I was permitted to take piano lessons, they were for re­
ligious music only. "2 6 Significantly, Schopflocher titled the
chapter on her childhood in her autobiography "The Cage. "21
Schopflocher' s own religious activities as a supposed
teacher of the Baha' f Faith inclined more to dances, cocktail
parties, and afternoon teas with Eastern rulers. She records
that a fellow passenger on a ship remarked that she was the
first ' 'missionary'' he had ever seen with such good legs. That
Schopflocher might have had a personal antipathy to hym­
nody is not surprising; neither is it that she attempted to im­
pose this view on others. Her considerable wealth, prestige,
and evident social position placed her in a powerful position to
do so, especially when she was telling people that Shoghi Ef­
fendi agreed with her view of tp.e matter.
By the mid-1930s, the 1927 edition of Bahai Hymns of Peace
and Praise had been sold out for some time. There was still a
demand for copies, however, and Waite wrote to the National
Spiritual Assembly in early 1936 to inform them that she was
willing to allow the Publishing Committee (which was in New
York, not Chicago, at this time) to use her plates to bring out
a new edition. Holley remarked , in a letter written as National
Spiritual Assembly secretary to the committee, that ' 'This
offer raises a number of questions which it might be well for
the Publishing Committee to refer to the National Spiritual
Assembly. ' '28
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 107

By the end of 1936, the committee had obtained the plates
from Windust in Chicago and was awaiting further instruc­
tions from the Assembly. In January 1937, the National
Spiritual Assembly asked the committee to simply hold the
plates. In November 1937, the Assembly asked the commit­
tee to supply e�timates for the cost of 1 ,000 and 2,000 copies
of the booklet. The committee reported that 1 ,000 copies
would cost $93.08 and 2,000 copies would cost $ 120.06. On
the letter reporting this estimate, the words "Baha'i" and
' 'Hymns' ' have been circled in pencil and a ' '? ' ' put beside
them in the margin. In January 1938, the Assembly informed
the committee that it had "voted to request the Guardian to
advise the National Assembly in the matter of reprinting the
songs composed by Shahnaz Waite. " In March 1938, the As­
sembly informed the committee that Shoghi Effendi had writ­
ten to Waite ' 'explaining to her that in view of the increasing
national expenses of the Cause in America it would hardly be
possible for the National Fund to provide for the publication
of her hymns. ' ' They suggested that the committee simply re­
tain the plates, unless Waite wanted them returned . 29
It is evident from the prolonged nature of this correspon­
dence that there was little enthusiasm about providing for the
demand for copies of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise on the
part of either the Assembly or the Publishing Committee.
Also, that by the end of the correspondence it is implied that
Waite was looking for a subsidy from the National Fund to is­
sue her work, rather than that she was again offering her
work as a proved seller and fund raiser (at the price set in
1927, 1 ,000 copies could have realized up to $300 and 2,000
copies up to $600, a good profit potential on the outlay) is
somewhat mendacious and suggests that an acceptable ex­
cuse was being sought for the decision not to reprint.
We might note here that the Reviewing Committee (another
East Coast committee) in the mid-1930s decided that the
108 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

words of a song by Waite were not appropriate for their atten­
tion: "We do not approve or disapprove the words of songs or
poems as these are works of aesthetic value alone and time
alone will prove their merit. "30 The National Assembly agreed
with the committee's decision "that material of this kind is
not suitable for review by a Baha'i committee. "31
At the time this decision was made, North American Ba­
hcffs had become attuned to the idea that material related to
the Faith was to be considered available for general circula­
tion and use only if it had been approved by the Reviewing
Committee . To decline to give approval to "the words of
songs or poems" and to suggest that they were of "aesthetic
value alone" was to impugn both their legitimacy and their
validity in terms of teaching the Faith or expressing Baha'f
identity. The secretary of the Reviewing Committee when it
made this decision was Doris Holley, the wife of National
Spiritual Assembly Secretary Horace Holley.
We should turn now to the letter the Assembly wrote to
Shoghi Effendi in 1 938, which included their inquiry about
Waite's songs:

The final enclosure consists of a copy of a Tablet revealed by the
Master to Shahnaz Waite. The National Assembly would like
your advice and instruction on how to deal with the general ques­
tion of publishing music for Baha'is' use, and, specifically, in rela­
tion to the significance of this Tablet to the songs composed by
Mrs. Waite.
Mrs. Waite's book of songs was originally published during the
period of more or less uncontrolled individual initiative in the
American Baha'i community. Many of the believers love these
songs and like them to be used both at public and non-public Ba­
ha'i meetings. Many others feel that they are in the spirit of the
traditional Christian hymn and that the Baha'i Faith should not
maintain practices developed during the history of the Christian
church. The National Assembly itself some years ago recorded
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 109

the view that the Reviewing Committee cannot be expected to
pass upon music, poetry and other art forms, but only such
manuscripts whose accuracy can be referred to the Teachings.
This matter of music is so important that we hope very much
that some instruction can be given as a guide to future policies
and practice. 32

The objection to Waite' s hymns had now come full circle.
Twenty-five years before, her Baha'f hymns were objected to
as too obviously non-Christian in text; now they were being
objected to as too Christian in form. We should note also in
this letter the distrust of "uncontrolled individual initiative"
(although this is hardly an accurate description of the antece­
dents of Waite's work with its frequent review by 'Abdu'l­
Baha) and the ritual statement on the importance of music
that is characteristic of National Spiritual Assembly pro­
nouncements on the subject.
Shoghi Effendi replied to this enquiry:

As to the question Mrs. Waite's Baha'i Hymns; the Guardian
it inadvisable to issue any general instruction at present
regarding the matter of publishing music for use by the believers
in their meetings. He thinks that the situation arising out of Mrs.
Waite's request for the re-publication of her songs is not such as
to call for any general ruling. He has, however, written Mrs.
Waite explaining to her that in view of the increasing national ex­
penses of the Cause in America, specially in connection with the
teaching work, it would hardly be possible for the National Fund
to provide for the publication of her hymns. All those believers
who are talented in music and desire to make some contribution
along this line should be encouraged and advised to send their
musical compositions to the editorial Committee of the "Baha'i
World" for reproduction in that book.3�

As we have seen, the National Assembly took this opportu­
nity to shelve the issue of reprinting Bahai Hymns of Peace
1 10 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

and Praise. Neither did they make any vigorous attempt to
counter the opinion of such as Schopflocher that using these
songs contravened Shoghi Effendi's wishes.
Although the concern of this work is sociological, and so the
concentration is on what Baha' fs thought and did-not on
what the Baha'f Faith teaches-in the area of devotional ac­
tivity, it seems appropriate at this point to consider what
Shoghi Effendi's expressed attitude on hymnody was during
the 1930s, as his instructions were claimed as the basis of all
positions in the dispute over the use of hymns. 'Abdu'l-Baha
had written more that fifty tablets to North American Baha'fs
encouraging the use of singing and music at Baha'f meetings.
These Tablets included a number specifically and generally
approving songs by Waite and others. Shoghi Effendi con­
tinued this approval, both generally and in relation to Waite.
In 1930, Shoghi Effendi wrote to Waite in his own hand,
' 'Your poems are indeed most interesting and helpful to the
believers and your name will ever live in the annals of the
Cause as the first to extol and celebrate in the western world
the glory and virtues of the Cause of God. " 34 In 193 1 , he in­
cluded in another personal note, ' 'Your past services are
graven upon the Tablet of my heart and have earned you the
esteem and gratitude of the believers. "35 In 193 1 , Waite was
informed, " Shoghi Effendi is almost determined to start a
new section in the coming issue of the Baha'i World devoted
to music composed by the friends . In it he will surely include
your "Benediction" which has brought joy & inspiration to
many hearts. "3 6 In February of 1932, Bahd 'f News informed
the community that Shoghi Effendi "expects to create two
new sections in Volume IV of The Bahd 'f World, one devoted
to Baha'f poems, and another to Baha'f music. "37 The music
in the first few volumes of Bahd 'f World was personally
selected by Shoghi Effendi, not by the Bahd 'f World editorial
committee. Among the nine pieces in Volume IV (1932) were
Opposition to the Use of Hymns· 111

six by Waite; Volume V (1934) had the same nine pieces with
four more added, one by Waite; and Volume VI ( 1936) had
sixteen pieces, eight of which were by Waite. In these three
volumes Shoghi Effendi included the following songs by
Waite (those marked with an asterisk were included in both
Volumes IV and V):

* Prelude
*Temple Song
* Great Day of God
* His glorious Sun has Risen
*Tell the Wondrous Story
* Benediction
I Will Follow Thee
Praise Thee 0 God
The Day of Certainty
The Temple Beautiful
Anthem of All Nations
Awake Ye Nations All
Song of the Covenant
Sweet Peace
Song of Thanksgiving

Toward the end of 1 932, Waite was told:

The Guardian values the hymns that you are so beautifully com­
posing. They certainly contain the realities of the Faith, and will
indeed help you to give the Message to the young ones. It is the
music which assists us to affect the human spirit; it is an impor­
tant means which helps us to communicate with the soul. The
Guardian hopes that through this assistance you will give the
Message to the people, and will attract their hearts. 38

In 1935, Shoghi Effendi specifically addressed the issue of
hymns at Baha'f meetings:
1 12 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

In regard to the main question you have raised in connection with
the singing of hymns at Baha'i meetings. He wishes me to answer
you that he sees no objection to it whatsoever. The element of
music is, no doubt, an important feature of all Baha'i gatherings.
The Master Himself has emphasized its importance. But the
friends should in this, as well as in all other things, not pass be­
yond the limits of moderation, and should take great care to main­
tain the strict spiritual character of all their gatherings. Music
should lead to spirituality, and provided it creates such an at­
mosphere there can be no objection against it. 39

In the same year, Shoghi Effendi wrote to Gesene Koch:

With regard to your question concerning the use of music in the
Nineteen Day Feasts, he wishes to assure all the friends that not
only he approves of such a practice, but thinks it even advisable
that the believers should make use, in their of hymns
composed by Baha'is themselves , and also of such hymns, poems
and chants as are based on the Holy Words. 40

As one might expect from the above, when Waite was in­
formed by Shoghi Effendi in 1938 that it would not be possi­
ble to then reprint Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise, it was not
in terms to suggest that her work was no longer of vall;le or to
be used:

In connection with the republication of your hymn book; he has
read with profound interest what the Master has written regard­
ing the hymns you have composed, but feels that in view of the
increasing expenses which the National Fund is incurring in
connection with the Seven Year Plan, & particularly with regard
to the teaching work, it would be preferable to postpone the pub­
lication of the above book until such time as the necessary means
for the printing will be , available.
In the meantime, the Guardian wishes you to remain assured
that your hymns, as promised by our beloved Master, will be sung
by the believers � & will be increasingly appreciated by them. 4 1
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 113

I t i s obvious that Schopflocher was at best mistaken i n as­
serting that the San Francisco Baha 'is were disobeying
ShoghrEffendi in using the "Benediction. " It is equally evi­
dent that Shoghi Effendi had an interest in the issue of devo­
tional music for the community that was not actively shared
by the National Spiritual Assembly.
Many Baha'is who were part of the community during the
era of Baha'i hymnody now express a sense of puzzlement as
to why it ended. They recall how much they had loved the
singing and how good the songs were for creating a feeling of
group unity. They cannot give a specific reason why the use
of hymns stopped, but many remember receiving an impres­
sion that they should not be used. One woman told me that
she thought people were informed that the hymns were ' 'too
Christian, or something. " Some older Baha'is who attended
lecture recitals of Baha'i hymnody in 1 983-1985 expressed
their pleasure at hearing the songs again and remarked that
they did not understand why the community ever stopped us­
ing them. The general memory seems to be that the end came
around 1940. One Baha'i said that she had learned the songs
as a child in the 1920s but did not think of teaching them to
her children in the 1 940s and 1950s; she did not know why,
and felt some regret that she had not.
One community that lost its Baha'i hymns in a very literal
sense was that of Topeka, Kansas. In the late 1 930s, the
secretary of the Assembly left the Faith, and town, taking
with her the community's early re,cords and their hymn
books. 42 The community did still sing the "Benediction" at
least. May Brown, a long-term member of the community,
commented in 1982 :

I'm not sure just why we gave up singing the Benediction. Maybe
it was when some of the younger ones didn't like our squeeky
voices and the record player had too many worn out records for
us to continue. At any rate, some of us older ones sure enjoyed it
1 14 Part One: The Devotional Heritage

and I find that my voice is such that I can't stand to try to sing
that Benediction even when I'm all alone. I wish I could. If there
is anyone around who could sing it, I'd like to have it sung at my
funeral if it were possible. (Or at least read.)43

Waite died in 1939. While she was alive she may have had
some effect in keeping the anti-hymn forces at bay. Certainly
she was not shy about sending copies of her Tablets and her
letters from the Guardian to whoever wished them or to those
she felt needed to be informed of them. A number of her
friends also circulated them. The written evidence of ap­
proval of hymn singing and music generally in the Baha'f
writings was incontrovertible, but clearly, the forces of rumor
and suggestion employed by those opposed to hymns won.
The National Assembly did not actually support such rumors,
but neither did it take any pains to refute them. Indeed, its
own evidently cool attitude toward both hymns and the issue
of music generally may have seemed tacit approval and confir­
mation of the opinions of those campaigning against their use.
This chapter may have given the impression that there was
considerable opposition to the use of hymns (whether Chris­
tian, universal, or Baha'f) and that the number of Baha'fs who
objected, was on a comparable scale with the number who ap­
proved. This was not so. The section discussing the absorp­
tion of Waite's hymns into the life of the community only
cites a tiny fraction of the documentation of the approval and
use of her work. This section has discussed virtually all of the
documentation on opposition of which I am aware. In most of
the cases discussed, only a relative handful of individuals
were active objectors. In the late 1930s, the final effort
against hymnody must have represented the opinion of a
small minority of the national community. However, the
majority of those who were not actively in favor of hymns
(and especially of Baha'f hymns) seems to have been drawn
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 115

from the middle and upper-middle class, mainly East Coast
Baha'fs who formed the national power structure of the Faith.
The extent to which many local communities supported
hymnody may be gauged from the continued use of the
"Benediction" after 1940. In the privacy of their Nineteen­
Day Feasts, many older communities continued to consider
the "Benediction" the usual way to end Feasts until the
1960s. That the "Belfediction" then faded away in even these
communities is probably the result of the aging and death of
the members who had lived through the heyday of Baha'f
hymn singing and the fact that those born into or joining the
community after the 1930s had not been socialized fnto sing­
ing as had the Baha' f children of the 1920s and before.
When communities brought the issue of hymn singing to
the attention of the National Assembly, the general tone of
their response was off-putting. As late as 1955, an American
Baha'f who was secretary of a Local Assembly in Africa
wrote to the Africa Teaching Committee asking for "the Ba­
ha'f song book, ' ' remarking that they had asked about this be­
fore and not had a reply. She was informed, ' 'There is really
no Baha'f song book-there was years ago but this is out of
print and will not be printed again as they did not seem to be
really Baha'f songs . " 44 This is a good example of the institu­
tionalization of the anti-hymn feeling. The person who wrote
that reply recently told me that she did not understand why
the community stopped using hymns, that they were a good
way of bringing people together and encouraging · community
unity, and that she was delighted that my publishing imprint
was issuing a facsimile of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise.
At the national convention in 1957, one of the delegates
brought up:

. . . the tremendous need we have for music. The Baha'i Faith is a
joyous, happy religion. It is a religion of song, there is much
1 16 Part One: The' Devotional Heritage

poetry in the Writings, and yet Fireside after Fireside and Feast
after Feast we have no one raising voices in song.
I think this is because we do not have a song book, one that col­
lects the songs from the musical traditions of the past, some of
the present that our Faith needs such as the United Nations
Hymn or "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and other music in the pro­
cess of creation. Perhaps it needs to be simplified for the youth.
I feel very strongly we ought to have a song book brought
together perhaps cheaply in the beginning by some simple
reproduction process and ultimately lifted into more permanent
being. Let's lift our Baha'i voices in song.45

Another delegate then remarked that she had been asked
by a state convention to request that Waite 's booklet be
reprinted. 46 A number of delegates spoke in favor of the idea
of providing a song book. A recommendation that a children's
song book be produced was carried, although it is obvious
from the consultation that most of the delegates who spoke
had something for the community generally in mind. After
the convention, the National Spiritual Assembly wrote to
Shoghi Effendi to inform him that ' 'great interest was shown
in the adoption by the National Spiritual Assembly of plans to
make available music suitable for use by believers, the pur­
pose apparently being to reproduce a book of Baha'i songs. "
The Assembly expressed itself unsure of the propriety of
such an endeavor, stating "with respect to a Baha'i book of
songs the Assembly is in need of the Guardian's approval. "47
Shoghi Effendi replied:

As regards producing a book of Baha'i songs, your understanding
that there is no cultural expression which could be called Baha'f
at this time (distinctive music, literature, art, architecture, etc . ,
being the flower o f the civilisation and not coming at the begin­
ning of a new Revelation), is correct. However, that does not
mean that we haven't Baha'f songs, in other words, songs written
by Baha'is on Baha'f subjects. 48
Opposition to the Use of Hymns 1 17

The songs of Waite and her contemporaries were undoubt­
edly "songs written by Baha'Is on Baha'I subjects. " At one
time that had been exactly the ground on which they were
criticized. But by 1957, a generation of Baha' Is had grown up
in, or come into, the Faith without being acquainted with
them. Apart from in those communities which stuck to the
"BeneQ.iction" at Feasts (and even there it seems to have
been regarded as a fad of the older people by this time), Ba­
ha'Is had been socialized to expect and accept a devotional life
largely devoid of musical content. They had also been social­
ized to regard anything that seemed overtly Christian with
suspicion and were thus cut off from the popular devotional
music roots of their own culture. All this left was an occa­
sional Eastern Baha'I chant, which was regarded as a "Ba­
ha'I" sound and not as the continuation of Islamic cultural
practice that it is.
During the 1960s, the last vestiges of the "Benediction"
were dying away. That same decade saw the growth of a new
crop of Baha'I songs, but this time the models were secular.
Thirty years after that last National Spiritual Assembly letter
on songs to Shoghi Effendi, and over fifty years after Waite's
last attempt to have Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise reis­
sued, Baha'I devotional life is almost totally barren of com­
munal song.
PART TWO

THE BUILDING
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THE SITE OF THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR
in Wilmette, Illinois, as itTooked when selected.
CHAPTER FIVE

THE CHOICE OF A SITE AND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL
ORGANIZATION

Before the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar could be built, two questions
had to be settled: where was it to be built and under what or­
ganizational auspices? Both of these questions were answered
in a brief period at the end of the first decade of the century,
but the mode of their answering delayed the actual building
for a further decade. 1

THE CHOICE OF A SITE

On 26 November 1907, a small group of Baha'is from vari­
ous communities met in Chicago to look at possible sites for
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. In the morning they visited the south
side of the city and in the afternoon the north. That evening
they met to discuss the sites they had seen. According to
Corinne True, they suggested the current site of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette as the best location. True
said this from at least 1915, in an account of the early days of
the project that was written for the 1915 National Convention

122 Part Two: The Building

and which has been much reproduced since; 2 she stated it in a
public talk at the Baha'f Congress associated with the Na-
. tional Convention in 1920;3 and this has been accepted as the
standard account of the origin of the present site. However,
this version of events is not accurate. True herself found the
present site in 1908 and, with the support of a few Baha'fs,
imposed her choice on a reluctant Chicago community.
Whatever True's motives may have been in the actions she
took, the account she gave of the origin of the site in later
years was not true. To understand how this imposition of the
site came about, it is necessary to discuss the progress of the
project from its beginning.
News of the . building of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in ' Ishqa­
bad, reached Chicago in late 1902 . In a talk given at the meet­
ing held in Chicago to celebrate the "Feast of the Master"
(Day of the Covenant) on 26 November 1902, a brief descrip­
tion of the 'Ishqabad venture was given to the community. 4
Such details as were available were also relayed to other
North American Baha'f communities in correspondence.5
Probably around the turn of the year, a member of the
House of Spirituality, Albert Win dust, wrote to Mirza As­
sad'Ullah (who was then living in the Holy Land) to ask for
further details about Baha'f places of worship. Whether this
was purely a personal query on Windust's part or one he
made on behalf of the House is not clear, but Assad'Ullah's
reply was evidently circulated to some extent:

Regarding your question as to how the place of worship should
be, and that some are of the opinion that it should be a house es­
pecially dedicated for the purpose and so situated that it may be
free from all noise and outside interruptions, or what should be
done if such a room is not possible, the answer is that all that is
revealed in Kitab-el-Akdas is as follows: Three times in a day and
night, one should pray, in the morning, at noon and in the even­
ing. No such particulars, as you ask, are given. Yes, it is evident
The Choice of a Site 123

that one must be free from all thoughts at the time of communion,
and while praying he must do so entirely unconscious of his sur­
roundings. Sincerity of the heart is the important thing. When
man is in this state it matters not whether he is in private or in
public.6

At its meeting on 2 1 February 1903, the House read a letter
dated 29 November 1902, from the 'Ishqabad community in
which their ' 'attention was ,called to the laying of the founda­
tion of the first Bahai House of Worship, which information
caused joy to enter the hearts of all. " It was the day after this
meeting that the first of the Sunday community devotional
meetings for which the House had had Songs of Prayer and
Praise published was held.
On 7 March 1903, the meeting of the House was concerned
mainly with the topic of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. They read a
letter from Ahmed Yazdi, who had enclosed a photograph of
the architect's design for the 'Ishqabad building and another
photograph of the ceremony in which the Russian governor
had laid the foundation stone. They read a letter written by a
Baha'f who had been present at the ceremony. And they read
a letter from Assad'Ullah in which he urged the Chicago Ba­
ha'is to build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in their city. The meeting
unanimously decided to send a letter to 'Abdu'l-Baha asking
permission to do so. They also selected a committee of five
members to look for a suitable site and asked another member
to info�m the local community. Another member was asked to
investigate the possibility of obtaining the house at 475 W.
Monroe St. , as some felt this location was sacred to the Cause
as the House of Spirituality had first met there. Other mem­
bers thought that site would probably be too small.
The House sent a letter to 'Abdu'l-Baha asking that he
' 'Permit us to begin the blessed undertaking of the erection of
the Mashrak el Azkar in Chicago! "7 At their meeting on 30
May the House read 'Abdu'l-Baha's reply in which he gave
124 Part Two: The Building

permission and encouraged them to proceed. They also re­
ceived another encouraging letter from Assad'Ullah, in which
he quoted from the tablet and pointed out to the House the
importance of their undertaking:

. . . ever since I met you, I wished for you great spiritual develop­
ment and good progress, both in the world and in things pertain­
ing to the Kingdom . . . . Praise be to God, the first House of
Justice was organized there first, and in its establishment you
took precedence of all, and in following the Commandments of
the Most Holy Book, such as praying, fasting, etc. Now, through
the Mercy of God, I hope you will be the first to establish the
Mashrek-el-Azcar. The Master says distinctly: "Indeed ye are
the first to arise for this glorious cause, in that great region. ' ' Ob­
serve the lofty station of this Verse and the intrinsic value of
these words. Then know that hereafter all the Temples of Wor­
ship that shall be built in America will revolve around the first.8

On 27 June, the House decided to hold a special meeting
"on Thursday evening July 2nd, to be devoted entirely to the
subject of Mashrek-el-Azcar. " At that meeting, they dis­
cussed the need for definite procedures and decided to write
to 'Ishqabad for a copy of the plans that had been used there
to help them determine how much land would be needed. The
committee that had been appointed to look for a site was re-
. quested to wait until further details had been received, and
the general feeling was that the House did not yet have
enough information to make definite plans. In the autumn of
1903 , 'Ishqabad wrote that they had received the request for
plans and hoped to send them shortly. I have found no indica­
tion that plans were ever received.
Little seems to have happened in relation to the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar project for over a year. In December 1904, Louise
Waite organized a concert for the benefit of the Temple
Fund, the proceeds of which were temporarily loaned to the
The Choice of a Site 125

Bahai Publishing Society. This was the first large fund­
raising event held.
In January 1905, the House wrote in a circular letter to the
Eastern Baha'f communities, "we hopefully look forward to
the time when . . . we shall have a Mashrek-el-Azcar built in
His Name, wherein the sincere Bahais may gather to wor­
ship. " 9 However, no immediate steps were taken. Undoubt­
edly, the major factor holding back the House was financial.
They were having considerable difficulty in even meeting the
rent on the hall that was used for the weekly community
meeting and were in no position to initiate a building project.
In October 1905, Waite presented the House with a certifi­
cate for $100 discount on a piano, suggesting that it be used
toward purchasing one for the community. It was decided to
return the certificate to Waite with a letter of appreciation.
This letter explained, "in view of the fact that we do not
know at present just when we shall be able to have the 'home'
of which you speak, it was .deemed advisable to bend all ef­
forts to raising the hall rent every month and then for trans­
lating and publishing the Holy Utterances . ' '
I n addition to the House of Spirituality i n Chicago, there
was another body called the Woman's Assembly of Teaching.
The membership of the House was limited to men, although
both men and women elected it. The Woman's Assembly was
composed solely of women and elected by the women of the
community. The Woman's Assembly had been founded at the
same time as the House with the intention that it serve as a
women's auxiliary to that body. It had quickly become a
largely independent women's institution that functioned in
many ways parallel to the House in the community . 10
The House and the Woman's Assembly had occasional joint
meetings, and it was at one of these, on 2 1 October 1905, that
it was decided to refuse Waite's offer of the piano certificate.
It was at the suggestion of Corinne True that this was done
126 Part Two: The Building

and that the reasons of the demands of the hall rent and pub­
lishing were given. At this joint meeting, it was also unani­
mously decided to amalgamate the treasuries of the House
and the Woman's .Assembly under:

. . . one Treasurer, whose disbursements of monies shall be under
the auspices of the H. of S. [House of Spirituality]. Also a finance
Committee of two, one chosen by the ladies (probably Mrs. Phil­
lips), and one by the H. of S. but all collections and contributions
made in a general way by the whole Assembly will go into the
hands of one Treasurer, Mr. Scheffler, and be for pay­
ing necessary hall rentals, then for needed translations and pub­
lishing of Holy Utterances.1 1

Thus, it i s evident that the Woman's Assembly, and Mrs.
True herself, understood the financial stringency under which
the House operated and that the resources· of the community
were barely meeting its current needs let alone providing a
surplus from which to initiate a building project.
Despite this decision to amalgamate the treasuries of the
House and the Woman's Assembly, it would seem that the
Woman's Assembly continued to keep most of the funds it re­
ceived under its own control. In the autumn of 1906, a house
was bought in Muskegon, Michigan, by the Chicago Baha'is.
)'he Muskegon Baha'is, who had been taught the Faith by
True, who had a summer home in nearby Fruitport, met at
the home of a widow who had three orphaned grandchildren
to care for. Considerable aid was being given to this woman
by the Chicago Baha'is, as she was without resources. Rather
than continue to assist her to pay rent on her house, True sug­
gested that the house should be bought and the family permit­
ted to live in it rent-free. The house was purchased for $225,
and at the time it was bought all funds then held by Mrs. Phil­
lips for the Woman' s Assembly were turned over to Charles
Ioas, who was conducting the purchase on behalf of the House.
The Choice of a Site 127

As the Woman's Assembly was then short of funds, they
asked for the return of the money raised by Waite 's concert
that had been loaned to the Publishing Society. Although the
$101 .50 that had been raised by the concert was supposedly
loaned interest-free, the Woman's Assembly received a small
bonus, as $103 was returned to True on their behalf in De­
cember 1906. The difference is hardly large enough to consti­
tute interest and may have been simply an accounting error or
a lapse of memory as to how much had been loaned. This sum
formed the basis of a new Temple Fund.
In early November 1906, at a " 19 day Tea" hosted by the
Woman's Assembly, the women present proposed that a peti­
tion to 'Abdu'l-Baha confirming the desire of the Baha'fs to
build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar be circulated throughout North
America and signed by as many as possible. In late Novem­
ber, a Sunday community meeting was devoted mainly to the
subject of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Fareed, Assad'Ullah's son,
gave a talk on how the 'Ishqabad community had gone about
building their Mashriqu'l-Adhkar:

drew comparisons between the Oriental and Occidental
methods of procedure and the ways of doing things. He said the
Ashkhabad Assembly did not wait (as we do) until they had a
sufficient sum of money in the bank to complete the edifice be­
fore they commenced its erection-which the average Occidental
is the practical way-but they purchased a piece of ground,
made it a beautiful garden, held open air meetings in the summer
time; and when they could, erected a frame structure, which was
used as a school for the Bahai children during week days; until
finally-nine years after the ground was purchased, and when all
the Bahai world knew of their intention-they commenced the
edifice; at which time money poured in from all parts of the
Orient-Persia, India, Egypt, Syria, Arabia-and enough and to
spare was received to complete the work.
By way of illustrating the particular point I referred to, he said
128 Part Two: The Building

that the friends in Rangoon, India [Burma], did not say, ' 'We will
not send money, but keep what we have for our own Temple
when we can erect one; for a Temple in Russia will not benefit us
thousands of miles away! "-but they said, "This is the first Tem­
ple of God in this Glorious Age, and we are happy to do what we
can to see it arise! " He said, they were true Bahais for glory is not
for him who loves his country or his city; but for him who loves
the whole world. 12

This talk contributed to a growing opinion that although it
was proposed to build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago, this
was not to be considered merely a Chicago project but,
rather, it was to be a national endeavor. True felt that the
earlier view, that the project was mainly a Chicago concern,
had held it back: ' 'It was this limitation which rendered us
powerless & now that its fetters are broken let those of us
who can, arise to offer our incompetent services today, as the
widow's mite; blunt instruments will make a beginning. " 13
However, it must be noted that although contributions to as­
sist with the 'Ishqabad building did come from many Baha'f
communities, the bulk of the cost was born by one Baha'f,
who put his personal resources at the disposal of the project.
The widows' mites helped, but they could not have done it
alone.
During 1 906, it became generally known throughout the
country that Chicago was intending to build a Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar and enquiries began to be received from various Ba­
ha'f communities asking for details of what was being done.
Around this time also a number of communities wrote to 'Ab­
du'l-Baha asking if they could build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of
their own. They were informed that they should assist with
the one in Chicago. However, it is clear that 'Abdu'l-Baha
intended that the one in Chicago would be for the Chicago
community to use, but that it was necessary for all the com­
munities to assist, as the Chicago community did not have
The Choice of a Site 129

sufficient resources of its own. After the completion of the
Chicago building, then the united efforts of the national com­
munity would be focused on another city, and so a Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar could be successfully provided for each community
one by one. Indeed, 'Abdu'l-Baha even wrote to one commu­
nity that they could start their Mashriqu'l-Adhkar immedi­
ately if they could also contribute to the Chicago project.
Another idea about the Chicago Mashriqu'l-Adhkar that
was widely discussed in late 1906 was that the building did
not need to be an expensive and monumental structure, but
that a fairly simple and inexpensive building would do. This
idea was communicated to the House of Spirituality ' 'through
various sources" and originated with 'Abdu'l-Baha. The im­
portant thing was to erect as soon as possible a structure that
would function as a ' 'central meeting place, no matter how
humble as a beginning, that could be increased in size and
grandeur as fast as circumstances and conditions would war­
rant . " 14 This idea did not enter the consciousness of the com­
munity to the extent that the "national" concept did. Indeed,
the national concept probably militated against the idea of a
modest structure for immediate local use.
Arthur Agnew, a member of the House, was planning to
visit 'Abdu'l-Baha in early 1907, and the House decided to
send a letter with him putting the various questions they had
in relation to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project. The petition
suggested by the Woman's Assembly was being circulated by
True, and it was planned that Agnew should also take this to
'Abdu'l-Baha. The Agnews were delayed by the illness of a
child and True herself took the petition. When Agnew and his
family went they were accompanied by two other members of
the House: Chase and Scheffler. The Agnew party met True
in Naples on their way to the Holy Land and as she was
returning from there. In its letter sent with Agnew the House
asked:
1 30 Part Two: The Building

Is it well that the people in America shall at this time bend all
their efforts to the erection of a material temple (Mashrek-el­
Azcar) and that this matter shall precede all other work in the
Cause? Or shall we first provide for the necessary expenses of a
meeting-place where all the friends may gather from the different
parts of this great city of nearly two million inhabitants, and also
provide for the care of the sick and needy among us. We greatly
desire the erection of a glorious temple as a standard of the Great
Cause of God before the eyes of all the people, and at all times we
are making effort to assist in that work; but as far as we can now
see with our short vision, the first requirement is to unite the
hearts and purposes of the people into one, and win to the Cause
many more strong believers than we have now. As yet we are but
a few souls scattered among the great multitude, and we need to
come together weekly in meeting to know each other, to learn of
each other, to assist each other. These things require material
means, and we have felt that they, together with the publishing of
books to carry the Word to seekers, and the provision of money
for our Brothers Harris and Ober [who were traveling for the
Faith in India] were necessary before the actual buying of land
and building of a material temple. We feel that we must strive to
feed the hungry and seekers with the Word of God, and attract
them by entire unity of a body of earnest friends, before we can
erect a great and costly edifice befitting the dignity, loftiness and
beauty of the Cause of God. This city has many great and fine
churches standing amid multitudes of the poor and needy, to
whom they seem a mockery. Must we not build a great and
strong temple in the hearts of men, before we can wisely erect
such an edifice? Our service is that of God and of men, not the
honoring of Gold which seals the hearts; to feed the souls of men,
rather than to pander to pride. 0 our Lord and Master, guide us
to wisdom in this matter.
This is a country of wealth, but there are a few rich and many
poor people. The cost of living is very high. The mass of the be­
lievers are very poor in worldly goods, though rich in faith and
love. The writer [Scheffler], who has for years handled the funds
The Choice of a Site 131

o f the Chicago Assembly knows well that the members have
much difficulty to bear their current expenses which the main­
tenance and progress of the Cause requiTe. The rent of our hall,
which is our meeting place and Mashrek-el-Azcar, must be paid.
The sick and needy must be helped. Books of the Word must be
printed. Our friends in India must be aided on their journey.
These are the things in which we are trying to unite all the
friends, and with our present number and their means, it is the ut­
most for which they can provide.15,

After the pilgrims returned from the Holy Land, they in­
formed the community that 'Abdu'l-Baha did indeed wish
them to proceed with a building as soon as possible; that he
considered it to be a matter of the utmost importance and pri­
ority; that other communities should assist Chicago and that
Chicago should keep them informed of developments in the
hope that they would contribute financially; that it was not
necessary to build in one of the more expensive areas of the
city, but it was preferable to acquire a site near the lakeshore;
and that a modest structure should be built now rather than
wait until a large edifice was feasible. The organizational de­
velopments that took place after these two pilgrimages will be
discussed in detail in the next section; in this section, I will
concentrate on the process of selecting and confirming a site.
During the summer of 1907, a number of Baha'fs were ac­
tively looking for a suitable site. Initially, attention was con­
centrated on the North Shore area, but in August the House
was informed of a large area of land that included many sites
for sale just south of Jackson Park on the southern side of the
city. Several members of the House visited this area and they
recommended one particular block as a possible location.
However, when the owners were contacted, it was discovered
that the asking price was $85,000 for the block and that they
would not COt;l-Sider dividing it into smaller lots. As a result,
132 Part Two: The Building

this site was not seriously considered, but a member of the
House, Sutherland, was asked to make enquiries about other
property near it.
In September, Sutherland reported on a nearby site that
was only a quarter of a block (300ft. x 180ft.). At their meet­
ing on 14 September, the House asked Sutherland to find out
terms for this site. On 2 1 September, he reported that the
asking price was $15,500 and that the sellers would accept
$1 ,000 down with $4,000 at the end of a year and the balance
to be paid on terms to be agreed . The House was in favor of
this site but asked Sutherland to see if he could get better
terms.
Just after the House reached this decision, Windust went to
Washington, D.C., to represent them at a reception for the
Turkish minister which was to be held at the home of Miss
Grosvenor on 24 September 1907. Representatives of all Ba­
ha'f communities had been invited to attend. At the reception,
the news was quietly spread that Windust had photographs of
the site selected by the House and that there would be a meet­
ing the following afternoon for all who were, interested in see-
ing them.
Nineteen Baha'fs, including members of the Uttica, Roches­
ter, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington com­
munities, came to the meeting. Windust explained that the
movement to build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago dated
back to 1903 and had been approved by 'Abdu'l-Baha. He
stated that the House felt that they were acting as agents of
all the Baha'f communities in the matter and that they had
sought to locate a site that would be generally pleasing to
'Abcl.u'l-Baha and Baha'fs throughout the country. He showed
a sketch of the layout of Chicago to show how the proposed
site was contiguous to the area being developed as part of the
"Beautiful Chicago" scheme that created the lakeshore
The Choice of a Site 133

parks; the site, indeed, was on the park line, and a Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar on this site would be visible for miles. The area had a
sentimental attraction, as it was at Jackson Park that the
World's Columbian Exposition had been held in 1 893. In con­
junction with that event there had been the World's Parlia­
ment of Religions during which the Faith had been publicly
mentioned for the first time in Chicago. The site was also
highly practical as it was readily accessible by public trans­
port and equally accessible to the working districts of the
Calumet area and the wealthier residential districts of
southern Chicago. Furthermore, it was not unduly expensive
for land so well situated close to the lake and the parks.
Windust reported that those at the meeting "seemingly en­
dorsed the action of the House of Spirituality in their en­
deavor to serve the Cause in this important matter. ' ' After his
return to Chicago, Windust attended a meeting in Kenosha on
3 October and explained the site choice there. 1 6
On 5 October, the House heard from Sutherland that the sit­
uation in regard to the terms remained unchanged and it was
up to the House to make a definite proposal to the agent. The
House decided to notify the community at the general Sunday
meeting on the following day that the question of the site
would be presented to them for final decision on the next Sun­
day, 13 October. However, at its meeting on 12 October, the
House "agreed that no action for decision on Temple question
be had before Assembly tomorrow evening as was the inten­
tion one week previous, but that instead informal gatherings
be held in the homes for further consultation by all concerned
and that Assembly be notified to that effect. " There is no fur­
ther mention of the House's chosen site in its minutes.
We have seen that initial efforts to locate a site were con­
centrated on the North Shore area. It would seem that those
who had decided on that area as the most appropriate in
134 Part Two: The Building

which to search held to their opinion and did not wish to con­
sider a site on the southern side of the city. Rather than en­
courage a community dispute, the House let the matter rest.
True, in particular, pressed for the adoption of a North
Shore site. In October 1907, she was negotiating for a site in
Evanston. The asking price on this site was $28,000, and she
wished the House to offer $25,000. She informed them that
"we could not find a better location. " 17 True also had an in­
terest in other sites in Evanston.
Obviously, if the House was hoping to negotiate a lower
price on the site they had selected and which was offered at
$15,500, they were not going to consider a site at $25, 000. At
the time, the resources they could call upon to begin purchase
of any site were between $1 ,500 and $2 ,000 .
On 26 November 1907, the famous gathering of Baha'fs to
consider the matter of a site took place in Chicago. In later
years, True referred to this meeting as "the first Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar convention" and she called the 1 909 convention at
which the Bahai Temple Unity was formed the "second
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar convention. " She was unique in this; to
everyone else the "first" convention was the one in 1909.
Despite this attempt to link the 1907 meeting with later in­
stitutional developments and to give it a national status, the
meeting was arranged by True herself, possibly with the
cooperation of the Woman's Assembly. The House discussed
the coming meeting on 23 November, and Windust annotated
the minutes to specifically exclude any official status for the
26 November gathering. He wrote that it "was not a conven­
tion, but the gathering of a few friends from the west coast
and others adjacent to Chicago. "
If we consider those who attended on 2 6 November, we find
that it was hardly a national event. With the exception of one
man from Kenosha, there were no representatives from the
communities which had been informed of the rationale behind
The Choice of a Site 1 35

the House's choice of site and had endorsed their actions.
Apart from the few Chicago Baha'is who attended there was a
Baha'i from Racine and another from Milwaukee in Wiscon­
sin; one from Muskegon and one from Bangor, Michigan; one
from Spokane, Washington; and one from Oakland, Califor­
nia. The evening discussion to consider the sites they had
viewed during the day was actually held in True's home .
Most of the House did not attend the discussion, and it is un­
likely that those Chicago Baha'is who were opposed to a
North Shore considered going to her home to discuss a
matter on which her opinion was known and settled . 18 At any
rate, the meeting voted to recommend a site on the north of
the city.
True later claimed , and it became generally accepted, that
this was the site on which the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar now stands,
but it was actually another site in North Evanston. 19 On 30
November 1907, the House decided to look into a site on
" S.W. cor. Sheridan Rd. and Hill St. , North Evanston, ap­
proved of by delegates at meeting held on Tuesday evening,
Nov. 26th, at the home of Mrs. True; also ascertain price and
terms and make report to Assembly [community]. " Agnew
and Lesch were appointed as an investigating committee to
make enquiries. There is no further mention of this site, and
we may assume that it was too expensive to consider. 20
While the House continued to discuss the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar regularly, they seem to have laid aside the matter of a
site and concentrated on other aspects of the project. As they
had selected a feasible site at reasonable cost and had it re­
jected through the efforts of those pressing for a North Shore
site, there was really nothing they could do. Each North
Shore site that was proposed was much more expensive than
the one they had felt the community was barely able to afford.
In early March 1908, True located another North Shore
site. She had set out one day with Cecilia Harrison and
136 Part Two: The Building

Enayat Ullah Esphahani to find a location, and they had dis­
covered a site for sale just north of North Evanston on Sheri­
dan Road and Linden Avenue in Wilmette. This is the site on
which the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was built. True contacted an
agent about the land and was informed that the asking price
for the sixteen lots that comprised the site was $42, 078, but
the agent recommended an offer of $36,315. 21
True took her correspondence with the agent to the House
meeting on 2 1 March, taking Mrs. Foster and Susan Moody
(members of the Ways and Means Committee) with her for
support. She proposed that a small part of the site be bought
at the best terms possible and an option be secured on the
rest. The House decided to postpone action for a week. The
three women attended the following week's meeting on 28
March. It was reported that a six-month option could be had
for $ 1 ,000, and this could be extended for a second six
months for a further $ 1 , 500. The House decided that an op­
tion was inadvisable , as land prices were falling, but that to
secure a small part of the site, "say 100 feet at lowest cash
price, ' ' would be feasible. It was decided that this conclusion
should be reported to the community at the weekly meeting
on the following day and their approval asked for. Approval
was received, and two lots on Linden Avenue were purchased
for $2,000 in cash. (This was accurately represented by True
and her supporters as a good price for these lots; the going
rate would have been between $2, 500 and $3,000. )
The purchase of these two lots was not considered to b e a
final choice of site by the House, however, but a means to de­
crease the pressure that was being brought to bear by the
True lobby and a safe investment. In December 1 908, the
House published an official statement in The Bahai Bulletin
on ' 'the history and the details of the purchase of the ground' '
as ' 'there seems to b e a general desire t o know ' ' what oc­
curred. Despite the carefully conciliatory tone of this state­
ment and its repeated insistence that everything happened in
The Choice of a Site 137

a "friendly" way, it reported that "a number of the maidser­
vants" came to the meetings of the House and "insisted on
action, arguing against delay. ' ' The House had then taken the
idea of buying the two lots to the community. The statement
explains that they ' 'felt it wise to recommend to the friends
the purchase of this land for various reasons, " but the only
reason mentioned is that it was a "safe investment" that
' 'could be readily converted into cash'' if it should not prove
to be the best site.
The pressuring of the House into making the initial pur­
chase of part of the Wilmette site took place when its most
stalwart member, Thornton Chase, was out of town. After
'
seeing a plat of the site, he wrote to Windust that he thought
it unwise to try "to procure all that $34,000 plot. " However,
he did think "it would be fine to be able to get another 100 ft.
front [on Linden Avenue], so as to have a practical square 200
x 196 ft. This would be enough, not only for the Temple, but
to take care of. "22 Later in the year, after he was apprised of
the details and had seen the site, Chase wrote that he would
not personally have assented to the purchase if he had been in
town.23
Apart from their published statement, the House sent a pri­
vate explanation of the land purchase to the New York Board
of Consultation in late 1908:

When the land was bought it was because of several reasons.
Abdul-Baha had urged that a start be made, and as there was
$2,000 on hand, the friends showed extreme anxiety that some­
thing should be done. They were agitated and calling earnestly
for some tangible evidence of action. A few of them had ascer­
tained that the piece of land, two lots, could be bought for cash at
a low price, and brought the strongest pressure, week after week,
upon the members of the House of Spirituality to buy that piece
of land. Finally, although it was not desired by all the friends, the
majority of them acceded, and the land was bought as a possible
beginning of the Temple site, and with the feeling that it was a
138 Part Two: The Building

safe investment anyhow, as the land could doubtless be sold for
as much or more at any time, if another site should be found more
desirable. It was also felt that by buying some land and thus
showing readiness to "do something" a greater degree of unity
might ensue and funds for further progress come in more quickly
and abundantly. 24

It is evident that the House did not consider that having
bought the two lots they were committed to the site, nor did
they feel committed to buying the entire expensive site if it
was decided to build there. For True and her supporters, this
was not an acceptible attitude. They considered the land in its
entirety to be the site; no other could be considered, and all
the land must be secured. The House continued to work on
the project, developing their plans for a system of national or­
ganization to help build the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and encourag­
ing Baha'is locally and nationally to lend their support. In
particular, they tried to increase the funds available, as they
considered it advisable to avoid debts and that the money for
each stage of the project should be collected before they en­
tered into financial commitments. What they would not do
was obtain an option on the entire site or agree to ascribe to it
the ordaihed quality that was being insisted upon by True's
group.
In September, True wrote to the House suggesting that
they obtain an option on the rest of the site in case the price
should rise . At their meeting on 29 September the House de­
cided such an action was not feasible. Chase was not at this
meeting, but a few days after it he wrote:

The ground paid for is by no means certain to be the building
ground. Mrs. T. and some others think, because Abdul-Baha has
approved it, that it only can be the building spot, but all do not
thi;nk so, and letters we have from Him show that it is not neces-
The Choice of a Site 139

sarily the place, as we are advised to get more land by adding to
that or elsewhere. But the purchase of any considerable amount
of land there, or anywhere, is out of the question until we have
the money to pay for it. We do not propose to go into debt in this
matter, nor to waste the trust funds committed to our care. The
money comes but slowly. We have about $ 1,600 cash and $2,000
in the land, and we could "call" on about $700 more in case of
need, which is being held by two assemblies, Kenosha and New
York, to accumulate until it shall be needed. 25

In November 1 908, Chase wrote to 'Abdu'l-Baha:

Dear Master: The House of Spirituality with the aid of many
others is striving to gather sufficient money to add more land to
that already bought, or to secure a larger plot elsewhere and to
begin on the foundation of the building. The money comes but
slowly as it is earned by toil and labor of the poor, but it does
come and the amount is steadily increasing. It does not seem fit­
ting that this great work shall be only begun as a small hut, nor
that debt shall be incurred in its building, but we long to make it
a dignified building that shall command at least the respect of
men. We long to fulfil Thy 9esire and are all endeavoring to for­
ward the work as rapidly as possible. 26

From at least the time of the purchase of the two lots, True
and her supporters sought to sanctify the site she had chosen.
They assumed the right to use all the land, even though the
Baha'fs only owned two lots in one corner. Indeed, they point­
edly did not use these two lots, but met at the highest point of
the ground toward the middle of the site. They went to the
site in small groups to pray, but there were also larger-scale
efforts to link the site to the Faith.
On 18 May 1908, the House received a circular from True
that she was sending out inviting Baha' fs to celebrate the
Declaration of the Bab on the Site:
140 Part Two: The Building

0 thou who art firm in the Covenant!
Praise be unto GOD, the Clement, the Merciful! We are thank­
ful that we are again allowed to celebrate the day of the Declara­
tion of His Holiness, the Bab.
Dear Bahai Friends:-
This year it is requested that all the assemblies in this part of
the country celebrate the day of the Declaration of His Holiness,
the Bab, on the grounds selected for the first Mashrek-el-Azcar
(Bahai Temple), in America, at the North-west corner of Sheridan
Road and Linden Ave . , Saturday, May 23, 1908.
The friends from Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Chicago
will unite in this celebration, also those in nearby towns, serving a
basket dinner at one o'clock.
Take the Evanston Electric Car to Ridge Ave. and Central St.
(North Evanston), and walk North on Ridge to Linden Ave.
In case of inclement weather, the friends will hold the celebra­
tion in the home of Mr. & Mrs. True . . . .

At the celebration, the words of Mattie Watson's "The First
Temple Song" were read, as were letters from communities
around the country pledging to assist with the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar.
The experience of visiting the site on this and other occa­
sions produced m ixed reactions, as some Baha' is discovered
how relatively inaccessible it was. In July 1908, Emma Car­
michael wrote to the House:

I hope you will receive this communication in the kind spirit it is
offered. You speak of erecting a Mashrak-el-Azkar in America,
when the beloved One, Abdul-Baha is calling from that Bright
Spot in tones of thunder in every Tablet, "Build in Chicago" and
to other towns in America when they ask for a Mashrek-el-Azkar,
"No, build in Chicago first" etc. Now I have been to the land
selected and we find it takes us all of lf2 day to get there and back
to Chicago, not remaining for any service, besides walking a mile
The Choice of a Site 141

to the grounds from any car lines, which in the most beautiful day
is not a very pleasant thing for many of our people and I find we
are building or expect to build on those lots putting our own dear
Temple three towns beyond Chicago, and how can we attend
service there every day, it is an utter impossibility for many of
our people, as we are not millionaires, and our dear little band
seems to grow smaller every day and I have heard several say:­
, 'I have been there once but I never can go away out there to wor­
ship. " Dear brothers can't we trade those lots off for lots in
CHICAGO? Regarding the matter of being on the lake, those lots
are not on the lake. We are very anxious to co-operate and help
all we can in the matter of erecting the Mashraek-el-Azkar, and
desire nothing so much as the promotion of the Cause of Abha. 27

The House received an even more pointed expression of
opinion from Mattie Watson, the author of ' 'The First Bahai
Temple Song," in response to one of their appeals. "I have
given $6 .00 toward the Temple, and $5. 00 toward the rent of
hall .. I do not now enclose a dollar, as I otherwise should if
.

I was pleased with the location of the Mashrek-el-azcar. "28
Chase commented on the site : "it does seem to me rather
lacking in wisdom to place the Temple away out in the coun­
try, where it not only requires from one and a half hours to
two hours with the very best transportation to reach it, to say
nothing of a long walk at the further end , rather [than] within
at least 'reaching' distance of the city center. ' '29
As well as using the site for gatherings, a more overtly sym­
bolic attempt to establish the unpurchased land as the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar location was made when True and some
others made a circle of nine stones on the ground and said
prayers while anointing the stones with perfume and olive oil.
As with most of her actions in regard to the Mashriqu ' l­
Adhkar., True wrote of this occasion to 'Abdu'l-Baha. Whem
she received his response, she used it to reinforce her claim as
to the site's "consecration. "
In August 1 908, the House distributed a printed leaflet
142 Part Two: The Building

which included a Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Baha and a long letter
from Assad'Ullah. In the letter, Assad'Ullah commented,
"Now is the time for expending energy and power in the erec­
tion of the edifice, be it a mere stone, laid in the name of the
Bahai Mashrak-el-Azkar. For the glory and honor of the first
stone is equivalent to all the stones and implements which will
later be used there. " However, that the implications of this
statement were largely metaphoric can be seen from the sen­
tences that followed: "If the first stone is not firmly laid upon
a solid foundation, no stone will stand upon another. Reflect a
little upon the name Peter and the building of the Christian
Church, so that the subject becomes fully elucidated. ' ' Cer­
tainly Assad'Ullah was encouraging the Baha'is to proceed
with building, but his imagery seems to have inspired a very
literal enactment.
True's seamstress, Nettie Tobin, obtained an unwanted
stone from a Chicago construction site and took it home.
Shortly thereafter, she enlisted the aid of an older Persian Ba­
ha'i to assist her to take the stone to the site where they were
to meet True and Cecilia Harrison. After a difficult journey
by public transport to the end of the commuter train line, they
tried to drag the stone to the site. As they were so long in
coming, True and Harrison walked toward the station and
met them. They were unable to bring the stone to the site,
and it was left overnight. The next day, Tobin returned and,
with the aid of a newsboy, managed to get the stone to the
site. This stone became a focal point for prayer gatherings
and was later used as the dedication stone when 'Abdu'l-Baha
visited the site. It has been generally known as the "corner­
stone , ' ' although it has never served any structural function.
The extraordinary effort that Tobin put into this gesture no
doubt increased its symbolic effect, which was probably the
intent, as True could easily have provided some rational
means of transport to get the stone to Wilmette.
The Choice of a Site 143

Throughout the summer and autumn of 1908, True was
also making use of Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha to support her
position. She maintained that they indubitably confirmed the
choice of site. The House, which took a broader range of
Tablets into consideration, felt that it was more accurate to
consider that 'Abdu'l-Baha did not object to the site but
would be happy either if more land were bought there or if a
larger plot than the two lots in Wilmette were purchased else­
where. They felt that the important thing was to obtain a site
and build on it in a practical and timely fashion, and that this
was what 'Abdu'l-Baha urged rather than an unswerving at­
tachment to a particular piece of land. True found this view
unacceptable.
The situation was exacerbated when Annie Boylan of New
York returned from pilgrimage in the autumn of 1908. She
claimed that 'Abdu'l-Baha had told her that the site must not
be changed and that he had said that he had written to that
feet. This report was widely circulated and True distributed
copies of it. The problem for the House was that the report
did not square with 'Abdu'l-Baha's written statements. They
suggested that perhaps Boylan or her interpreter had been in­
fluenced by their own wishes in the construction they had
placed .on 'Abdu'l-Baha's words. They were also well aware
that �q�J4Ul was a leader of the group opposing the New York
Board of Counsel (which would succeed in ousting the Board
and electing their own slate in 1910) and was not well dis­
posed toward the Chicago House either.
On 17 November 1908, there was a j oint meeting of the .
House and the Ways and Means Committee of the Chicago
Baha'f community to discuss the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Accord­
ing to Chase, after this meeting True:

. . . wrote a letter to me accusing the members of the House of
Spirituality of "denying Abdul-Baha, " etc . . . .
144 Part Two: The Building

The cause of such action was simply that when a joint meeting
of the House and the ladies of the local "Ways and Means Com­
mittee" was held, and Mrs. True was speaking of the consecra­
tion of the land, the members all stated calmly and quietly that as
they were not aware of such a consecration, nor was it certain
that that location would be the ,one to be finally used. Further­
more it was clearly stated that there was no shadow of antagon­
ism to that location, no feeling either for or against, but there was
a question of doubt as to whether it was as good a location, as fit­
ting and appropriate as some other that might yet be found. That
was all, and at the time it seemed to create no feeling but kind­
ness. Afterward, however, the letter named was sent to me. It
was referred to the House, and the reply was made brief and sim­
ple, to the effect that (without naming it) if such a condition as
was mentioned in her letter existed, the H . of S. prayed that it
might soon cease, and that all should work together for the carry­
ing out of Abdul-Baha's desires. That ended the matter as far as
any of the members know. 30

The matter was certainly not closed for True. In late Decem­
ber 1908, she sent the House copies of Tablets and correspon­
dence (including a copy of a letter to her from Boylan detailing
the conversation with 'Abdu'l-Baha; this version differs in
wording from another version circulating at the same time)
and her covering letter included this pointed comment:

God grant that every Bahai surrender his will, his reason, his
judgment, to the One Supreme Will of Baha'Ullah which today is
made flesh & dwelling among us in the person of Abdul Baha.
Through Tablets Abdul Baha has given us perfect instructions
how to organize this Great Temple Work and where to build the
Mashrak el Azkar. May we become as the ' 'little Children' ' Jesus
taught & without a trace of desire go to the Holy Tablets for our
guidance and obey them. 31

For True and her supporters, the site was chosen; for the
House, a site was needed and it might be the site in Wilmette
The Choice of a Site 145

or it might not; it was still an open question. The House felt
the decision was up to the new national organization that was
developed to help erect the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. the
case of the national organization also, the True party was to
·n r, ,., _ .:l Cwe shall see-and the site was t o be confirmed. ul-
timate had to wait a few though, until lapse
of memory allowed it to be identified with the November 1907
convention. ' '
the Wilmette was only two blocks north of the
recommended by the meeting at True' s home 1907, it
seem that some of who attended that rn a,c.r• -n• IT
could have confused as t o whether they saw the Wil-
then or not. Actually, the Wilmette
r h +·ta1"'.o-nt- relationship to Sheridan Road, the
F' I HT"l � I L.>T<Cl i'< T

and District Canal than the 1907 and it
would be hard to confuse the without the of a
of years and an expectation that the Wilmette
was the one seen 1907. Obviously, there is no way
could believed the two to be the same
first that the Wilmette had been chosen in 1907,
although may have come to believe own story in

At 1913, Albert
Hall an afternoon meeting. In his he spoke
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and described the land as being
picked by "a few simple hearted good women of large
faith."32 At least from the time of True's 1915 written ac­
count of the beginnings of the project, these few women had
lost precedence to the 26 November 1907, gathering. As the
Faith became more institutionalized, for the to have been
recommended by a supposed "Mashriqu'l-Adhkar conven­
tion" rather than a few individuals greatly enhanced its le­
gitimacy, something that True seems to have felt it needed
despite her strenuous efforts at consecration.
1 46 Part Two: The Building

THE BAHAI TEMPLE UNITY

In the last few months of 1906, the news that there was a
plan to build a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago reached various
Baha'i communities throughout the country. It would seem
that this was the first time most had heard of it. Even a com­
munity in as close contact with Chicago as Kenosha was not
aware of the details of what had happened previously, and the
Kenosha Board wrote to the Chicago House asking for details
in December 1906. In particular, they wished to know exactly
what 'Abdu'l-Baha had asked to be done. The House replied:

In your letter you ask questions, regarding the proposed building
of a Mashrek-el-Azkar (Bahai Temple) in America . . . .
We, the members of the House of Spirituality, as well as others,
have received Tablets bearing upon this subject, a printed copy of
a of them is herewith enclosed. It will become evident,
through a perusal of enclosed Tablets, that no particular city or
place has been designated, in which this Temple is to be erected.
That· no person, or persons in particular have been appointed to
take charge of the preparatory work, such as gathering of funds,
etc. Our Master has simply invoked the blessing and confirma­
tions of the True One (God) to descend upon any and all who will
arise for this service. Permit me to say, however, in this connec­
tion, that our Master (Abdul-Baha), as well as the Father (Baha'­
u'llah), have ordained it to be the function of the Counsel Boards
in the various centers to attend to and negotiate the business
fairs of their respective localities and that the General Assemblies
[communities] should conduct thep1selves in harmony with the
deliberations of their chosen representatives. There is, no doubt,
great wisdom in this.
From the information we have on hand there is nothing which
would lead us to believe that this work has been specialized to
any particular locality, and the conditions existing at present
seem to strengthen us in the conviction that it is a general work
for the good of the whole body of American believers. And we
The Choice of a Site 147

might add, in this connection, that there is a movement on foot to
give impetus to this very idea.
There is no time limit as regards the completion of this work,
but there appears to be a great deal of virtue and strength in the
suggestion that it be done while the Master is still with us.
Our Beloved Master does not designate any particular method
of procedure; this He has no doubt left entirely to our good judg­
ment and consideration.
As regards what has been done in Chicago, in relation to this
work, permit me to say that as far as we know about Fifteen
Hundred Dollars (1500.00) has been subscribed to the Temple
Fund, which I feel reasonably sure will be forthcoming at the op­
portune moment. 33

It would seem that the " impetus" toward making the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project "a general work" expressed itself
at this time in letting other communities know of the project's
existence. In part, this was accomplished through the circula­
tion by True of the petition to be sent to 'Abdu'l-Baha. The
sheets for signatures were accompanied by a printed leaflet of
three Tablets: the first 1903 Tablet to the House approving
the idea of the project; a second Tablet from 1903 in which
building the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is described as "the greatest
affair and the most important matter today"; and a recently
received Tablet to True which again stressed the importance
of the project. Both True and the House also corresponded
with communities and individuals around the country about
the project.
As the House had decided in December 1906 to submit vari­
ous questions concerning the project to 'Abdu'l-Baha through
Agnew when he went on pilgrimage, they probably did not
wish to take further steps until these questions were an­
swered. Indeed, they expressed to the Kenosha Board their
expectation of having ' 'more light upon the subject as soon as
. . . Agnew returns, ' ' which would then bring them ' 'into a
148 Part Two: The Building

clear understanding of the situation. " After the return of Ag­
new's party, the House began to take definite steps to organ­
the project.
In June 1907, the House consulted with William Young (a
Chicago Baha'f who was professionally involved with real es­
tate) as to the legal requirements to be met for the community
to be able to purchase land and build. As a result, the
regular Sunday evening community meeting on 30 June there
was a business meeting ' 'for the express purpose of bringing
this matter before the Assembly. " First, the meeting had to
"decide upon an incorporate name, whereby the Assembly
shall be known. ' ' It was proposed and accepted ' 'that the cor­
porate name of this Assembly shall be the 'Bahai
bly. ' " Second, it was proposed that the "members of the
of Spirituality, be and are hereby
..... n' " '"� "" and declared
trustees of the 'Bahai Assembly' and shall have the care, cus­
tody and control of the real and personal property of the
'Bahai Assembly, ' subject to the direction of the ' Bahai As­
sembly,' and may, when directed by the 'Bahai '
erect houses or buildings, and improve and repair and alter
the same, and may when so directed, mortgage, incumber,
sell and convey, any real or personal estate of the 'Bahai
sembly' and enter into all lawful contracts in the name of and
in behalf of the 'Bahai Assembly. ' " This motion was also
passed and the meeting adjourned.
The phrase "subject to the direction of the 'Bahai Assem­
bly' ' ' in the resolution declaring the House members trustees
for the community points up the difference between the
general conception of the House 's status and that now held by
Spiritual Assemblies. The early administrative bodies of the
Baha'f Faith in North America were generally viewed as plan­
ning and executive bodies, whose actions were subject to the
direction and approval of their constituency, rather than as
authoritative institutions who arrived at and implemented de-
The Choice of a Site 149

cisions on their own best judgment. The need to seek ap­
proval from the general community for any steps it took in the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project contributed to preventing the
House from carrying out its plans, as this laid the plans and
actions of the House open to being blocked by pressure
brought from within the community. We have seen how this
operated in relation to the site.
After filing an affidavit of the 30 June proceedings in the
county recorder's office, the House felt that they had a legal
basis upon which to act. We have seen how the House then
initiated a search for a suitable site and what happened when
they found one. After the matter of a site came to an effective
halt in late 1907, the House concentrated on establishing a
broader organizational base to support the project.
At their meetings on 7 and 14 December 1907, the House
' 'considered, approved, ordered printed and circulated as
soon as possible" a circular letter on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
which was to be sent "throughout America. " The circular
was dated 1 9 December 1907, and after briefly outlining the
project from 1903, it noted the current state of affairs:

. . . in the spring of 1907, upon the return of pilgrims from Acca,
we were informed that the building of the Mashrak-el-Azcar was
the most important matter in America today.
This word has gone forth and reports are being received from
different parts that many Assemblies are each establishing a local
fund to in erecting this Monument to the Cause in this
Western World.
It is the purpose of this communication therefore, to announce
to the Friends everywhere that we are ready to serve the Cause of
God in this most important matter; having already made investi­
gation, and found that it is possible to procure a suitable site as
soon as we are ready to make the purchase . In pursuance of this
purpose the present members of the House of Spirituality have
been duly made Trustees for the holding of any properties and
1 50 Part Two: The Building

buildings under their jurisdiction, according to the legal
necessary in the State of Illinois.
Kindly favor us with an acknowledgment of this communication
at the earliest possible moment, that we may be assured of
arrival.

It is significant that the House made no mention of the 27
November meeting or that meeting's recommendation of a
specific site. The House was also following the policy
rt'Oc:<1- a rl by 'Abdu'l-Baha of simply informing other communi­

ties of what was happening and leaving it to them to offer
assistance. With the circular was sent a printed copy of a
prayer by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the Chicago community, which in­
cluded the hope that they would arise "to build the Mashrak-
"
In November 1907, Charles Mason Remey had written from
Washington, D.C. , that the "Working Committee " of the
ha' fs of that city supported the House in endeavors for the
Mashriqu'l-A_ dhkar. (Washington had a history of
to institutional development in the Faith. The Working Com­
...., of this date was the most
..... .. .. �, .., ..... had tolerated.) On
December, Remey met with the House to discuss how both
and the Washington Baha'is (in the few direct sup­
porters of the Working Committee) might best cooperate with
Chicago House and community in the project. Fareed was
also present as a at this meeting, and he spoke of the
need for unified action by all the communities. There was also
a Baha'f from Kenosha present. As a result of the n-� �:.ar,, n
steps were to be taken to establish a national organizational
base for the project, and Washington was to act as an inter­
mediary through which to present the plan:

due consideration, it was decided that effort be made
toward establishing an association of oneness among the different
assemblies throughout this country and that committees be ap.,.
The Choice of a Site l5 1

pointed i n various cities t o co-operate with the House o f Spiritual­
ity in Chicago, in order that the Temple project be brought to a
successful termination.
The aforesaid met with the approval of all present and it was
that this matter be presented to other assemblies through
Mr. Remey and the friends in Washington.

Throughout January 1908, the House received replies to
their December circular from various communities which ex­
pressed willingness to cooperate. They also corresponded
with Remey about the plan of national organization to be in­
troduced by Washington. In late February and late March,
circular letters were sent out from Washington addressed to
' 'the Bahais of America. ' ' These letters had been approved by
the House.
The first letter from Washington gave the usual brief sum­
mary of the project from 1903 and then allu�ed to the House's
1 9 December 1908, letter and the response to it. It continued
on the need for united effort to erect the building and the im­
portance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as an institution of the
Faith. In the final paragraph it promised a further communi­
cation "which, in addition to the abstract aspect of this work
of erecting a Temple in America, will touch also upon a plan
whereby all may unite in actual tangible service and be able to
manifest to all the world their purpose and desire to serve in
this most important of works . ' '
The second Washington letter, sent i n late March, set out
the scheme planned by agreement with the House in detail:

After consultation with those friends in Chicago, the House of
Spirituality of Bahais, through whose efforts this Temple Move­
ment was inaugurated, we propose the following plan by which all
interested will be enabled to unite and serve together in the erec­
tion of this the first Mashrak-El-Azcar (Temple) in the Western
World.
1 52 Part Two: The Building

It is suggested:
1 . That the Bahais in this country unite in forming ' 'The Bahai
Temple Association of America" , the object of which will be to
unite the Believers in this great work, to receive voluntary offer­
ings and therewith purchase suitable land, and to erect thereon
the Temple.
2. That The Bahai Temple Association of America have no
individual membership. That it be composed of local branches
throughout the country.
3. That in every city or town where there are three or more in­
terested souls, that they form one branch. . . . That all of these
branch associations keep in touch with the general association,
each through the working of a committee which shall be chosen
by the friends in that place . . .
4. That the Chicago House of Spirituality of Bahais be the legal
trustee of the Bahai Temple Association of America for the trans­
action of all legal business in connection with the receiving and
holding of funds (offerings) and the dispensing of the same for
lands upon which to build The Temple, for the building of The
Temple itself together with any incidental expenditures in con­
nection with the said service of building a Mashrak-El-Azcar in
America.
5. That for the present until it seems wise to make a change,
The Washington Branch . . . serve the General Association by
sending out and receiving communications . . . .
The Washington Friends therefore urge that in each place
where there are three or more Bahais banded together, they unite
in this work as soon as possible, forming themselves into a
Branch Association and placing themselves in communication
with the Washington Assembly . . .
The object of organizing the work as above laid out is to distrib­
ute equally among the Friends the opportunity to serve in this
great work of Unity which will be to the foundation of the Cause
in America as cement will be to the foundation of the material
Temple . . .

Despite resistance in a few communities (such as Washing­
ton) to local organization, the subject of national organization
The Choice of a Site 153

was in the air in the Baha'f community in 1907-1908. In June
1907, Louise Codwise of Washington, D.C. , sent out a printed
circular proposing a national system of nine member "links"
in an "endless chain. " In each town one of these circles of
nine members was to act as the "center for all the links" in
that town; in each state there was to be a state center; and
the "Central Circle of the District of Columbia" was to act as
national center and the channel for communication with
'Abdu'l-Baha.
In July, the New York Board brought this scheme to the
attention of the Chicago House. Howard MacNutt was un­
officially in touch with Cod wise on the Board's behalf, and
sent a copy of a letter that he wrote to her to the House. Mac­
Nutt reminded her that Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha had
instituted a plan whereby ' 'the various Bahai communities
throughout the world are at present under the advice and
guidance of an appointed Body known as the Board of Conn-
or of Spirituality, regularly elected, organized and
operative. " could not see how Codwise's plan would
monize" with this, but remarked that if the working out of her
scheme was to be "Bahai in its character, " it must do
MacNutt noted in his covering letter to the House that Cod­
wise had informed him that her plan had generated ' 'consider­
able enthusiasm. "35 It does not seem to have really had much
but it may have helped prepare the ground for the
......... ... ,� ..... ... .

Bahai Temple Association plan proposed a few months later.
In April l908, the House was informed of a more compre­
hensive plan of national organization by Edward ....... ""'"J ..LLJ;;;. vL
Getsinger had developed an elaborate proposed system of na­
tional Baha'f administration. Like Codwise's, his scheme had
local, state, and national levels with a Board at each level. He
also suggested that national administration be concentrated in
Washington, D.C., with the members of the "National Execu­
tive Board " resident there and receiving maintenance from
the National Treasury. Publishing was also to be centered in
154 Part Two: The Building

Washington, and two or three " Persian translators " were to
reside there in the Board's employ.36
The Bahai Temple Association plan being circulated by
Washington seems to have met with a ready response. By
May 1 908, there were local Branches in numerous communi­
ties including Morgan Park, Illinois; Fruitport, Michigan;
Ithaca, Johnstown, and New York, New York; Cincinnati and
Sandusky, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Clarkston, Seat­
tle, and Spokane, Washington; Kenosha and Racine, Wiscon­
sin; Washington, D.C. ; and Montreal, Canada. The first aim
of each of these Branches was to begin to collect a local Tem­
ple Fund to be held until required in Chicago. For its part, the
House as a body and its members as individuals corresponded
regularly with communities throughout the country to keep
them in touch with the project. The Washington committee
did so, too.
It is necessary at this point to go back to late 1906 to fill in
the background to True's position in May 1908. We have
seen that in December 1 906 a new Temple Fund was estab­
lished in True's keeping on the basis of the $ 103 returned by
the Publishing Society. The exact status of this fund is un­
clear. It seems that it was begun under the auspices of the
Woman's Assembly, to some extent at least. However, it
soon became a general ' 'Assembly' ' Temple Furid maintained
individually by True, separate from the funds held by the
House.
At their meeting on 8 June 1 907, the House decided to ask
True to "act in the capacity of Treasurer for Temple Fund
. . . for the entire Assembly, ' ' which seems to have been a
recognition of the actual state of affairs. A few weeks after
the meeting on 30 June 1907, at which the "Bahai Assembly"
was organized, with the House appointed to act as trustees in
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project , True wrote that she was
ready to ' 'turn over to the Official treasurer the sums held by
,
The Choice of a Site 1 55

me for the Temple Fund" now that the members of the
House "have been duly appointed Trustees for the Assem­
bly. "37 The House accepted her offer and asked her to act as
Corresponding Secretary for the Temple Fund, on the under­
standing that ' 'in future all moneys collected for the Cause be
forwarded ' ' to their treasurer.38 The House later explained to
the New York Board that they had asked True to serve in this
capacity, ' 'In order that there might be the utmost effort for
harmony'' and to endeavor ' 'to prevent any foolish or unwise
statements being sent broadcast" by having some oversight
of her activities. 39
Of course , by May 1 908, two lots of True's chosen site had
been purchased and she was endeavoring to have the entire
site confirmed. Apparently, as well as writing to 'Abdu'l-Baha
about the site, she had included some remarks about organi­
zation in a letter written probably around the middle of May
1908. It would seem likely from his reply that she had
described the meeting she had organized on 26 November
1907, and suggested another similar meeting to make ar­
rangements for building the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. 'Abdu'l­
Baha approved of the idea of a national meeting, suggesting
that each community send a delegate to "establish a new
meeting for the provision of the needs of the Temple. " He
stated that in this "new meeting . . . ladies also are to be
members. " However, he also explicitly stated that True
should consult with the House about the matter, and that it
was necessary for any plans to be carried out in a spirit of har­
mony. After receiving this tablet, True wrote to the House
about it, after first commenting on the site issue:

Since reading Our Lord's last Tablet in which He speaks of the
Map of the Temple Site �& confirms it, I have been puzzling my
brain as to our future mode of procedure . This morning's mail
brought the answer direct from God, through the Pen of Abdul
156 Part Two: The Bu£lding

Baha "The King of the Day of the Covenant" as Baha'o'llah calls
Him. Evidently the first step necessary is to call a of
the representatives of all the Assemblies and form a permanent
Building Association to take the place of the appointed
for temporary purposes. 40

In her remarks, True seems to discount the House's steps
toward national organization and to assume that their being
appointed trustees was merely temporary, which was hardly
the understanding of the House or the meeting that had ap­
pointed them.41 The House, however, took 'Abdu'l-Bah;fs
statements as confirming that what they had been doing was
the best course.
On 1 September 1 908, the House decided to write to the
"Bahai Temple Committees throughout the country" to
what would be the most suitable time and place to hold a
meeting to form a national association in conformity with
'Abdu'l-Baha's wishes. On September, it was to
out a circular calling for the election of delegates. The
letter was approved on 22 September. It recounted the
scheme proposed through Washington and quoted from their
March circular. The letter then noted that had a
'I"OC" 'f" I"\1"" C"O
to the plan and suggested ' 'that it is ap­
proved by Abdul-Baha is shown by His statement in a recent
Tablet to Mrs. Corinne True. ' ' The entire Tablet was quoted
and, on the basis of "these instructions, " each community
that had not already done so was requested to appoint a Tem­
ple Committee, "each Temple Committee to be a member of
The Bahai Temple Association of America-which shall con­
sist of all these Temple Committees and be a Society of Unity
for all." As well as fund raising for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
keeping in touch with developments in the Faith, and en­
couraging unity and harmony in their community, each com­
mittee should also prepare:
The Choice of a Site 157

. . . for the sending of one or more representatives to a Temple
Convention to be held in Chicago at the earliest practical time.
This parliament of delegates, representing as far as possible all the
American Believers, will constitute the "New meeting for the pro­
visions of the needs of the Temple" as instructed by Abdul-Baha.

The House was not able to make plans to hold the national
meeting as soon as they wished, as they received only a few
replies to this circular. In November 1908, they wrote to the
New York Board asking how they felt about having the meet­
ing in "the week between Christmas and New Year" or, "If
that is too soon or impractical, how would the five days pre­
ceding the Fast do?' ' ; or, should it be put off until Ri<;lvan?42
On 1 December, Chase wrote to Assad'Ullah:

. . . in strict accord with the expressed desire of Abdul-Baha, the
House of Spirituality has made, and is making every possible en­
deavor to gather a Convention of delegates from all parts of the
country as soon as it can be accomplished. In this work the
of Spirituality is working in thorough harmony with the Counsel
Boards of New York and Kenosha and with the Committee in
Washington . . . . It is the earnest desire that the coming Conven­
tion shall represent every body of believers in this country, be­
cause this Temple is not a Chicago Temple only, but an American
Temple, and we hope that every believer in this land will feel his
personal interest in it, and be a contributor according to his
means for its building, and also have a voice in the matter of its
establishment. Two letters have been sent, and a third will �oon
follow, from the House of Spirituality to every known body of
friends, urging upon them to make preparation as rapidly as pos­
sible for the Convention, which will be held j:ust as soon as the
time can meet the opportunity of the greatest number.
It is understood that when this Convention of delegates shall
meet, all the matters, of every kind, pertaining to the building
of the Temple, the land, etc . , will be decided by that Convention.
It is hoped that the Convention will · also appoint a permanent
158 Part Two: The Building

Temple Committee from its members to represent the Temple
Committee of each assembly (which are being formed), such per­
manent Committee to have the whole Temple matter in its hands.
Until such time-that is until this Convention meets and assumes
the care of matters-the House of Spirituality is doing all that
it can to hasten that time of meeting, and to incite the of
generosity and loving in the hearts the friends every
where. This is done through the local Temple Committees in
locality. 43

That the process of developing a national organization was
conceived in New York in the same terms as by the Chicago
House may be seen from a comment by Harris, who was
chairman of the New York Board at the time. He in
a to Chase that he took the instruction to True in the
Tablet about a "new meeting" to consult with the .._ _.. ,_, ._.""'--

mean that that body was ' 'to the initiative and
until the control shall pass from your hands into
the " 44

One factor that may have delayed the calling of the national
u..n.-v i.JlJ.J..F. was (indeed, puzzlement) over how to
the delegates from each community <;�nd whether
communities could send more than one The Tablet
to True had mentioned one representative from each commu-
nity, but seem to have taken this literally. Indeed, True
herself was out cards asking communities to
aeJeg;ates. The problem was that when it came to ac­
tually voting and making decisions there was uncertainty as
to how voting power should be distributed among the commu­
nities in an equitable fashion. This problem seems to have
been worked out on an ad hoc basis in each community. In the
event, some communities sent more than one delegate and
some delegates represented more than one community.
Around the turn of the year, the House selected 20 Febru­
ary 1909, as the date for the national meeting. Soon after this
The Choice of a Site 159

they heard that this would not be a good date for those plan­
ning to come from New York. So on 5 January 1909, they
decided to begin the "Bahai Convention" on Saturday, 20
March. The House then sent a circular letter dated 12 Janu­
ary 1909, to approximately seventy different places giving the
starting date for the convention and asking that names of
delegates be sent within three weeks. This prior notification
of names was also to serve as credentials for the delegates.
The number of delegates was not specified, but left up to
each community.
On 26 January 1909, the House met with the Chicago Tem­
ple Committee to begin planning for the convention. At this
u.J.'-'''-'"'U.,LJI'. it was agreed that 20 March would be a reception

day for visiting delegates, with the Nineteen-Day Feast held
t: "tr.c.-n , ...,. rr at Mrs. Foster's home, and that the rt a l. a rr"l t-a c<

invited to attend the community's weekly Sunday
C' t:\'l'' T r•
"t , a on the following morning. At this meeting True was

named as chairman of the Reception Committee. At another
joint February, it was decided to rent a hall for
a of the convention on Monday, March
and a program committee was appointed consisting of Chase,
Windust, Louise Waite. However, at an open meeting at
house on 17 March to complete plans for the conven­
tion, True recounted the details of the arranged program. In
outline stated that ' 'visiting [would be] es-
corted to site of Mashrak-el-Azkar the afternoon of the 2 1st. "
In the official printed program for the meeting, it was also
stated that on the Sunday afternoon ' 'Visiting delegates es­
corted to Site of Mashrak-el-Azkar. " Of course, for the House
and those who had participated with them in developing the
Temple Association, one of the issues to be decided by the
delegates to the convention was the choice of a site.
The House had deferred the Chicago community's election
of delegates until returns came in from other communities
160 Part Two: The Building

and they had an idea of how many delegates were being sent
from each. On Sunday March 7, the Chicago community
elected three delegates: True, Susan Moody, and Arthur Ag­
new. It would appear from the total voting figures that about
sixty people voted (possibly a quarter to a third of the Chicago
Baha'f community). True received 37 votes; Agnew received
2 1 votes; and Moody received 20. Chase also received 20
votes, but there is no explanation of why Moody was elected
rather than him; there is no record of a tie-breaking vote.
The present discussion is concerned only with the business
sessions of the convention on 22 and 23 March. 45 Thirty-nine
delegates representing thirty-six communities attended the
convention. The representation varied from four delegates
representing New York to one delegate representing five .
communities (San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles , and Pas­
adena, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii). That events did not
go quite as planned by the House may be judged from a later
comment written by Chase to Remey:

Abdul-Baha has repeatedly told Mrs. True that in the Temple
matters, the House of Spirituality must be consulted. Yet . . . the
House of Spirituality was intentionally and steadily ignored in the
Temple Convention, and has been almost entirely so since, except
in so far as you and Bro. Agnew have asked its attention. This
was of purpose aforethought, not accidental. It was "arranged"
by the women, and Mr. Mills and Mr. Hall were made the instru­
ments of its carrying out, all unconsciously to themselves. 46

Remey replied:

Although I never mentioned it to you, I was a party to your own
personal suffering those days of the convention, and I felt
strongly upon the matter. In the convention meeting I remember
arising and suggesting to the people that some cognizance should
be taken of "The Bahai Temple Association of America" for
The Choice of a Site 161

which the H. of S. was trustee, and of the work of the latter (H. of
S.) but there was no response whatever, so I quietly sat down.47

The business sessions of the convention are documented in
a published record of its proceedings. This is a summary
document and does not record the details of the discussions.
There is no mention in this official record of the Bahai Tem­
ple Association plan that had actually brought the delegates
together; nor in the numerous votes of thanks at the end of
the meeting was there any mention of the House or its work
toward national organization. These omissions can hardly be
accidental.
On the mprning of 22 March, the were welcomed
on behalf of the Chicago community and the House by Chase.
They then heard True read the tablet 'Abdu'l-Baha had sent
to the convention, in which he restated the importance of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project. Chase then read an early Tablet
address.e d to the ' 'House of Justice' ' (as th� House of Spiritu­
ality was first known), the main purport of which was the
for unity and harmony. After appointing a temporary
chairman and secretary, the convention heard a report that
the gathered delegates were duly accredited by their commu­
nities. The tablet to True approving the calling of a new
meeting was read, and the report on credentials was ac­
cepted. The appointment of convention officers was then
fied and another prayer read. Then the, delegates came to the
first substantial business to be brought before them-the site.
It might have been thought that the first order of business
should logically have been to finalize the details of the na­
tional organization and appoint a national committee for the
Bahai Temple Association, as this was the primary purpose
for which the meeting had been called by the House. How­
ever, the matter of the site was introduced before any discus­
sion of the proposed national organization. It was first resolved
1 62 Part Two: The Building

that "the City of Chicago, or its suburbs be selected as the
place to build. " Then:

Upon request, Mr. Agnew, of the House of Spirituality of
Chicago, informed the Convention regarding sites and other local
features, and Mr. Hall, of Minneapolis, gave detailed information
regarding the locality proposed for the Temple site and in which
some ground has already been purchased.
Each delegation was called upon to express its opinion regarding
the location of the Temple site in Chicago. The roll call brought
forth the unanimous decision of all the delegates that the plot in
which a piece of ground has been acquired should be chosen as
the site for the Temple, as already approved by Abdul-Baha.

The wording in which the previous day's visit to the Wil­
mette site had been described on the program for the con­
vention, the use of the words "as already approved by
Abdul-Baha" in the report, and the fact that the question of
the site was brought up before the formal establishing of a na­
tional organization all suggest an active continuation of the
campaign by True and her supporters in favor of her chosen
site.
It would seem that the issue of the location of the site was
really only of much consequence to those in Chicago who
wished to see the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar built where it could be
used and those who supported True as to her choice. For the
rest of the country it did not really matter. The construction
of the building was assuming symbolic status for them;
whether it would or could be used was a lesser question. Thus
in November 1908, Harlan Ober had informed Chase:

Outside of Chicago I find but little feeling that the site is too far
from the city, on the contrary the newness of the land, the new­
ness of the associations, the fact that out there, there is a new
start has seemed to some to be of considerable significance more
The Choice of a Site 163

advantageous than otherwise. There seems also to be the feeling
that considerations regarding the adaptability of the Mashrak el
for the holding of meetings for teaching and for worship or
for any peculiarly local purpose, are not wholly pertinent since
the real object is more comprehensive than that. There are thou­
sands who will never be able to visit the Mashrak el Azcar and
wander around its courts, yet it is for them also. 48

This feeling worked to the advantage of the True party in
getting their site confirmed, but it was disadvantageous as
regards True's goal of actually seeing a building built. The
same symbolic orientation that made practical considerations
of accessibility and cost irrelevant in the choice of a site did
not encourage the timely erection of a building. If it did not
matter whether the building was useful, the really important
thing about it was the idea. The idea was perfectly service­
able without a stone ever being laid.
After the confirmation of the site, the convention heard a
financial report that $3,525 was being held by the treasurer of
the Chicago House for the Temple Fund. Various delegates
also reported that a total of $2 ,306 was being held in local
community funds.
On the afternoon of 22 March, the delegates turned to the
matter of "permanent organization to effect the objects of this
Convention. " On motion by Hall, it was resolved "that this or­
ganization to be formed of all of the Assemblies represented or
hereafter associating with us, shall have full power and au­
thority in Temple matters and to provide ways and means
therefore; that final authority therein shall rest with the mem­
bers of the Bahai several Assemblies and that the majority
thereof, through their representatives, control . " Again, mat­
ters seem to be somewhat backwards, as the convention was
voting to give total control of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project
to a body whose nature was still undetermined.
164 Part Two: The Building

A committee was appointed ' 'to propose a plan for an or­
ganization in accord with the preceding motions. " This com­
report was to be elaborated on the following day in
the new organizational constitution, but here we may note
that it nominated "delegates to represent the several Assem­
blies, subject to the confirmation or election of a substitute by
each Assembly. " The committee named thirty individuals,
and were confirmed by the convention as representa­
tives of the communities for which they were named (in which
they did not necessarily live) subject to subsequent confirma­
tion or substitution by the named communities. For present
purposes, however, these thirty were to form the basis of the
national organization. A committee was then appointed to
draft a constitution in accord with the organization commit-
report.
sessions on March were held in True's home. In the
morning, after prayers and tablets, the convention heard the
proposed constitution of the national organization, in which it
was called the "Bahai Temple Unity. " By an ironic slip, the
constitution as and approved stated that the object
of the organization was to acquire a site and a Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar "at Chicago, Ill . , in accordance with the
dared wish of Abdul-Baha" ; there was no to "or its
suburbs. " The constitution stated that "the powers of this
Unity shall abide in the several Bahai Assemblies" and should
be through one representative chosen by each As­
sembly, with the exception of Chicago, New York (Borough
of Manhattan), and Washington, D.C., which should each se­
lect two representatives. The "affairs of this Unity" were to
be managed by an Executive Board of nine members elected
annually in convention or by mail and the Board was to have
the authority to incorporate the Unity at its discretion.
The constitution was accepted, and the delegates from
The Choice of a Site 165

Chicago, New York, and Washington were requested to name
an additional representative from each of their cities. It was
resolved to ask 'Abdu'l-Baha ' 'to be the Honored Head' ' of
the Bahai Temple Unity (he declined), and that the minutes of
the convention should be edited and corrected and a copy sub­
mitted to him with that request. On a motion by Hall, the
Board was authorized to complete the purchase of the Wil­
mette site and to acquire ' 'the adjacent lots commanding the
lake front, as rapidly as means therefor become available. "
Again this seems somewhat beforehand, as the Board was yet
to be selected. The convention adjourned to reconvene a� the
Bahai Temple Unity and then appointed a committee to rec­
ommend nine members to form the Executive Board.
The Bahai Temple Unity reconvened in the afternoon and
approved the nine members suggested for the Board. The
meeting then adjourned as the Bahai Temple Unity and re­
convened as the Bahai Temple Convention again. The recon­
vened convention then approveq the action of the Bahai
Temple Unity in approving the committee's selection of a
Board. Pledges were made of financial support for the Tem­
ple Fund, and the business of the convention concluded with a
series of votes of thanks. Despite the rather baroque proceed­
ings of this convention, it had brought into being a national or­
ganization that was now going to have to take responsibility
for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project.
In view of Chase's later comment on the convention quoted
above, it is worthwhile to consider the roles of Hall and Mills
during the convention. Apparently, previous to the conven­
tion, Hall had taken an option on additional lots of the Wil­
mette site for $500. After this site was confirmed, he was
offered a vote of thanks ' 'for his great kindness' ' by the con­
vention. Hall, who as a lawyer was familiar with procedural
matters, offered and had accepted seven motions and two
166 Part Two: The Building

suggestions during the convention. No other delegate is re­
corded as offering more than a total of three. (In a number of
cases, the name of the person making the motion is not re­
corded, so either of these figures may be an understatement.)
Of the six temporary committees appointed during the con­
vention, Hall served on three. When he was not appointed to
the largest committee selected (the one to devise a plan of
"permanent organization" which had ten members), that
committee asked that he act as an adviser. Hall was one of the
three-member committee which drew up the Bahai Temple
Unity constitution. Mills (another lawyer) was also on this
committee, and the third member was Mrs. Hahn from New
York. Mills also served on the committee to recommend a
Board, as did True. True was on three more of the com­
mittees. There was no committee that did not have at least
one of these three individuals on it. Three of the committees
had two of them, four if we count the committee for which
Hall was an adviser. Hall, Mills, and True were selected for
the Board.
Mills was a New York delegate to the convention, but he
was not named as a representative to the Bahai Temple Unity
by the "permanent organization" committee. After the accep­
tance of the constitution, when the Chicago, New York, and
Washington delegations were asked to name a second rep­
,
resentative, New York selected Roy Wilhelm, who was not
present. After the reconvening of the meeting as the Bahai
Temple Unity, Mills was appointed proxy to act in :Wilhelm's
place on a motion by True. It was immediately after this that
he was appointed to the committee to recommend the mem­
bers of the Board.
It is not clear from the constitution whether Board mem­
bers were to be selected only from community representa­
tives, but it would seem from the fact that the "Convention"
The Choice of a Site 167

adjourned to reconvene as the "Bahai Temple Unity" to con­
sider the matter of the Board that certainly only Bahai Tem­
ple Unity representatives were to vote for the Board. Indeed,
immediately after voting in the Board the Bahai Temple
Unity adjourned and reconvened as the Bahai Temple Con­
vention again. The only action specifically taken by the Bahai
Temple Unity as such (apart from accepting Mills as a proxy)
was to appoint the committee to recommend a Board and to
accept their recommended list. Despite the supposed intent to
create a national association to take control of the project, it
was the general convention that passed all other resolutions
and left a body of instructions for the Board. The backwards
nature of the proceedings had dealt with almost all business
before the national organization was in place. The national or­
gatuz<itlcm did not confirm any of the previous resolutions of
convention; on the contrary, convention con-
Temple Unity's choice of a Board.
procedural chaos of this first national convention was to be
r h •::u• -:J r'f"t:)r,c:�1"11"' of in future years.
True's motion to substitute Mills for the unavailable Wil-
was just the as the Bahai
ple Unity. It seems evident that if he had not been elected as
a proxy at this he would not have been eligible the
committee to recommend a Board, to in electing a
Board, and · possibly to be elected to the Board, as would
have been merely a convention delegate and not a member of
the Unity. 49
Obviously, the New York delegation was aware of Wilhelm's
absence and Mills' presence when they made their choice of a
second representative. That the substitution of Mills as proxy
was made after the reconvening of the meeting as the Bahai
Temple Unity and confirmed by the Unity representatives
(which only included one other of the New York delegation),
1 68 Part Two: The Building

rather than the New York delegation being asked to select
a proxy before the status of the gathering was changed , is
suggestive.
At their meeting on 28 March 1909, the House authorized
their treasurer to "turn over all Temple Fund in his posses­
sion to newly appointed Treasurer of Bahai Temple Unity. "
By 6 April, the contract was closed for the rest of the Wil­
mette site.
After the clo se of the convention on 23 March, the Board
had met for the first time. The composition of the Board was
rather mixed, ranging from True to the House's ally in the
Bahai Temple Association plan, Remey. At that first Board
meeting Remey was ' 'requested to confer with architects and
have them submit designs and plans for the Temple. " Remey
and Hall were then appointed as "a standing Building Com­
mittee" and directed to do basically the same. 5°
In late spring, Hall and Remey issued a circular letter to
"all architects, designers, draughtsmen and engineers who
desire to contribute designs for the Bahai Temple (Mashrak­
el-Azcar) to be bui1t,1-in Chicago. " The circular gave some
specifications of the site and the expectations for the building.
These expectations did not include that the building would be
reasonably modest in scale and able to be built soon with
fairly limited resources. It was specifically stated that the
hope of the Bahai Temple Unity was to begin construction
soon, but that they only expected to complete "the founda­
tion and basement story or crypt, which latter will serve as a
place of worship until the main part of the building be com­
pleted. " Later it was stated that in formulating designs "it
should be borne in mind that this Temple is an edifice for fu­
ture as well as for present needs, and that it should be monu­
mental in design and in construction. " It was requested that
design ideas be submitted by 10 July 1909, and stated that
The Choice of a Site 169

' 'the object of this matter here presented is to have an offer­
ing of as many ideas and designs as possible, from the sum to­
tal of which a design for the actual building of The Temple
will be forthcoming. ' '
Both the time allowed and the description of the object of
the circular show the call for designs to have been a less than
serious search for a qualified architect. In fact, before the es­
tablishment of the Bahai Temple Unity, a number of Baha'f
architects (and one non-Baha'f) had already done several de-
and a number of them had champions for
selection. When the Board viewed designs at their meetings
in August and October 1909, virtually all of them had been
done before the circular was issued, and had
been no further shown by non-Baha'fs. These designs
were mostly impractical in and cost.
True became Financial Secretary for the Board, and with
O 'M r'A1 1 " ">
..
fund
<TjOJoTY l'-l 'Yl T
to pay for the land was about
only practical result that distinguished the years of
. the Bahai Temple Unity. The extra land on the lakeshore that
the 1909 convention had directed the Board to look into was
contracted during 191 1--1912 at a further cost of $17,000 .
By early 1914, the land .had all been paid for at a cost of
$51 ,500, not including payments (in 1909-1910 alone
these amounted to $1 ,425). The total received by the Temple
Fund between 1907 and April 1915 was over $72,000, an
amount that would have bought and built on the site proposed
by the House in 1907. In October 1908, Remey estimated for
the House that a large building on the scale of the one in
qabad would. cost at least $150,000. A more modest structure
would have cost proportionately less. A reasonably impres­
sive religious structure could have been built at that time for
$35,000 to $45,000.
During the rest of 1909, the House continued to discuss the
170 Part Two: The Building

Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project. They arranged for a RiQ.van
celebration to be held in a large tent on the site on 2 May in
association with the Woman' s Assembly, and they consulted
with the Women's Temple Committee about stimulating in­
terest in the project in Chicago. However, the House increas­
ingly felt that now that the Bahai Temple Unity had been
formed, some Baha'is considered them to be redundant, and
they declined to push themselves forward into what were now
seen as Temple Unity Board affairs unless they were invited
by the Board. Remey, in particular, and Agnew felt that the
Board should work closely with the House, as the new body
needed the House's practical experience to assist them. Their
feeling was not shared by the rest of the Board.
By the end of 1909 , the House was in serious difficulties.
The members were generally discouraged and felt that their
efforts were unwanted, and several of them had serious finan­
cial and business problems. By early 1910, Chase had been
transferred by his employers to California. On 1 March 1910,
the last meeting with recorded minutes of the Chicago House
was held, and a considerable hiatus in its functioning ensued.
The Board had done little at its meetings in 1909 other than
admire plans of enormous and impractical buildings and was
to do even less in the following years. Around the middle of
the second decade of the century, the Board would be rein­
vigorated by a number of East Coast Baha'is , and the focus of
national organization would shift from Chicago to Boston and
New York until the late 1930s. Apart from True's fund rais­
ing to pay for the land in Wilmette and the holding of its an­
nual conventions, the early, Bahai Temple Unity did not do
much. It certainly did not speed the erection of any building.
There can be no doubt that True was devoted to the idea
of having a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar built. It is equally the case
that she was the prime mover in both of the factors that un­
dermined the plans of the Chicago House to build one: the
The Choice of a Site 171

insistence on a North Shore site, as opposed to the one recom­
mended by the House, and the substitution of the Bahai Tem­
ple Unity for the proposed Bahai Temple Association. Some
of True's contemporaries felt that her actions were inspired
by the gender conflict that existed within the Chicago and
New York Baha'f communities. It is true that there is consid­
erable evidence that True resented the exclusion of women
from membership on the Chicago House and that in pressing
for her ideas about the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project she allied
herself with leaders of the opposition to the all-men Board in
New York. However, it is too simple an analysis to put her ac­
tivities down to gender conflict alone. 51
True's relationship with the Woman's Assembly of Teach­
ing in Chicago (an institution that had its own uneven rela­
tionship with the House) was often as ambivalent as her
relationship with the House. Indeed, she seems to have been
at odds with most of the leading women in that organization
at one time or another. During the period leading up to the
founding of the Bahai Temple Unity, the "work of the
Woman's Assembly as a body had become desultory, ineffec­
tive. "52 In early May 1909, the Woman's Assembly reor­
ganized with an elected board of nine members after "the
mode of procedure of the Bahai Temple Unity. " True was
conspicuously absent from this board.
True was not an institutionally oriented person (indeed, in
the mid-1920s she declined to accept election to institutions at
Shoghi Effendi's suggestion) and does not seem to have been
able to work well in institutional contexts. A Chicago House
was elected again in 1912 and, on 'Abdu'l-Baha's instruc­
tions, women as well as men were considered eligible for elec­
tion to the body. True was among those elected, but the new
mixed body was not much more active than the lapsed all­
men one and would not be for several years. When there was
a revival of local institutionalization of the Faith in Chicago, it
172 Part Two: The Building

was in the context of a battle royal between True and another
prominent woman in the community with the function of local
institutions being mainly to support one or the other.
Another factor that probably played some part in True's ac­
tions, but that was not so overtly alluded to by her contem­
poraries as that of gender, was True was of a higher
social standing than any member of the House, although there
were some women in the Chicago community of at equal
standing. One of the factors in creating gender in the
Chicago Baha'f community was that there were women from
more elevated social levels than any of the men. The prE�se11ce
of such women among them the Chicago Baha'f women
as a group access to more resources than the men. In particu-
lar, women were able to be more than men,
meeting more frequently and dominating to ' '�"'� �"'' "" "" '"' "" ""

community m <::> m n.L>
'1'" L'

It was a not uncommon pattern in early North
Baha'f community nationally for women some
to any by bodies within the
members were social to exert control over
them. Indeed, in one local community the most socially
prominent woman refused to permit development of any
local institutional organization of the Faith for years.
The actions of True fit this pattern.
Just as in Chicago the women of highest social position
were above any of the men, so in the national community
there were no men b� positions equivalent to those of the most
socially elevated women. One of the factors in the early lack
of results from the Bahai Temple Unity may have been that it
did not have the active support of any of these prominent
women. It had True , of course, but she was more outclassed
by other women on the national level than she outclassed the
Chicago men.
It is probably not accurate to see True as a feminist, as
some of her contemporaries portrayed her. As a woman, her
The Choice of a Site 173

activities were enmeshed in gender rhetoric, but this was
mostly coincidental. She does not seem to have had a basic
commitment to women's issues in the early Baha'i commun­
ity. She had an ) idee fixe-the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar-and if
gender rhetoric and the channeling of gender tensions would
assist her to that end, they were as useful as any other means.
True's commitment to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was deeply
emotional rather than rational. For some reason she felt it
must be located on the North Shore and her efforts were
largely directed to that end. That she had no real concept of
how a building was to built there or what it would be used
for (for a while she adopted the idea that it would be 'Abdu'l­
Baha's tomb and that the remains of Baha'u'llah would be
transported there, too!) was beside the point. She believed
she knew what needed to be done, and bent her considerable
energy toward it. 54
Although it was largely through True's actions that the
House's 1907 plans came to ·nothing, it should also be noted
that the lack of action by others was significant. The amount
raised to pay for the Wilmette site would have paid for a
building on the site the House wanted to buy. If True had
been prepared to submit her fund-raising abilities to the
House's direction in support of their plans, she might have
seen a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in use forty years earlier than she
did . However, if some others had been prepared to support
the Hause's plans financially, True's objections would have
been much significant.
It is correct, as the House frequently pointed out, that most
of the North American Baha'i community earned their living
by daily work and did not have much surplus resources; but
there were some Baha'is who had considerable resources.
There were even a few who could have built the whole project
virtually out of their loose change. In 1907, some Baha'is
were in a position to spend vast sums on mansions, travel, art
collections, private theatricals, and charitable contributions;
1 74 Part Two: The Building

none of them made any significant contribution to the Temple
Fund. Even in 1912, three years after the founding of the Ba­
hai Temple Unity and after five years of continuously pub­
licizing the project within the Baha'i community, they were
not doing so. 'Abdu'l-Baha was in the United States in that
year and (according to the translator on the occasion who
later recorded the event) he was walking in New York with a
wealthy Baha'i one day when she asked him what she could
do to please him. He simply gave her a generalized answer
about being a good person. The translator (who was from
Chicago) asked why he didn't ask her to build the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar, and he replied that she should know that without be­
ing asked.
The enthusiasm for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project was
largely at the level of those for whom the ' 'widow's mite' ' was
all they could contribute. Just as Baha'is from this level of the
community participated most thoroughly in the development
of community devotional practice by enthusiastically adopt­
ing Baha'i hymnody, so they wished there to be a Baha'i
building in which to worship. Not only in Chicago but through­
out the country, Baha'is of ordinary circumstances eagerly
looked forward to the construction of the building. Decades
later, when the project was transformed from a place of wor­
ship to a largely symbolic structure, a number of wealthy Ba­
ha'is would add considerably to the "mites" contributed by
the generality of the community to enable the building to be
constructed. But in the first decade or so of this century, no
one came forward to fill that role.
True helped to frustrate the plans of the Chicago House and
the developing Bahai Temple Association, but the main rea­
son the House's plans were not realized was lack of money.
The equation had been simply stated by the House over and
over again: no money, no building.
CHAPTER SIX

THE BOURGEOIS DESIGN

Since it was chosen in 1920 to be built on the Wilmette site,
the design for a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar produced by Louis Bour­
geois has served as a symbol of the Baha'f Faith in North
America, and to it has been attributed exceptional aesthetic
and symbolic status. Indeed, the design has become so im­
bued with an apparently essential attachment to the Baha'f
Faith that neither it nor its execution have been analyzed in
an intellectually or historically cogent manner to date. The
aim of this chapter is to discuss the development of the Bour­
geois design in order to shed some light on its actual
sence, " and to consider how its choice, the reactions to that
choice, and the use of the design as a basis for the constructed
building relate to various strands in the ideological develop­
ment of the North American Baha'f community.

THE CHOICE OF THE DESIGN

When the delegates to the Bahai Temple Unity annual con­
vention met in New York in 1 920, the options for a design for
the Mashriqu'1-Adhkar in Wilmette had been effectively nar­
rowed from the various submissions of 1909 and later to either

1 76 Part Two: The Building

a design by Charles Mason Remey or the one by Bourgeois.
The only other architect to speak on his design at the conven­
tion was William Sutherland Maxwell, and it seems likely that
he was induced to increase the visibility of his candidature not
long before the convention, as he stated that his drawings
were only finished just before he caught his train from Mon­
treal. 1 If there was an attempt to introduce a vote-splitting
dark horse in Maxwell it failed , as his design received only
one vote and the main trend of the convention discussion indi­
cates a fairly general assumption of the choice being between
a Remey design and the one by Bourgeois.
Despite there being much to be said for some of the 1909
collection of designs, and for Maxwell's new effort, this limi­
tation of the perceived choice is not surprising, as both
Remey and Bourgeois had been energetically publicizing their
designs for some time. Remey had been touring an exhibition
of his work, which drew reasonably good press notices, for
several years, and had published two books of his designs. 2
Bourgeois had been exhibiting his design in his home since
1918, and had produced a circle of admirers. Another factor
that probably helped to concentrate the choice in the conven­
tion itself, apart from which architects were there to speak
and answer questions, was that the Bourgeois design and one
of Remey's were represented by models, and .these designs
were therefore more visually present than the others.
Remey had chosen his Indian design to have modeled on the
basis of two factors: (1) cost, in that the estimated building
cost of this design seemed realizable by the community in a
reasonable time; and (2) 'Abdu'l-Baha's expressed stylistic
preferences. Neither of these grounds helped this design's
chances much in the convention. There was much support for
the idea that possible cost should not be considered a relevant
factor in choosing a design, as either the building of the Ma­
shriqu'l-Adhkar would be the work of generations to come, or
The Bourgeois Design 1 77

God, or non-Baha'f sympathizers with the presumed symbolic
purpose of the building, would provide funds as necessary.
There was also a reluctance to consider in full 'Abdu'l-Baha's
instructions regarding the building. As 'Abdu'l-Baha had
given the choice of a design to the convention, some felt that
this overruled all preceding instructions from him and that
the convention should follow its own inspiration. Remey had
provided the delegates with an illustrated booklet on his In­
dian design which included a discussion of its adherence to
'Abdu'l-Baha's stylistic preferences, but in the convention
discussion such expressions were not included in those
ences to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar by 'Abdu'l-Baha that were
read; and when Remey attempted to get them read, the Chair­
man ruled that this was unnecessary. 3
Two other factors, beyond the previously established parti­
sanship and the lack of certainty as to the criteria to be consid­
ered, that complicated the design choice were the conQ.ucting
of the convention itself and the introduction of outside expert
advice.
The convention was poorly chaired, on the whole: motions
were made and seconded and not further acted upon; the
chair sometimes summarized with utter inaccuracy informa­
tion that had been given to the delegates; and discussions of
factual points were left uncompleted before moving on. There
was also some confusion over the voting. The 1920 conven­
tion marks a transitional point in the conduct of Bahai Temple
Unity conventions in that previously one delegate could
represent several areas and have a vote for each, but at subse­
quent conventions a delegate could represent only one area
and have one vote. In 1 920, there was multiple representation
but considerable feeling against multiple voting in the design
choice, and the convention d e cided to limit delegates to one
vote even if they represented more than one area. There was
also some confusion, over substituting alternates for delegates
1 78 Part Two: The Building

who left before the vote on the design. It is not necessary here
to attempt to unravel this procedural tangle; indeed, the con­
vention itself did not manage to do so.
After the initial vote on the designs, which gave 28 of the 49
votes cast to the Bourgeois model, Remey suggested that the
convention pass a unanimous vote for that design; after some
discussion as to how to do so, this was done. Considering
Remey' s preceding and subsequent attitudes, it may seem
strange that he did this. As it is evident that his arguments
carried little weight on the ,convention floor, he may have
thought he stood a better chance by getting the whole matter
back to the Board. It must be realized that up to the choice of
the Bourgeois design the general assumption was that any de­
sign chosen would be the basis for the eventually constructed
design, not a final design choice binding in all its details.
The outside architect brought in, over the objections of
some yvho felt that a non-Baha'f could not approach the issue
of design choice in the right spirit, was H. Van Buren Magoni­
gle. His opinions were definitely to the detriment of Remey' s
chances. He disliked Remey' s model, but he did like aspects of
another of Remey' s designs: his Persian. As this was a larger
and more expensive design, the attention paid to it helped to
further blur the basic issue of financial practicability in the
choice of a design. The influence of Magonigle's preference
and its distracting from Remey's rationale in proposing his In­
dian model can be seen in the voting, as the Indian model
received only 7 votes and the Persian design received 13
votes. Magonigle's comments on the Bourgeois design were
mixed, as he found it to exhibit considerable imagination but
felt that some aspects of it were not practically executable.
On the whole, Magonigle's remarks served to close in the
focus of the choice, but at the same time to blur what was the
Remey option. Indeed, Magonigle's participation points up
Remey's basic miscalculation in how he exhibited. The pres-
The Bourgeois Design 1 79

ence of eight designs by him in the form of drawings, in addi­
tion to the main and subsidiary models of the Indian design,
while it may have impressed by evidencing his long-term con- '
sideration of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar design, occasioned consider­
able distraction from the design which he actually wished to
propose for use.
The choice of the Bourgeois design in 1 920, then, was made
in an atmosphere of some confusion as to goals and proce­
dures, both in regard to the making of the choice itself and
in regard to implementing whatever was chosen. After the
choice, however, it quickly became clear that Bourgeois had a
different idea of what had happened than most Baha'fs would
have presumed possible before the choice. The general as­
sumption had been that any design chosen would form a more
or less specific basis from which a final design would be de­
veloped, and that the honor of providing this basis would be
all the designer would expect. Bourgeois and his more ardent
supporters expected that his design would be implemented ,
exactly (barring certain changes of scale to fit the site) under
his supervision, and that he would be paid a for the aesurn
and hired at the usual rate as architect. What is more, he indi­
cated that he was prepared to sell the design elsewhere if his
terms were not met. The construction of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar in Wilmette had thus unwittingly become established
upon an entirely new basis.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DESIGN

Pemberton records that in the spring of 1901 in California
Bourgeois had told him, "at some length that his mission in
life was to build a large temple to be dedicated to Truth,
which was to be surrounded by other buildings devoted to Art
and Science and the welfare of humanity. "4 The first fruit of
this mission was a proposed design for the Peace Palace to be
180 Part Two: The Building

built at the Hague submitted by Bourgeois and Paul Blumen­
stein in 1906. Bourgeois described this design as "the new art
that will flourish in the home of the workers. "5 This design
was published in Architecture, 6 and may be characterized as a
rather naive juxtaposition of elements of art nouveau and a
symbolism that derives in part from late eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-centu.ry Utopian "ideal" architecture and in part
from turn-of-the-century occultism. (See p. 1 18.)
In 1909, Bourgeois submitted a design for a Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar to the Bahai Temple Unity which is obviously related
to the Peace Palace design. Bourgeois states that he produced
this qesign after being invited to submit a design, "about in
April 1909. " 7 It is possible that Bourgeois was one of those
sent the circular calling for designs in 1909, but it seems
likely that the design he did submit was made earlier. In
1920, Bourgeois stated that he made the design "some twelve
years or more ago, I do not know now just how long, ' '8 and in
February 1908 the Chicago House of Spirituality viewed a
"beautiful set of plans" for the "Temple project" which were
in the possession of Percy Woodcock.9 In the published list of
those who submitted designs in 1909 there is no mention of
Bourgeois by name, but there is a to "a beautiful
and elaborate design under a nom de plume by an eminent ar­
chitect of New York City. ' ' 10 As all the others who submitted
designs are named in the list and so accounted for, this must
to the Bourgeois submission. Also, photographs of Bour­
geois' 1909 submission which belonged to Helen Goodall have
"Woodcock" written on the back. It seems possible, then,
that Woodcock was representing Bourgeois and that the de­
sign was produced before early 1908. That Bourgeois may
have been interested in designing a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in
1907 is suggested by a note of Roy Wilhelm' s stating that
Bourgeois had given him the plan of the Peace Palace to show
to 'Abdu'l-Baha when Wilhelm visited him that year. Wilhelm
The Bourgeois Design 181

states that 'Abdu'l-Bah,fs only comment on it was, "The Ba­
hai Temple will have nine sides . " 11 Thus, it seems possible
that Bourgeois produced the design submitted in 1909 in the
latter part of 1907 under the impetus of Wilhelm reporting
the "nine sides" remark, the increased general interest in the
project itself at that time, and as a salve to the previous rejec­
tion of the Peace Palace design. 12
The design which Bourgeois submitted in 1920 can be
dated with more certainty, it was begun in mid-1917 and com­
pleted by mid-1918. There exist two principal accounts by
Bourgeois of the development of this design: (1) the transcript
of the talk about his design that he gave at the Bahai Temple
Unity Convention in 1920; and (2) an undated manuscript in
his papers which on close examination would seem to have
been written in the early 1920s.
In his talk at the 1920 convention Bourgeois described the
creation of the design thus:

On this design that I have made you will see that I have not tried
to follow the past. From the reading of the "Hidden Words" I
found out that a New Art was to come with this Revelation, a new
Science, and everything was to be renewed.
Therefore I have undertaken to avoid all the style of the past.
In one sense still the teaching says that Baha'Ollah was here to
unify all the religious thought of the past into one and the reli­
gious thoughts of the past have expressed themselves in the
plastic by different style of architecture. All the creations of ar­
chitecture really are shown in the temple. So if Baha'Ollah's pur­
pose is to unify all the religious thought of the world, I thought
that those religious thoughts that were represented by architec­
tural creations ought to be unified and made composite like the
past architecture: That is to say, the essence but not the detail­
the details I thought would come after.
My first impression which was the symbolizing of the Hidden
Words, most of it-at the same time I used the symbolism of all
182 Part Two: The Building

the religious thoughts, the Swatiska [sic] cross, the seal of Solo­
mon, the cross and the crescent, and I put that into the decorative
motif and I used the form that gives the idea of the classic, the
Romanesque type, the Moorish, the Gothic and the Renaissance,
and blended that into one whole, and I tried to harmonize that,
and it was a great problem, and I tried many times and for many
years, but nothing comes to me. I could not find how to har­
monize that very well, until I went to the Boston Convention
some years ago, and I had a design there made some twelve years
or more do not know now just how long-and Mr. Lunt
called my attention to a symbolical building they had made there,
and just before my departure he says, "I like the symbolism of
this, but couldn't you make that a little more Oriental?"
Well, I told him, I had only three months to make that study in,
and I didn't think that this was the thing anyhow, it was just sug­
gestion of the symbolical form.
When I returned home the thought came very strongly to me
that that was the time to start, and while I had struggled for eight
years, the first floor came to me in about an hour, and I sat down
as soon as I got in the house-returning from that trip-And I got
that first floor, and as it was a new form, I realized it was impossi­
ble to make anyone understand that. Now, the shape of the build-
was a nine pointed star, made out of inverted upon
circles.
Afterwards, I decided that the only way to express that was to
make a model, and I started to draw the second floor, but I could
not anything; I could not get anything to harmonize with the
first floor, it was very elaborate and very rich, and I did not know
that it was going to come, and I made up my mind, maybe I have
to carve that floor first, and finish that, and so I did spend about
six months probably making the first floor, and then I started to
see what I was going to get for the second floor, and immediately,
in about an hour or so, I got the second floor; it came to me all by
piecemeal like that . . . . I never got a floor above until the floor
below was finished , and when I got to the dome that came the
last, and I couldn't get anything, but after I got that dome, then I
didn't know how it is going to work, which was very unusual.
The Bourgeois Design 183

The architect plans his things in the ensemble, but this thing
came so strongly that I felt completely what came to me, and I
decided I would take a year to work, maybe a year, or two, and
then maybe I would know what the result would be, and I would
put it together; I carved out one section at a time, and I would
adopt that, and after I had gotten the different sections, I put
them together to see what the results would be, and you can see
the result now. . . .
But, so far as the size is concerned, I had no information from
anybody that I could find, what the size of the Mashrekol-Azkar
that you wanted to build would be, and when I questioned those
that seemed to be at the head of it, they said, "Well, do anything
you want." You know, that is very liberal. I couldn't do anything
I wanted to do, but I did what I was dictated to do, and I did it
that way. 13 [This comment on a lack of information strongly sug­
gests that the detailed architects' circular issued in 1909 was of
little moment in occasioning Bourgeois' interest or fueling the de­
velopment of his ideas.]

And in the manuscript account Bourgeois describes the pro­
cess thus:

About in Apri1 1909 I was invited by the Committee on Designs
for the Mashrack-el-Azcar to submit a design giving me to Au­
gust for the task, about 3 month's time. As three months were
comparatively short for such an undertaking, I could but submit
preliminary sketches [they were actually an elaborated set of pre­
sentation drawings], which I did, but they were not satisfactory to
me. I could get only the general outline, the Inverted circle I had
choose for the form of a 9 pointed star were my Ideal in symbol,
as an open circle is a magnet but the feeling of the space for win­
dows and doors were not satisfactory. From 1909 ti11 1917 I often
try to sketch a more fitting architectural arrangement for those
spaces but rpet with failure · every time, nothing seems to fit . . .
[second page of manuscript is missing] . . . among his designs
that were brought to the Convention mine that was submitted in
1909 was brought there from Chicago I expect[,] to compare with
184 Part Two: The Building

the finished designs of Bro Remey. I was no more satisfyed with
my design of a three months work than I was when I delivered
them in 1909, but the Basic principle of the symbolism I could not
find anything to alter. Only the details were not my Ideal. When
the Convention was over, I was approached by Mr Lunt of Boston
and was asked by him If I could not give a more oriental feeling to
my design. I agreed that I could and told him that this was not my
final design only a sketch. I left Boston with a new fire in my
heart and the desire to do something worthy of the cause if I
could but do it. . . . Then the experience started. I sat at my
drawing table as soon as I return from Boston and start the first
floor of the Temple, as soon as I started I felt a powerful in­
fluence with me full of thrilling sensations that give me courage
and this wonderful space I had try for 8 years without success to
design come to me without interruption. I was very happy and I
realized that I was leaded and that the thoughts this time was not
of mine but from the source of Inspiration. I show it to Artists for
there critic, all were very enthusiasm about it considering it a
wonderful inspiration. Then I realized that this wonderful original
thought could not be understood by any on a simple drawing as
the world is not accustomed to new form, but that the only way to
present it should be a model. . . . I work at this first floor of the
temple a long time. In classic training we are thought to design
first the floor plan then the mass for the Elevation then work up
the details, but I try this persistently without success. I got that
first floor that all and could not see anything above, so I decided
that if it was the work of Inspiration I could trust that power and
would work according to the leadings. Therefore I start to carve
the first floor. It was a deal of work but I start early in the
morning and kept at it till dark till it was accomplished. Then I
start to draw the second floor, and to my surprise, it come to me
at once. I try to draw the third but could not get anything then I
proceed on that unusual way-and when finish I got the third. I
could not get the dome design before the . third was carved, then
finely [finally?] got it as soon as I had completed the third. Now I
had all those separated pieces and was very anxious to see How
the[y] all put together what the result would be. It was all trust
The Bourgeois Design 185

and hoped for the best now to my surprise It is harmonious and
show a thoughted ensemble better than I could myself do . . . . 14

McDaniel gives a version of this account by Bourgeois
within quotation marks, as if it were Bourgeois' own words. 15
However, McDaniel edited it far beyond correcting Bour­
geois' imperfect English, making major changes in the sense
and even introducing a remark suggesting that Bourgeois had
studied at the Beaux Arts. 1 6
As a supplement to these two main accounts, we may note
that Pemberton, writing in 1921 after having traveled from
the United States to the Holy Land and back with Bourgeois
and his wife, describes the process thus:

The first thing he did was the doors and windows of the first
story, a wonderful piece of architectural design, symbolizing the
descent of the Holy Spirit. After finishing this he got the entire
form of the lower story and sketched it out in an hour's time, but
he realized when the sketch was finished that the idea could not
be properly expressed in a drawing on a flat surface. So he
proceeded to make a plaster model. Then the second story
dawned on him and he modeled that, but being deeply perplexed
all the time as to whether it would be possible to design a suitable
dome, one rich enough to complete the vision that had already
been him. Then the quiet and restful third story appeared,
which added still more to his perplexity and brought several days
of grave doubt as to his ability ,to produce a worthy to
complete the structure. One morning he was awakened suddenly
at three o'clock and saw before him the dome, which he hastened
to sketch out.17

Despite the inconsistencies between these accounts, they
do seem to establish that until after attending the Bahai Tem­
ple Unity Convention in .Boston in 1917, Bourgeois was una­
ble to further develop to his satisfaction the design he had
submitted in 1909, and that in particular he was unable to
186 Part Two: The Building

achieve a satisfactory design for the doors and windows.
What then occurred in Boston that demolished this longstand­
ing block on Bourgeois' creative powers? It would seem that
it was seeing the designs by Remey exhibited alongside his
own. A detailed analysis of the changes in form that Bour­
geois made in his revision of the earlier design after he
returned from Boston suggests that they derive from a num­
ber of designs by Remey.
The Remey designs are only available now as printed in his
books, so it is not always easy to see the details in these small
reproductions. As they were originally exhibited, the eleva­
tions were 43 inches wide and 70 inches high, 18 rendering the
details easily readable and memorable to a trained eye.
McDaniel states that at the 1917 convention Remey's Per­
sian, Arabian and Moorish, Indian, Roman Classic, and Byz­
antine Romanesque designs were shown. 19 However, it is
probable that this exhibit actually occurred at the 1916 con­
vention. The report of that convention is illustrated with
plates of those five designs,20 and in 1916 Remey issued a lim­
ited edition book of them. Also, the names McDaniel gives for
these designs are as used by Remey in 1916 but differ from
the names used subsequently. In 1917, Remey published a
book containing nine designs with a preface dated July of that
year. As Remey toured these nine designs as a collective ex­
hibit during that year, and indeed until 1920, and as they had
all been completed before the end of 1916, it seems unlikely
that he would have shown less than the nine in Boston, and
particularly unlikely that he would have omitted the newer
designs which had not previously been shown at a convention.
The principal Remey designs which will concern us in the fol­
lowing discussion are those named (as of 1917) Byzantine
(which was Remey's 1909 submission and is the one called
Byzantine Romanesque in the 1916 collection), Romanesque,
Gothic, and Renaissance (see pp. 216, 217, 218, and 2 19).
The Bourgeois Design 187

We will begin, as Bourgeois is said to have done, with the
doors and windows of the first story. In the Peace Palace de­
sign (see p . 420) the doorways cut through pyramidal struc­
tures that mark the ends of second-story ribs, which pierce
the upper part of the first story. In the 1 909 submission (see
p. 222; this design survives only in poor-quality photographs,
which is reflected in the illustration), Bourgeois retained
these doorways with little change. The windows of the main
facades of the first story of the Peace Palace consist of a rib­
bon of glass on either side of the pyramid , each being divided
by columns. The 1909 submission retains these ribbon win­
dows, simply increasing the number of columns and grouping
them in pairs. The facade above the windows in the Peace Pal­
ace is curved through two planes and ornamented with carv­
ing. The 1909 submission reserves this double curvature for
the extreme upper portion of the facade and fills in the now
simply curved section above the ribbon windows with glazing.
In the 1920 submission Bourgeois instituted an entirely new
treatment (see p. 223). The space beneath the archivolt of the
facade is divided into nine bays, a larger central bay giving ac­
cess to a recessed porch. Each of the smaller bays is occupied
by a semicircular arch supported on two columns and filled
with a rosette supported on a colonette. The central bay is
similarly composed, except here the rosette is part of the
decorative treatment of each of the three sides of the recessed
porch. The upper part of the main bay is filled in with a type
of elaborate ornament, which will be discussed below. The
upper parts of the side bays contain an interlacing series of
smaller semicircular arches which are a simplified version of
the larger arches below them, the wider of the pointed arches
produced by this interlacing are . filled with rosettes on
colonettes. The area between this arcading and the archivolt
enclosing the entire fenestration is filled with an interlacing
ornamental treatment, whose major lines grow out of the
188 Part Two: The Building

curves of the arches themselves. In the watercolor version of
the design prepared in the summer of 1920, and some of the
detailed design sheets, as opposed to the plaster model, a
short section at the bottom of each of these side bays has an
arcading of interlacing arches related to the top section (see p.
224).
If we turn to the Remey designs, we' find in his Romanesque
that the main facade consists of a large central bay with a
semicircular arch supported on columns enclosing a rose win­
dow, flanked by smaller bays of similar composition. In the
Gothic design we find pointed arches filled with rosettes and
divided by colonettes. And in the Byzantine design we find
another three-bay entrance, consisting of semicircular arches
on columns. In the Byzantine we also find arcaded porticoes
around the apses on each of the other eight sides. The invert­
ing of the curve of these porticoes, or indeed of the apses of
the Romanesque design, would produce an effect not unlike
that used in the lesser bays of the Bourgeois fenestration.
Going beyond the windows in the Bourgeois 1920 submis­
sion we find that the double curve featured in his earlier de­
signs has been entirely eliminated. There is still ornament in
the upper corners of the facade, but the now simply inward
curving wall ends in a straight cornice supported by corbels.
The first story facades of Remey's Byzantine, Romanesque ,
and Renaissance designs are completed by a cornice on
corbels.
The pylons, or towers, at the corners of the first story of the
Peace Palace design are basically square in cross section,
with ornamental sections applied to their faces, which pro­
duce at the base a cross section of two equal squares overlap­
ping to form an eight-pointed star; the applied sections taper
to ornamental nodes from which they splay out again to merge
into the ornament of the tops of the pylons. For the 1909 sub­
mission, Bourgeois changed the pylons to a regular polygonal
The Bourgeois Design 189

cross section tapering inward from the base and then splaying
toward the top. He also enlarged the ornamental nodes and
capped the pylons with rather ' 'busby' ' like finials. In the
1920 submission, Bourgeois retained the regular polygonal
cross section and tapered form, but he eliminated the nodes
and inserted three "slots" that were probably intended as
windows in the plain lower part of each face, the upper part of
each face being elaborately ornamented above an arch-like
transition. The Remey Byzantine shows "slots" beneath an
arch in the outer bays of the main entrance facade, and there
are other formal congruities with Remey designs which will
be discussed below in considering how Bourgeois continued
to develop the pylon�.
Turning to the second story, in the Peace Palace each of the
second-story facades consists of a ribbon window, like the
first story, topped by a mural and an arch curved through two
planes. The 1909 submission is little altered, the ribbon win­
dow now having the columns grouped in pairs, the mural re­
placed by glazing, and the double-curved arch retained . The
1920 submission adds a row of subsidiary arched windows,
filled by rosettes on colonettes, below the main windows. All
four of the Remey designs we have been considering have a
row of subsidiary arched windows below the main windows of
the second story. The 1920 submission retains the horizontal
division of the window space from the 1 909 submission, but
instead of a solid lintel, the division is made by a series of
interlaced semicircular arches supported on columns, the
pointed arches that result being occupied with rosettes on
colonettes and the band of the arches themselves being made
visually dense by embedding it in elaborately intertwining or­
nament. The upper part of these windows is occupied by an­
other arcade on a smaller scale, the space above this being
filled as on the first story. Instead of an arch curved through
two planes completing the story, as in the earlier designs, the
1 90 Part Two: The Building

1 920 submission has a compoundly curved archivolt above
the window, and the story is completed with ornamented
spandrels leading to a straight frieze and cornice, the whole
structurally curved through only one plane.
The second-story facades of Remey's Romanesque, Gothic,
and Renaissance designs all have main windows that consist
of a smaller series of arches below a taller series, which, in­
verted and overlapped, would produce an effect not dissimilar
to Bourgeois' large arches topped by smaller ones. Also, the
Gothic design has the rosette and colonette, and the Renais­
sance has an elliptical arch above the window topped by span­
drels and a straight cornice supported by corbels.
In the Peace Palace the "ribs" or buttresses at the corners
of the second story pierce through the double curve of the
first story to entrance level. This feature is retained in the
1909 submission. In each of these cases the rib is square in
section and tapered. The 1920 submission cuts off the ribs at
the roof line of the first story, retains the square section for
the main part of the rib, but adds a highly ornamented section
to its front face that makes a sweeping curve from the edge of
the first story to the upper part of the rib. Remey' s Renais­
sance design shows such a curved buttress on its second
story, although not, of course, oriented to the middle of the
lower story.
In both the Peace Palace and the 1909 submission, the
dome springs directly from the second story. In the 1920 sub­
mission there is an added drum with semicircular arches sup­
ported on columns framing windows filled with rosettes on
colonettes with pairs of columns between the windows.
Remey's Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance designs
have drums with arch- and column-outlined windows below
their domes. Remey's Roman Classic design (see p . 225) also
has pairs of columns between these windows and a frieze be­
tween the tops of the windows and the cornice below the
dome similar to the one Bourgeois uses .
The Bourgeois Design 191

In the 1920 submission the dome has lost the finial used in
the earlier designs by Bourgeois and has gained ribs that
meet in a point above the apex and extend down over the
drum, curving outward to meet the upper part of the second­
story buttress. This lower part of each rib is pierced with an
arch. The dome of the Remey Renaissance design has a
pointed silhouette, and the lower sections of its second-story
buttresses are pierced with arches and curve out to meet the
upper sections of the first-story towers.
On the basis of the foregoing analysis, it would not seem un­
reasonable to suggest that the sudden undamming of Bour­
geois' inspiration after the Boston convention in 1917 was
related to his seeing the Remey designs there, and that the
design he submitted in 1920 derives both substantial formal
aspects and specific details from Remey' s designs. That this
is unlikely to have been entirely unknown to Bourgeois is
gested by the fact that he had previously based a design of his
on one by Remey.
At the Bahai Temple Unity Convention in New York in
1913, it was announced that a fund had been started to pay
for a vase to be sent to the Tomb of Baha'u'lhih to com­
memorate 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to North America in 1912.
Sometime before early 1914, Remey made a design for this
vase (see p. 226), and he circulated copies of this design in
March 1914 to encourage contributions. The design shows lit­
tle imagination, being a fairly stolid bottle shape with applied
Baha'f symbols. In June 1914, Bourgeois copyrighted a model
of a vase (see p. 227) whose design obviously derives from
the Remey one. However, Bourgeois' proportions are much
better, the roundels in the middle section are fairly success­
fully integrated with their background , rather than being
merely applied, and, most obviously, the handling of the neck
is much more imaginative. In Bourgeois' design, Remey's
heavy bottle neck is replaced by a flared shape ornamented
with Gothic-like tracery that prefigures the more confidently
192 Part Two: The Building

sweeping tracery of Bourgeois' 1920 submission and its revi­
sions. By early 1915, the Bourgeois design had supplanted
Remey's as that proposed to be sent. To date, no details of
the supplanting have come to lig�t except that it took place.
Although the Bourgeois design is obviously better (if not al­
together happy, the heavy base and the airy neck being rather
ill-matched), it would seem unlikely that its displacing the an­
nounced Remey one can have been achieved without some
acrimony. That the change of intent may not have been en­
tirely harmonious is indeed suggested by the delay in sending
the vase. It had been planned to send it in 1914, but it did not
actually go until 192 1 . Whatever the details of the vase affair,
the fact remains that the possibility of building upon a Remey
foundation was not unknown to Bourgeois when he saw the
Remey designs in Boston in 1917.

FURTHER COMMENTS O N THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE DESIGN

After his design was chosen in 1920, Bourgeois had to re­
duce it in scale to fit the site. This he did primarily by re­
ducing the number of bays in each facade from nine to five.
However, along with the necessary reduction in scale he also
made other changes, particularly to the first- and second­
story facades, and he continued revising until the late 1920s.
(See p. 228 for a more or less final version of the exterior
design.)
These revisions suggest continued reference, either in actu­
ality or from memory, to the Remey designs. The pylons of
the first story have only one slot in the revised design, as do
the Remey Renaissance design corner towers; and the upper
part of the pylon, the disposition of whose ornament is low­
ered relative to the first-story roof line in the revision, merits
some attention. The Remey Renaissance design corner tow-
The Bourgeois Design 193

ers are topped by domes resting upon a cornice, below which
is an arcade of blinded arches, each arch being enclosed in a
rectangle. The Bourgeois pylon is capped with a shallow
dome, and nestling in the ornament below the cornice can be
seen an arcade of blinded arches enclosed in rectangles.
In the second-story facade, the compoundly curved ar­
chivolt above the main window in the 1 920 submission was
changed to a simple elliptical curve, similar to the curve in the
upper part of the Remey Renaissance design second-story fa­
cade. The weakly designed frieze below the cornice in the
1920 submissfon was totally redrawn to suggest a row of
small arches immediately below the cornice, as in the Remey
Romanesque and Gothic designs. The large curved sections
of ornament applied to the lower part of the second-story but­
tresses were redesigned as outsweepingly curved sections
framing a door piercing the buttress itself. The ornament of
the pylon was largely confined to its front face and consists of
a band framed by a plain strip on each side which continues
the line of the curved sections. The Remey Renaissance but­
tresses have plain sides, and the band of ornament on their
front faces is similarly framed. In the Remey design the lower
section of the buttresses curves out, the side frames continu­
ing to border the plain stonework of the curve rather as Bour­
geois' curved sections frame the space in front of his arched
and rosette- and colonette-filled doorway.
If we look at Bourgeois' interior design, we can see further
links with Remey. The Peace Palace interior (see p . 232) em­
bodies in its central section an ornamented, probably glazed
dome above a painted mural and gallery, the latter overlook­
ing an upper hallway ringed with doors, arches, and a mural
frieze. This hallway in turn overlooks the main entrance hall,
with its large Egyptesque doorway flanked by staircases.
This central section of the interior is surrounded by domed
chambers and other rooms. The 1 909 submission had a very
194 Part Two: The Building

similar interior, except that a greater proportion of the space
was given to the central hall on the main floor and less of the
building devoted to subsidiary rooms. The interior of the
1920 submission is very different from the earlier designs (see
p. 231). There is a certain similarity to the glazed dome, al­
though its patterning is considerably more accomplished, but
the lower sections all relate to the arch forms established in
the exterior design. This revised interior, with its two main
tiers of large arches divided by a band of small arches (which
is actually a screen, or balustrade, for the gallery), the large
arches being divided from each other by narrow sections out­
lined by plain verticals, is similar to Remey' s interior for his
Renaissance design (see p . 230), which is the only Remey
interior to have such outlined sections between the large
arches. As Bourgeois reworked the interior design during the
1920s, it became more and more lavishly ornamented, and
during this process he continued to draw on the formal
aspects of the exterior that I have suggested derive from
Remey' s designs and the ornamental influences to be dis­
cussed below.
As stated above, one of the principal influences on the
Bourgeois and Blumenstein Peace Palace design was Art
Nouveau. The use of curves through two planes, some as­
pects of the composition of the pylons, and the general ex­
travagance of line are typical of such manifestations of the
Art Nouveau movement as the " style Guimard" . More specif­
ically, in its total composition, both exterior and interior, the
Palace design suggests familiarity on the part of either
Bourgeois or Blumenstein with D 'Aronco's Central Rotunda
at the Turin Exhibition of 1902. However, the influence that
is felt in this design that is of most significance for the current
discussion is that of Louis Sullivan, the earlier examples of
whose work were being built in Chicago when Bourgeois
lived there in the 1880s and early 1890s.
The Bourgeois Design 195

In 1907 Roy Wilhelm had been given not only the Peace
Palace plan to show 'Abdu'l-Baha but also a photograph
which Wilhelm later understood to be a part of the house
Bourgeois had built for Paul de Longpre in Hollywood (see
p. 233). The photograph showed part of the arcade at the
main entrance of the house. Gebhard describes this house as
having a "rich frosting of Sullivanesque ornament" and, in­
deed, the building amply demonstrates Bourgeois' acquain­
tance with Sullivan's work.21
The Peace Palace design uses various Sullivan elements,
but the use of Sullivan style ornament in this design and in the
1909 submission is slight compared to the extensive use Bour­
geois made of it in the 1920 submission and its revisions. It is
worth recalling here that in his comments on the Bourgeois
design at the 1920 convention Magonigle remarked, "it is
very difficult for me to refer it to any known period of ar­
chitecture except possibly the modern note that has grown up
in Chicago under Louis Sullivan. "22
In 192 1 , Bourgeois had a section of his proposed window
ornament modeled full-size. This model was made at the
American Terra Cotta Company by Kristian Schneider, who
had been Sullivan's chief modeler for over three decades. The
model does not deviate significantly from Bourgeois' draw­
ing, but the extent of Sullivan influence on the style may be
gauged from the fact that a former plant superintendent of
the company, who was interviewed in 1973, believed that
" Sullivan and Schneider made several changes from the origi­
nal architect's concept, " and that "Sullivan . . . had a major
influence on the design of the building. "23 The model (see
p. 234) shows clearly how Bourgeois embedded his formal ar­
chitectural elements, in this case the semicircular arch on
columns, in a plethora of Sullivanesque ornament.
As Bourgeois revised the design during the 1920s, he in­
creased the extent to which the ornamentation of the building
196 Part Two: The Building

was consistently Sullivanesque. For example, the ornament in
the spandrels of the first- and second-story facades was a
fairly typical, if weakly drawn, Art Nouveau "whiplash" in
the 1920 submission. In the revised design they were redone
in thoroughgoing Sullivan style. Another of the changes Bour­
geois made in the 1920s was to replace the doors cast with the
interlacing arches motif that he had used in the 1920 submis­
sion with doors related to those used in the Peace Palace de­
sign. This door design was modeled by Schneider (see p. 235),
and it may be usefully compared with a Sullivan design of the
mid 1890s for a door plate in the Guaranty Building (see p.
236).
These examples should serve to demonstrate the Sullivan
influence on Bourgeois' decorative style: the intertwining
lines, the seaweedy efflorescences, in which Bourgeois em­
beds his religious symbols and his derivations from Remey.
Indeed, even the way in which Bourgeois intertwines his
arches can be associated with Sullivan' s principles of gen­
erating complex designs from a simple basic element by over­
lapping and superimposition as readily as with historical
examples of intertwined arcading.
Having thus analyzed the design, and in particular noted
how Bourgeois continued to draw on Remey and Sullivan as
he revised, it is difficult to understand how he could have
honestly presented his design as he did . There is no doubt
that his design is a moderately successful synthesis of the
materials on which he drew and is much superior to the Peace
Palace design or his 1909 submission. Nevertheless it is pri­
marily a synthesis, a ' 'bricolage, ' ' there being little in it that
cannot be traced to Remey, Sullivan, or the Pea�e Palace.
It is possible that Bourgeois and Blumenstein considered
the Peace Palace design to be from ' 'The source of real
knowledge" that Bourgeois believed he had contacted in
California (notwithstanding its seeming similarities to the
The Bourgeois Design 19 7.

D' Aronco Rotunda), and that, therefore, Bourgeois regarded
the use of material from this design as not invalidating the in­
spirational nature he claimed for his 1920 submission. How­
ever, it seems unlikely that he could have been unaware of his
derivations from Remey. It is undoubtedly the case that Bour­
geois was familiar with the historical materials upon which
Remey drew for his designs; Bourgeois' papers include nu­
merous photographs of French late Gothic and Renaissance
buildings. It is equally the case that Bourgeois did not utilize
any of these design elements until after seeing Remey's use
of them, and that those he did use are closer to elements in
Remey' s designs than to those in the actual period buildings
in his collection of photographs. Nor does it seem likely that
Bourgeois could have been unaware of his Sullivan deriva­
tions. Indeed, according to Carl Scheffler , ' 'Very many people
have accused Mr. Bourgeois of taking this style of design
from Mr. Louis Sullivan, that this is his style-a modified Sul­
livan design. "24 But Scheffler also stated that Bourgeois had
convinced him and the others investigating the charges of
plagiarism that his style was different. Unfortunately, Schef­
fler says nothing of how Bourgeois convinced them, but that
he did says more for Bourgeois' powers of persuasion than
Scheffler's perspicacity as a professional artist.
Notwithstanding all of this, however, Bourgeois does seem
to have believed in some special status for his design. In the
draft of a letter he wrote to Shoghi Effendi in the later 1920s,
he stated:

My insistance that there shall be no interferance with this design
is that first I am not the creator of this original design-It is an in­
spiration from the creator I was told from the world of spirit · that
this Temple is a copy of a Temple that exist in the spiritual world
- r 'h "",.."" ':l t·r""""
I am only the instrument I claim no credit but the
instrument that did it, furthermore my experience has proven me
198 Part Two: The Building

that the body does not create anything, that even thoughts are not
of the body-but of the reality, this body being but a receiver-a
mirror that reflect the thought image so we do not place much
credit on the Physical performance since the early history of art
in this planet the great monuments took more than the period of
one mans life so the successors not knowing any better chooses to
alter the original design of those monument the result was that all
those monuments are distorted and are a mixture of different
thoughts It is against this that I want to guard this Temple from
desecration of its beauties . . . from the world of ignorance in Art
We have no man at present in the cause in America that can ap­
preciate this work and many of them would like to change it to
save few penneys . . . . Mrs Moffett . . . told me of few things you
would like me to add to the Temple-as I told you above my per­
sonality is not in this Monument we are ["I am" crossed out] but
the instrument. May be you have seen in the other world this
glorious monument and if my vision has not see it in all its com­
pletion-I am willing to be shown and you can do it in all liberty.
I inclose one of the small color picture-you can with ink and a
fine pen suggest in the Picture what you saw-certainly it will not
be as satisfactory as if I was with you-to talk this over but El
Baha will lead us to that which is to be for his glory. 25

It is difficult to reconcile such touchingly naive assertions of
being a mere "instrument" with Bourgeois' monetary de­
mands on the Baha'f community. But it is conceivable that he
felt his use of other artists' design materials without credit
justifiable in that they, too, were seeing fragments of this
"Temple . . . in the spiritual world" and were themselves
only instruments to aid its appearance in this world through
Bourgeois.

THE LEGITIMATION OF THE DESIGN

After the choice of the Bourgeois design in 1920 and the
subsequent realization that the demands of Bourgeois and his
The Bourgeois Design 199

supporters had changed the expected nature of further
proceedings it was necessary for the choice and the change to
be legitimized. The main legitimizing arguments used were
the supposedly unique status of the design as an inspired
structure and the symbolic aptness of that structure to rep­
resent the Baha'f Faith. That 'Abdu'l-Baha had approved the
choice and Shoghi Effendi confirmed that approval in 1925
were also used to some extent, but usually in such a way as to
imply that approval had been given to the grounds on which
the Bourgeois enthusiasts supported the design, which was
hardly the case. 'Abdu'l-Baha had given the choice of a design
to the delegates at the 1920 Bahai Temple Unity convention
as he felt that his choice would not be harmoniously accepted;
therefore, to use his confirmation of that convention's choice
(while sidestepping his suggested ceiling on cost) as uniquely
legitimating any design chosen was somewhat specious. In­
deed, Shoghi Effendi later described the situation bluntly:
"The American Baha'is freely chose the Bourgeois model
. . . They must bear the burden oftheir choice. "26
We have seen how Bourgeois presented his design as an
"inspiration" and indeed possibly even believed it to be so, in
spite of its dependence on the Peace Palace design, let alone
any other of the derivations we have discussed. This is obvi­
ously not the type of assertion that is capable of being demon­
strably proved, and therefore the supporters of this viewpoint
could do little more than assert it. However, they did have the
advantage of a widely accepted ideology of aesthetic creation
within the Baha'f community with which their assertion reso­
nated. The body of Baha'f hymnody that had developed within
the community since the early years of the century, together
with much other literary material, was believed by its authors
to have been "received" as gifts of spiritual communion with
the central figures of the Baha'f Faith, with a generalized
spiritual world, or with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, to many
200 Part Two: The Building

Baha'fs the idea expressed in the claim for the Bourgeois de­
sign was an accepte d fact of their view of aesthetic creation
and, for a considerable number, part of their personal ex­
perience. This coherence between the nature of the claims
made for the process by which Bourgeois unfolded his design
and this widely accepted ideology seems to have provided a
"hook" by which many Baha'fs could grasp onto the rather
abstract world of architecture.
However, the degree of importance claimed for the Bour­
geois design on the grounds of its inspired status went far be­
yond anything ever claimed for, or granted to, the earlier
products of receiving, and the design came to be regarded by
some as having a degree of numinous endowment that ren­
dered it an object of awe. By 1 930, the year of Bourgeois'
death, the design was widely accepted as being a direct reve­
lation with Bourgeois as its prepared vehicle. Thus, at the
1 930 National Convention Allen McDaniel, as convention
chairman, could refer to ' 'this revelation which has come to us
through our dearly beloved brother, Mr. Louis Bourgeois, "27
and could later introduce Bourgeois to the convention as the
' 'one to whom this great creation has been revealed. ' '28 In her
poem "In Memoriam, " Waite apostrophized Bourgeois and
his design thus:

0 thou who caught the vision crystal clear
And brought it forth to man in outer form,
A thing so mystical, so wondrous fair,
That those who stand before it, bow their head
As if before a shrine and say, "Behold!
This is the work of God, and not of man!
A Temple whose design was drawn above,
And given to humanity through thee. " 29

And in the eulogy at Bourgeois' funeral, the choice of his
design in 1 920 was represented as a divinely guided triumph
The Bourgeois Design 201

over the "forces of materialism, " and the design itself charac­
terized as the "symbolic manifestation of Divine Essence in
all its purity. " 30
The second major theme in the legitimation of the design
was the symbolic. The symbolism of the Peace Palace design
was heavily imbued with the number eight as representing
the eight states who had collectively established the interna­
tional court of arbitration. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar design
was equally heavily imbued with the number nine as repre­
senting "the Nine Great /World Manifestations;"31 Where
there had been eight of an element in the Peace Palace design
there were now nine. This symbolization of religious continu­
ity was further emphasized by Bourgeois' use of symbols of
succeeding religions in his ornamentation.
The other main symbolic strand in Bourgeois' design that
we need to consider here is his use of light. A common early
translation of "Baha" in North America was "light," and
Bourgeois saturated his design with references to outpouring
light. All his ornamentation was pierced through so that its
ground was light itself, his representations of the Greatest
Name were to be superimposed on outspreading gilded rays,
and he had an elaborate scheme for using electric illumination
to make the building a blaze of light outside and in.
Bourgeois' use of nine and the concept of light had obvious
attractions for his Baha'f contemporaries. They had been us­
ing the figure 9 on books, letter heads, and in various other
ways to express their feelings of Baha'f identity since the turn
of the century, and among some there was considerable in­
terest in the wider aspects of numerological speculation and
symbolization. Equally, the idea of capturing light in the
structure of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was appealing both sym­
bolically and aesthetically. But most important for the de­
sign's resonance with a growing ideological trend within the
Baha'f community, and its subsequent reinforcing of that
202 Part Two: The Building

trend, was that in its use of nine and light it symbolized not
just the Baha' f Faith but a succession of religions which were
seen as leading to it, each of which was equally welcome in
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. This idea was dramatized by the nine
identical sides of the building, each approached by a path and
entered by a great central doorway which led to a common
center (such a pattern actually being embodied in Bourgeois'
design for the floor). This physical arrangement, with its
equal treatment of all sides, cohered strongly with a growing
conception within the Baha'f community of the Baha'f Faith
(many came to prefer the term "Baha' f Movement") as a
universalist and nonsectarian endeavor to bring together peo­
ple from all religions in an ecumenical brotherhood without
challenging fundamentally their previous religious identities,
let alone' supplanting them with an exclusively Baha'f iden­
tity. The Bourgeois design expressed this concept admirably,
and the basic linking of the design to the Baha'f Faith through
its "revealed" status in turn helped to spread and legitimate
the nonexclusive ideology of the Baha'f Movement.
Despite the ability of those supporting the Bourgeois design
to press their claims for its inspired status and the undoubted
resonance of much of its symbolic content with contemporary
ideological developments within the Baha'f community, there
was one considerable legitimatory problem that was left un­
touched by these successes: the legitimation of the design as
an architectural concept. As there was no Baha'f architect or
engineer who supported its being built, there was urgent need
for "expert" opinion in support of the design on architectural
grounds, and this need was filled primarily through press
comment on the design. The importance of press approval as
a legitimizing factor may be gauged from the fact that a book­
let of press comment was published at Bourgeois' request in
192 1 , and in an introductory paragraph to a review of press
notices the following statement is made:
The Bourgeois Design 203

The model created by Louis Bourgeois, and accepted by the Ba­
hai Convention of April, 1920, as the design for the Temple to be
built in Chicago, has attained a wide publicity, and has aroused
such praise from the world of architects, that there can be no
question as to the wisdom of its choice. 32

The evidence of such praise was its mention in the press.
However, on reading the press notices we find very few
names that are invoked as giving it, and only one of those was
a significant American architect, the same Magonigle who
had advised at the 1920 convention.
Two early exended articles on the Bourgeois design were
those by Boswell and Reid. 33 A close reading of these articles
suggests strongly that they were not written without some ex­
terior assistance being provided to their authors, in that the
extent of correlation between the two articles in structure and
phrasing indicates a common base text. When we consider
the range of articles published on the design, we find many
similarities that further suggest the circulation of a publicity
text on Bourgeois and the design. Many of these articles at­
tribute to Magonigle-this opinion on the design, ' 'It is the first
new idea in architecture since the thirteenth century. I want
to see it erected. " Boswell explicitly suggests that he deli­
vered this comment as his "verdict" at the 1920 convention.
Magonigle did not make this comment, or anything approach­
ing it, according to the convention transcript, but it became
extensively used in the press and elsewhere as legitimating
the design's architectural standing. Magonigle later denied
ever having made the remark and asked that it cease to be
used, 34 but despite a notice in Bahti '{ News35 asking that the
comment no longer be attributed to Magonigle, it has con­
tinued to be used occasionally.
This supposed comment by Magonigle, supported as it was
by his considerable reputation, was undoubtedly of impor-
204 Part Two: The Building

tance in counterbalancing the lack of approval , of the Bour­
geois design by Baha'f architects and engineers. However, if
Magonigle did not say it, where did the corpment originate?
First, we may note that Magonigle was one of the leading
classicist architects in the United States and highly unlikely
by temperament or aesthetic sensibility to leap to pre-Rapha­
elite comparisons, and, indeed, the comment itself is merely
silly rather than judgmental and evidently the result of enthu­
siasm rather than consideration .
As it seems likely that a publicity document on the Bour­
geois design lies behind many of the press articles, it is possi­
ble that the purported quote originated with it or its author.
The most likely source for such a document is Mary Hanford
Ford. Ford was a long-term Baha'f and professional writer
and lecturer on the arts. She was apparently part of the group
that introduced Bourgeois to the Baha'f Faith, and after the
choice of the Bourgeois design she lectured extensively in its
favor. Indeed, according to Roy Wilhelm:

Through Mrs. Ford, I believe, Mr. Bourgeois had heard that �he
Baha'is were contemplating the constructiop. of a universal Tem­
'
ple [the context makes it clear that Wilhelm believes this to have
been before early 1907], and with her encouragement he became
active in association with the friends, particularly in its (Temple)
promotion. 36

An article by Ford completed the pamphlet of press com­
ments published in 192 1 , and she probably wrote the diges( of
press notices itself. Ford reported shortly after the choice of
the Bourgeois desiḥn that the sculptor George Gray Barnard
(whose work does, on occasion; show pre-Raphaelite sympa­
thies) declared that "the Temple marks a new development in
architecture, and the beginning of a great era 1n art. "37 In
The Bourgeois Design 205

some press articles Barnard is quoted as having declared on
unidentified occasions variations of this opinion: ' 'the greatest
creation since the Gothic period, ' '38 ' 'the first new conception
in architecture since the Gothic. ' ' 39 We should note also that
Ford herself began an article on the concept of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar published in 1915 with the extraordinary comment
that, "Since the 1 3th century men have not been much given
'tO building cathedrals or temples. "40
It �eems possible, then, that the comment attributed to
Magonigle derives from the enthusiasm of Ford, perhaps
fueled by the comments of Barnard. However the comment
may have originated, Magonigle himself seeming the least
likely source, such an apparently authoritative "approval" of
the design's architectural soundness supplied the missing in­
gredient in the mix that enabled the supporters of the Bour­
geois design to bring about an almost total conflation between
the concept of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as such and this partic­
ular design.

OPPOSITION TO THE DESIGN

Opposition to the choice of the Bourgeois design has always
been most closely linked with the name of Remey. Indeed,
those who opposed it were sometimes called ' 'Remeyites. ' '
However, although Remey undoubtedly committed more to
paper on the subject than any other objector, it would be inac­
curate to see him as leading the party of objectors or as
representing the only strand of opposition.
Remey stated his objections to the Bourgeois design in a
series of letters written mainly to the Bahai Temple Unity
Board (subsequently the National Spiritual Assembly) from
1920 to 1929, and those objections may be summarized as fol­
lows: (1) the design departs from 'Abdu'l-Baha's expressed
206 Part Two: The Building

wishes on style and cost, and its production and implementa­
tion ignore his desire for the design to be the work of a group
and not one individual; (2) the design is excessively individu­
alistic and not rooted in any established and approved tradi­
tion, and the surrounding aura of inspiration associated with
it is un-Baha' f in character; and (3) the design has basic
problems of structure and material.
In regard to the deviation from 'Abdu'l-Baha's wishes, we
have seen the lack of interest shown in considering his ex­
pressed preference for the Mogul style at the 1920 conven­
tion. This question of stylistic deviation was never seriously
addressed except insofar as there was, and continues, a men­
dacious attempt to compare the Bourgeois design with the
Taj Mahal. On cost, 'Abdu'l-Baha asked after the choice of
the Bourgeois design that it be reduced in scale to bring its
projected cost to around $1 million. The actual reduction was
to an estimate that was $200,000 in excess of this, and that
did not include the interior (which in itself was estimated by
Bourgeois as likely to cost $ 1 million). On the third ground of
departure from 'Abdu'l-Baha's wishes, Remey's case was
personally at its weakest. It had been known for many years
that 'Abdu'l-Baha had suggested that the design should not
be the work of one hand but should represent a collaborative
effort on the part of several designers. No one, including
Remey, had ever attempted to do this. Now Remey suggested
that a board or commission of qualified people be appointed to
revise the Bourgeois design in order to bring it into line with
'Abdu'l-Baha's wishes and the practicalities of the situation.
Remey excluded himself from consideration for this board,
but suggested the names of various well-qualified Baha' is,
some of whom were being consulted about the project but
only as part of a process of implementing Bourgeois' wishes.
Remey' s objection to the Bourgeois design as too individu­
alistic draws strength from the group design preference of
The Bourgeois Design 207

'Abdu'l-Baha, but he also substantiates this objection on two
other grounds. That styles in art are the result of lengthy cul­
tural processes and it is not possible to pull a full-blown new
style for the Baha'f Faith out of thin air. Such a style must de­
velop over time and be securely based in cultural precedent.
And secondt that the "cult" of revelation surrounding the
Bourgeois design was un-Baha' f in that it suggested a channel
of unerring communication between Baha'u'llah and his fol­
lowers other than 'Abdu'l-Baha and was thus aberrant from a
Baha'f perspective.
In his discussion of the design, Remey never suggests the
possibility of Bourgeois deriving any of his inspiration from
himself, or indeed from Sullivan, but insists on characterizing
it as a slightly revised Peace Palace design. (The only hint
Remey gives of other derivation on Bourgeois' part is in a let­
ter of 1929 when he describes the design as "the purported
work of one man . " ) To have accused Bourgeois of having
taken from others would have been in effect to have retracted
the main grounds of his argument that the design was too in­
dividualistic. Remey had also stated for years that he consid­
ered his own designs were done solely to provide a basis upon
which the eventual design could draw. Thus, if he did regard
Bourgeois as having used material from his designs, he could
only have objected to the result and not the process. To be
able to object to the design in essence as well as substance, he
had to confine the process to Bourgeois.
Structurally Remey objected to the design on the grounds
that the proposed method of building was ' 'commercial' '
rather than ' 'monumental' ' and involved materials of a quality
that had a relatively short life expectancy. He also pointed out
that the design had features ill-adapted to the situation and
climate of the site.
Many of Remey' s objections were well founded and sup­
ported by others who were less vocal about them. It seems
208 Part Two: The Building

unlikely that Remey was without personal animus toward
Bourgeois as he claimed; and that the choice of a design had
been made on an"either-Remey-or-Bourgeois basis gave a per­
sonal edge to his objections that made it more difficult for him
to be seen as concerned principally with the success of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar pr�ject. That his objections were not seri­
ously discussed and dealt with was, however, unfortunate,
and that none of those who agreed with his position were pre­
pared to take a stand, the same. As the 1920s progressed,
Remey's objections tended to take on a certain tone of hys­
teria and his lack of success led him into involvement with
grandiose schemes elsewhere, but the basic issues that he
raised were valid, whatever the personal element involved in
his argument.
As well as those who actively opposed the Bourgeois design
there were those such as Carl Scheffler, ' 'who were passively
opposed to the Bourgeois Model, that is, I did not raise a hand
to hinder, but I did nothing to help, because I felt that there
was something about it that was not right. "41
Apart from the objections made to the design as such, there
were objections among both opposers and supporters of the
design to Bourgeois himself. There was considerable discon­
tent over Bourgeois' financial demands, which was greatly
exacerbated when he built himself a studio on the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar property without proper permission. The studio, al­
though really rather shoddily built, looked quite palatial in
contrqst to the hideous basement structure which was all
'
there was to show of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar itself in the mid-
- -

dle and later 1920s, and Bourgeois' vastly inflated assertions
as to what it had cost did not help matters. He asserted on
various occasions that it had cost over $30,000, but cor­
respondence between various people at the time it was built
suggests $5,000 as a more realistic figure.
The objections to Bourgeois personally extended to how he
would be involved in the construction of the building. Theo-
The Bourgeois Design 209

retically, he was the architect in charge, but in practice the
Board/National Assembly came to prefer to distance him
from the actual building operation as much as possible, and
they reposed their main trust in their appointed engineer,
Major Burt, until his death in 1928. 42 This disinclination to let
Bourgeois da'bble too closely in the building process was well
founded. The foundation of the structure as built consists of
nine caissons, presumed sunk to bedrock, and a network of
pilings. Bourgeois had insisted, largely for the symbolic rea­
sons that thus the building would rest upon rock, on sinking
these caissons, although experienced engineers recommended
a foundation of only pilings at considerably less cost. Simi­
larly, the height of the basement structure had been agreed
by consultation between Bourgeois and an advisory panel, of
Baha'i engineers, but Bourgeois unilaterally increased this
height by ten feet, necessitating the redrawing of structural
plans and considerable increased expense. (This increase in
height was to accommodate the domed room known as Foun­
dation Hall, which was not part of the original design.) It
seems extraordinary that Bourgeois was permitted to do such
things at the beginning of the construction process, but the
lack of unity within the Board, and within the community it­
self, as to whether the building should actually be attempted
at all, plus the fact that Bourgeois seems to have been re­
garded as an elemental force rather than a rational being, re­
sulted in a lack of control over what was happening on the
site.
Among those who worked closely with Bourgeois on the
project and who cannot be supposed to have had any personal
animus against him, there seems to have been a feeling as to
his lack of practical competence as strong as among:his oppo­
nents. Thus, Corinne True stated that he '"'istoo much of a
dreamer to be turned loose to have what he wants done with-
out a good practical committee to put a check on him. "43 And
Scheffler, after some years of working with him, described
210 Part Two: The Building

Bourgeois as "above all an artist, a designer of exquisite
decorative forms, rather than an architect, and even though
he now has a license issued by the Illinois Board [of
chitects], I do not think that he is a thoroughly trained archi­
tect. "44 And an assessment of Bourgeois given by Miriam
Haney on the floor of the convention in 1925, without
recorded contradiction, suggests that even the most ardent
supporters of his design regarded him in a light that was not
entirely complimentary:

God has sent us a genius, one in whom has been born a beautiful
idea. . . . That was handicapped by having added to the
temperament of a genius the temperament and feelings of a
Frenchman. God has given us a genius who is a temperamental
an artist. God means us to deal lovingly with him. 45

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DESIGN

It goes beyond the purposes of the present discussion to
consider the building of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette in
detail, but as there is an understandable tendency on the part
of most commentators to conflate the building that was
n�£l•f'1"£H'1 with that designed by Bourgeois, I wish to briefly

note some aspects of the process by which was
implemented.
During Bourgeois' lifetime no more than the basement
structure, which includes the meeting hall known as Founda­
tion Hall, was completed. Foundation Hall, although structur­
ally complete in 1922, was only made fully usable in 1928. At
that time Bourgeois' own elaborate decorative scheme for
this room was ignored and a severely plain treatment which
concurred more adequately with the aesthetic sensibilities of
such as Remey was implemented. As the remainder of the
building was constructed after Bourgeois' death, the proce-
The Bourgeois Design 211

dures followed produced results that continued t o depart from
Bourgeois' aesthetic intentions.
In 1930, it was decided to abandon Bourgeois' plan of build­
ing a complete first story with a temporary roof as the next
stage in construction, the upper stories to be added as possi­
ble, in favor of a scheme proposed by Research Services, Inc . ,
o f Washington, D.C. , who were t o take charge o f building the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. The new plan was to build a complete su­
perstructure in reinforced concrete that would give the silhou­
ette, as it were, of the complete building apart from the ribs of
the dome. This method of proceeding totally changed the na­
ture of most of Bourgeois' exterior except for the ribs and
dome themselves, in that most of his light-embedded orna­
ment was now destined to be carried out as mere surface or­
nament upon an established form rather than the ornament
itself defining the form. Equally, the material used to produce
the exterior ornamentation between 1932 and 1942 (exposed
aggregate concrete produced at the Earley studios in Virginia)
led to a coarsening of the design. Bourgeois had pressed for
the use of this material from the early 1920s; however, it
would seem that his attraction to it was largely that it was sup­
posed to be new and that he felt its newness made it appropri­
ate for his supposedly new architecture. He cannot have
seriously considered the practicality of using this material for
what he had intended, though considering practicality is not
something one associates with Bourgeois in any sphere. Bour­
geois had originally conceived his ornament for the plasticity
of terra cotta and cast bronze, and the much cruder definition
possible in concrete, together with the fact that Earley's
modelers were no Christian Schneiders, necessitated a simpli­
fication of Bourgeois' designs that tends toward the naive and
compares sadly with the richness of the original drawings.
The ornamentation of the exterior was stopped in 1942, and
its completion has been indefinitely postponed. Indeed, it is
212 Part Two: The Building

generally supposed to have been completed. However, the re­
sult of omitting Bourgeois' elaborate window grilles, and also
the rustication on the :p,ow plain areas of the facade, is to
produce a contrast between pattern and void that is not part
of Bourgeois' aesthetic. Further, the creation of an entirely
white building was never his intention.
In 1946, Shoghi Effendi instructed that the interior should
be completed. He stipulated �hat the Bourgeois design should
be adhered to as closely as possible, with modifications being
made in materials to keep the complete cost within reasona­
ble bounds (which he set at $650 ,000). Bourgeois' interior de-
included marble skirtings and door frames, elaborately
patterned walls, mosaic floors, cast glass arches, stained glass
windows, cast bronze grilles, and a soaring stained glass
dome. The cost of actually realizing Bourgeois' design would
have been enormous, but much of the effect could have been
preserved, as is demonstrated in the first design adaptations
sent to Shoghi Effendi. Both McDaniel and Reed, a Chicago
architect, had prepared versions of the interior, and Shoghi
Effendi instructed that the McDaniel version, with some ele­
ments added from the Reed one, should be built. A modified
McDaniel design was prepared and widely publicized in 1947
as the design to be built. Shoghi Effendi had also instructed
that further architectural advice should not be sought.
The National Spiritual Assembly engaged Alfred Shaw, an­
other Chicago architect, to produce the working drawings and
to supervise the building of the accepted McDaniel design,
specifying in his contract that this was all he was to do. Nev­
ertheless, Shaw completely redesigned the interior, and in
1948 the Assembly exhibited this design at the National Con­
vention and widely publicized it as the one to be built. Shoghi
Effendi gave this design his approval and instructed that
building should begin immediately. However, with the en­
couragement of a handful of prominent Baha'is, Shaw con-
The Bourgeois Design 213

tinued to revise the design until in December 1948, Shoghi
Effendi insisted that no further revision take place and that
building begin. Due to the continued delay, the interior could
no longer be built for the budgeted figure . Even with a con­
siderable increase, it was only possible to finish the main part
of the auditorium, and the rest remains uncompleted to date.
The constructed Shaw interior shows the utter lack of sym­
pathy both he and those Baha' fs who wished him to continue
revising had with the Boutgeois design. All the richness of
contrasting colors and textures is gone, a loss which is com­
pounded by the fact that the painted walls were left white and
never painted rose and blue as intended in the earlier interior
revisions. Shaw's interior ornamentation is carried out in the
same concrete as the exterior, but it omits religious symbols
and vegetative elements. It consists solely of rather weakly
drawn interlacing tracery, the patterning of the lower areas
of the central space being developed from the patterning of
the inner pierced dome, rather than relating to the
storys.
Indeed, the inner dome aptly demonstrates the lack of un­
derstanding of Bourgeois' intentions on the part of Shaw and
his supporters. Bourgeois' scintillating colored glass dome,
patterned with religious symbols and sacred text, has become
a white concrete doily the patterning of which is but a skeletal
reduction from Bourgeois' design. That the inner dome was
conceived by Shaw and his advisors as a pierced struct11re
probably derives from their mistaking a drawing of part of
Bourgeois' scheme for Foundation Hall for a drawing of the
Auditorium dome. The design of the ornament of the Founda­
tion Hall dome is significantly different from that of the Au­
ditorium dome but there is a note ( " 36 PERFORATED ORN.
PANELS IN THE CEILING") on the drawing that to the
high relief stucco work of the ornamentation. No Auditorium
dome design drawing, or textual reference, suggests that
214 Part Two: The Building

Bourgeois ever intended anything other than a stained glass
dome in the Auditorium. That Shaw, and others, thought a
perforated one was intended can only derive from their mis­
understanding the Foundation Hall drawing.
That the Bourgeois design was never in a real sense "ar­
chitecture, ' ' as it was made without considered reference to
site, climate, materials, or construction methods, and that it
was impossible to realize in a satisfactory way, given the real­
ities of the twentieth century rather than the state treasury of
a determined autocrat, may be fairly readily understood. It
was principally an exercise in the ' ' ideal, ' ' but since it was be­
lieved by many to represent the incursion into this world of a
reality fr:om "beyond, " the design acquired and retains a
numinous authority that was hardly justifiable. Much of its
symbolism and most of its associated ideology represent pass­
ing developments in Baha'f belief in North America; the deci­
sion to adopt the design embodied the temporary triumph of
those ideologies, rather than a reasoned choice on practical or
aesthetic grounds.
The problems faced in translating the design into an actual
structure clearly demonstrated its shortcomings as architec­
ture. But its authority prevented any conscious and sys­
tematic revising of it. The forced revision of the exterior that
occurred due to the financial and technical inability of those
executing it to carry out the design itself, exacerbated by
their lack of understanding of it, added to the aesthetic
problem of the building and failed to adequately conquer the
structural problems. By the time of the ornamentation of the
i�terior, it had become possible to more consciously subvert
the authority of the design. But at the same time the design
was even less understood, making its revision even more of a
happenstance.
Whatever the fate of Bourgeois' aesthetic at the hands of
those who produced the interior, the ideologiccll concepts of
The Bourgeois Design 215

the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar that he had embodied in his work by
that time had become not only ubiquitous but elaborated.
Though Bourgeois' various religious symbols were omitted
from the interior, concern for the other religions they signi­
fied was now paramount. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was not to
be considered a place for Baha'fs, indeed they were discour­
aged from using it for themselves. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
was a "universal " building, a "teacher" of non-Baha'fs, in
some unidentified way ideologically residual to its "inspired"
status. The building in itself had come to be perceived in an
almost talismanic way, and the functions it had originally
been planned to shelter had been largely forgotten.
REMEY'S " BYZANTINE" DESIGN.
REMEY'S " ROMANESQUE" DESIGN.
REMEY'S " GOTHIC" DESIGN.
REMEY'S " RENAISSANCE " DESIGN.
2 19
ELEVATION FOR PEACE PALACE AND LIBRARY.
Court of Arbitration, The Hague,
by Bourgeois and Blumenstein

l:'.j
l:'.j
l:'.j

BOURGEOIS DESIGN SUBMITTED TO THE BAHAI TEMPLE UNITY IN 1909.
�
�
�
f.
Y'

_i
F

1:\:)
1:\:)
w

PLASTER MODEL OF THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKA.R DESIGN
exhibited bv Bourgeois at the Baha'i National Convention in 1920.
DETAIL DRAWING
OF BOURGEOIS
for proposed orna­
ment for first story
facade of the Mash­
-
riqu'l-Adhkar.

REMEY'S " ROMAN CLASSIC " DESIGN.
REMEY VASE DESIGN, 1914.
BOURGEOIS VASE DESIGN, 1914.

BOURGEOIS ' S FINAL REVISED DESIGN
for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
SECTION, REMEY ' S " RENAISSANCE " DESIGN.

SECTION, BOURGEOIS MASHRIQU ' L-ADHKAR DESIGN.

SECTION, BOURGEOIS AND BLUMENSTEIN PEACE PALACE AND LIBRARY.
Court of Arbitration, The Hague
National Baha'i Archives, Wilmette, Ill.
MODEL OF BOURGEOIS DESIGN FOR WINDOW ORNAMENT
for the third story of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
MODEL OF BOUR­
GEOIS DESIGN FOR
CAST BRONZE DOORS
for the first story of
the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar�

s
g
a
�
uJ

�
�
,,....
�ro

� 235
]ro
z
SULLIVAN
'nOOR PLATE
for the Guaranty
Building.

PART THREE

THE PRACTICE
CHAPTER SEVEN

CHORAL SONG AND SERMONIZING
IN WILMETTE

During the years in which a design for the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar was being sought, and when selected built, a parallel
process of developing a . devotional practice for the building
was occurring. The song aspect of this process was primarily
concerned with choral music: from the Vahid Choral Society
of over seventy years ago to the dissolution, and subsequent
attempted reformation, of the Baha'i House of Worship Choir
in 1983.

THE VAHID CHORAL SOCIETY
Following the provisional selection, in the spring of 1908, of
a site on which to build, there was a sense of expectancy that
a completed building in which to worship would soon be avail­
able and a determination to be prepared . In the early summer
of 1908, Albert Windust drafted a letter at the request of
Louise Waite to be sent to 'Abdu'l-Baha, which stated that:

240 Part Three: The Practice

. . . we, the Friends of Chicago and vicinity, looking forward to
the crowning event-the dedicatory exercises held in the com­
pleted Building-believing that music and singing will be a promi­
nent feature of that event, as well as all large gatherings in that
Sanctuary thereafter, inquire of Thee regarding Its Musical De­
partment of Service . . . .

The letter further stated that its purpose was to inform
'Abdu'l-Baha that it was intended to:

. . . encourage the gathering together in regular rehearsals [of]
those blessed with singing voices-whether children or adults or
both-and others who are desirous of learning the grand, the sub­
lime� or the restful choruses from the great Oratorios, together
with humbler compositions, forming the nucleus of a "Dedicatory
Chorus, " to sing at the dedication of the Mashrak-el-Azcar-bap­
tizing It, as it were, with an outburst of melody and harmony be­
fitting such a great event in the Kingdom of God . . .

After asking whether an organ or other musical instru­
ments could be used in the building, the letter stated that it
was believed that beginning these rehearsals would serve as
' 'an added stimulus to the accomplishment of the erection of
the Building-especially among the young. ' '
Seventy-two signatures were gathered for this letter from
people in Chicago, Fruitport in Michigan, Kenosha and Ra­
cine in Wisconsin, and, one woman in Bellingham, Washing­
ton. The letter was considered at a meeting of the Chicago
House of Spirituality on 28 June 1908, but they decided to
defer sending it. 1
Interest in the matter did not disappear, however. Later
that summer the Kenosha community decided to buy a new
piano, as they wished "to learn some of the songs preparatory
to the Dedication of the first Mash-rek-el-Askar erected . . .
in these regions. "2 And in Chicago itself the first Western Ba­
ha'f choir was founded: the Vahid Choral Society.
Choral Song and Sermonizing 241

The exact date of the foundii}g of the choir is not known,
but regular rehearsals probably started sometime during the
summer or fall of 1908. As it was originally planned to hold
the first national Baha'i convention in November 1908, it is
likely that this occasion would have been a target for the new
choir's efforts. The choir was jointly founded by Louise Waite
and Albert Windust and drew its members from the young
people of the Chicago Baha'i community.
In early 1909, at a joint meeting of the House of Spirituality
and the Chicago Temple Committee to make arrangements
for the postponed convention, now planned for March, Louise
Waite, as chairman of the Music Committee. and Miss Tyck­
son, of the Young People's Society, were asked to coordinate
the music for a special program planned for the Naw-Ruz
feast to be held as part of the convention on Sunday, 2 1
March. 3 This substantial program included the first public ap­
pearance of the Vahid Choral Society and set a pattern for
such celebrations at early conventions.

At 10 o'clock the delegates and friends began to assemble in
Corinthian Hall, Masonic Temple, but it was nearly 1 1 o'clock be­
fore the blaze of electric lights announced the commencing of the
meeting. The platform was decorated with palms and flowers,
and to the left of the hall were banked the singers of the Chicago
Assembly, who had prepared special music for the occasion. The
opening chords of the piano prelude silenced the assemblage and
the limpid tones of a beautiful violin solo, rendered by Miss Lena
Moneak, quieted the soul. 4

All then sang Waite' s hymn "His glorious Sun has Risen" ;
Thornton Chase read 'Abdu'l-Baha's "New Year's Tablet";5
the Chicago Assembly Sunday School children recited the
"Bahai Alphabet" ; and Charles Currier read the twenty­
fourth psalm. At this point came the choir's debut, as they
sang the anthem "King of Kings" (Simper), with Bessie Dig­
gett as soloist.
242 Part Three: The Practice

After the reading of "the glorious Festival Commune, re­
vealed by Baha' o'llah, and a few moments of silence, the sing­
ers, quietly, while seated, rendered 'Lovely Appear' (Gounod)
as a greeting to the delegates and speakers. ' ' 6 Then followed
four brief talks by visitors, after which all sang Waite's
"Great Day of God, " and Mirza Raffie chanted . There were
two more talks, then all sang Waite's "Tell the Wondrous
Story, ' ' and after another three talks the meeting was closed
by the choir singing "The Prophetic Song" (Parker).
The choir also participated in a public meeting held in con­
junction with the convention on the evening of Monday,
March 22 . The meeting was chaired by Thornton Chase,
there were eight speakers, and, in addition to the choir's per­
formance, Lena Moneak again played and Bessie Diggett and
Albert Windust sang solos. 7
After the convention the choir remained active. On Sunday,
13 June 1909, they went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to join with
the Kenosha Baha'f community in their regular Sunday meet­
ing. The Kenosha minutes record that:

A very beautiful and interesting meeting was held and the Choral
Society favored us with some fine singing, which was followed by
selections from the Redeen orchestra. After the morning meet­
ing, the visitors enjoyed a short walk about the city and upon
returning to the hall they were served with dinner. About 2:30 in
the afternoon another meeting was held in the hall and the Choral
Society rendered several more beautiful selections, the Redeen
orchestra played a few pieces and Brother Windust sang a beauti­
ful solo.8

Those at the afternoon meeting also heard talks by Thorn­
ton Chase, Albert Windust, and Bernard Jacobsen and en­
joyed light refreshments.
During the summer of 1909, Louise Waite received an un­
expected Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Baha inviting her to come to
Choral Song and Sermonizing 243

'Akka. The night before she left in early September, she met
with the Choral Society to hear them once more. Windust was
not able to be present, but he telephoned a message that he
had a letter to send with Waite asking for 'Abdu'l-Baha's in­
structions about music in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, and that he
also wished her to take his conductor's baton to ask 'Abdu'l­
Baha to bless it. Louise Waite had originally given him this
baton, and on her way to 'Akka she had it set with a heavy
silver tip in London. 'Abdu'l-Baha did bless the baton, and
he explained to her that in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar itself
there would be only voices heard, but that in an adjoining as­
sembly hall singing accompanied by instruments would be
permissible . 9
On 24 January 1910, Waite , as president of the Vahid
Choral Society, sent a circular letter to its members which
described to them 'Abdu'l-Baha's attitude to their work and
encouraged them to participate in rehearsals in preparation
for that year's convention:

Dear singers to the King:
On Friday evening, January 28th, at the Baldwin Piano Rooms,
262 Wabash Avenue, a continuance of the weekly rehearsals of
the Vahid Choral Society will be begun and the music for the
Unity Temple Convention . . . will be taken up. It is my sincere
hope that all will enter into the spirit of this work, for the cause is
great. Last year your singing at the Convention was spoken of all
over the country by returning delegates. You did wonderfully
well. This year you will, I know, do wonderfully better, for your
incentive is greater. Last year's work was done in an experimen­
tal way with no thought of permanent organization. This year our
Society stands with the stamp and seal of recognition and ap­
proval of Abdul-Baha. Let me quote again to you His words said
to me while in Acca. I asked Him if He approved of our Choral
Society and their past work. There was real joy in His face as He
replied: "Yes. Music has a great place; it is one of the highest
244 Part Three: The Practice

forms of expression of spiritual ideas; it is a great art and should
be cultivated. All who have talent should study and develop it,
and the work of the Choral Society was most acceptable; it was
very good . " I said: "I wish you could have heard them sing at the
Convention on the 2 1st of March; they sang as if inspired. " He re­
plied: "Abdul-Baha did hear them and saw them too, and He will
always hear them. " And in the Tablet received by me, upon my
return to Chicago, from Abdul-Baha, He wrote: "I ask that the
Choral Society may become assisted to the guidance of the peo­
ple, the love of the human kind and the attraction of the hearts . ' '
Surely n o greater inspiration could b e needed than these words of
assurance and His prayers. To the end that we may add to His
joy, let us work most earnestly, for there remain but a few weeks
in which to prepare for the great occasion before us.
Hoping all will be present on Friday evening, January 28th . 10
. .

On 16 February 1910, a "Musicale" was held under the Va­
hid Choral Society's auspices to raise money for the Temple
Fund. The choir itself did not perform, but an "excellent per­
formance given by artists of note , " including violin, piano,
and vocal items and reading of verse by Louise Waite, raised
"a goodly sum. " 1 1
The second convention, i n 1910 , was the first to be held
during the RiQ.van period. Those attending gathered for a
Festival Service on Sunday morning, 24 April. As in the
preceding year, the "meeting was called for 10, but it was
near 1 1 o'clock when it convened, the intervening time being
spent busily in getting acquainted, delivering greetings, etc . ' '
The program began with a piano rendition of ' 'Contempla­
tion" from Gaul's oratorio "The Holy City, " followed by all
singing ' 'His glorious Sun has Risen . ' ' The Tablet of Vis­
itation of Baha'u'llah was read, and then the choir sang
" Prophetic Song" (Parker). Mountfort Mills, as chairman,
welcomed the delegates; Corinne True read a tablet; Miss
Waller sang "Song of Thanksgiving" (Allitsen); Zia Bagdadi
Choral Song and Sermonizing

chanted; and a prayer was read followed by silent con­
templation.
At this point there was a substantial m:usical interlude, with
the pianist playing "Adoration" and the choir singing an ar­
rangement of "A New Heaven and a New Earth, " both from
Gaul's "Holy City. " This was followed by Bessie Diggett
singing Waite's " Prelude, " with the choir then performing
her ' 'Benediction. ' ' This latter song of Waite's had been com­
posed under the influence of her experience of the preceding
year's convention and was rapidly becoming accepted as the
most popular Western Baha'i devotional song.
After three brief talks, all sang "Great Day of God, " and af­
ter three further talks, Madame Ragne Linne sang "Come
Unto Me. " The final six talks were divided by all singing
Waite's "Temple Song, " which she had composed especially
for this convention. The program then ended with the choir
singing "The Heavens Resound" (Beethoven). 12
During the 1910 convention the Vahid Choral Society also
participated in the public meeting held on the evening of
Tuesday, 26 April. The choir, assisted by Miss Ellerman,
added "sweet strains of music" to a meeting which lasted
until nearly midnight. I3
Some time after this convention the Vahid Choral Society
declined. Albert Windust entered a period of business diffi­
culties, and he may have been unable to give enough time to
directing them. Also, the organizational difficulties in the
Chicago Baha'i community itself may have played a part in
the choir's eclipse (see Chapter Five). Whatever the reason,
in 191 1 Windust had to announce "that upon this occasion the
audience was to be the choir. " 14
However, the lack of a choir did not prevent the 1911 con­
vention from being richly musical. There were vocal contribu­
tions to its programs by Miss Ellerman and Windust. At the
Unity Feast given on Saturday evening, 29 April Louise
246 Part Three: The Practice

Waite's husband, Edgar, sang the "Prelude" and all joined in
the familiar ' 'Benediction. ' ' In the Sunday morning program
Mountfort Mills gave the first performance of Emma Holmes'
' 'The Comforter, ' ' which he repeated by request at the clos­
ing of the convention on 2 May. And throughout the conven­
tion there was singing of hymns by Waite. 15
For the convention of 1912, with its expected "special
guest, " 'Abdu'l-Baha, the choir was revived. That year they
numbered about forty-five, and according to Ella Robarts,
who as a trained musician and piano teacher should have been
able to judge, they were good. 1 6
In 1912, the RiQ.van Feast was held on Saturday evening,
April 27, and was attended by around 350 people. The tables
at which they sat were decorated with roses, hyacinths, vio­
lets, anemones, and the occasional sunflower. Mills again
sang "The Comforter, " the audience heard a message from
'Abdu'l-Baha that he would soon arrive in Chicago, and there
were several brief talks. Then Ragne Linne gave the first per­
formance of Louise Waite' s most ambitious composition,
"The New Jerusalem, " which she would sing again a few
days later for 'Abdu'l-Baha himself.
After further talks, a Miss Lee sang, and after more talks
Mr. Paton sang. Then after a final group of talks, the meeting
closed with all singing Waite's ' 'Softly His Voice is Calling, ' '
which she had written originally for the children of the
Chicago Baha'f community in 1907.
At the meeting on Sunday morning, 28 April the "hall was
filled to overflowing. ' ' After an opening period of silence, the
program began with selections by the choir, assisted by
Emma Holmes at the organ, Lillian James at the piano, a
violinist, a harpist, and a flautist. The program continued
with alternating groups of short talks and songs by the choir,
and this ' 'meeting of wonderful spiritual fragrance, power
and unity" closed with Linne singing the "Prelude" and the
Choral Song and Sermonizing 24 7

choir the "Benediction . " 17 On the evening of 30 April 1912,
'Abdu'l-Baha was to speak at the closing public meeting of
the convention. The meeting opened as the ' 'chorus vocalized
the songs of praise which filled every heart, ' ' and then
'Abdu'l-Baha spoke on the importance of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar. After he spoke all sang the "Temple Song,,... Linne
sang the ' 'Benediction, ' ' and to close the meeting the choir
sang ' 'The Prophetic Song. ' ' At last the singers had sung for
their " King . " 18
The programs the Vahid Choral Society participated in
at these early conventions are obviously expansions of the
community meeting model drawn up by the House of Spiritu­
ality in 1903 (see Chapter Two), but they were also consid­
ered paradigmatic for future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar practice by
those who took part in them. The original impetus for the for­
mation of the Vahid Choral Society had been the expectation
of "baptizing" such a building with song, and their work was
known to have the approval of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Similarly, the
use of Waite's hymns, which feature so largely in these con­
vention programs, was known to be encouraged by him, and
such compositions generally had been approved in Tablets for
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar use . Dropping the brief talks, which were
mostly personal comments from delegates on their feelings at
attending the convention, and the instrumental elements
would have made these programs fit for community devotions
in a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar by the criteria. then known.
As was demonstrated in 1911, this type of program was not
dependent on the existence of a choir, however. The absence
of a choir that year did not substantially alter the type of pro­
gram used. The "grand" and " sublime" could still be offered
by talented individuals, and the audience could essay the
' 'humbler compositions. ' ' When the choir did participate, its
repertoire and that of the soloists and congregation over­
lapped to some extent: a piece such as the "Benediction"
248 Part Three: The Practice

could be passed from one to the other from occasion to occa­
sion. The participation of a choir no doubt heightened the ex­
perience of attending one of these programs, but its absence
would not fundamentally alter it.
Indeed, with the exception of the hiatus in 1915 (see Chap­
ter Four), devotional programs at conventions after the de­
mise of the Vahid Choral Society continued in much the same
form as before, although their scale was more on the lines of
the reduced programs of 1912, than the marathons of 1909 or
1910. The singing of Waite's hymns also occurred during the
business sessions of these · later conventions, as they were
used on occasion in conjunction with or to substitute for a
prayer at the beginning of a session. Thus, with the example
given at national Baha'f events, as well as in the accustomed
practice of most local communities, the average Baha'f who
thought about the issue in 1920 would most probably have ex­
pected Mashriqu'l-Adhkar devotions to consist of the reading
of Baha'f writings and other scriptures, with song elements
ranging from the singing of hymns by all, a choir, or a soloist
to solo and part singing of more elaborate compositions.

THE EARLY USES OF FOUNDATION HALL
On the 9th July 1922, the Martyrdom of the Bah was com­
memorated in the uncompleted basement structure of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. The account of this occasion published in
the National Teaching Committee Bulletin described this as
"the first service" held there, 19 and True also described this
meeting as a " Service" . 20 The program was rather different,
however, from what might have been expected. The lumber
being used on the site had been arranged into temporary seat­
ing and "a speakers stand and platform, "21 and there were
talks by Vail, Bagdadi, and True, followed by Mrs. Bagdadi
chanting and Vail reading prayers. There were no hymns and
no other music.
Choral Song and Sermonizing 249

Later in 1922, the Birthday of Baha'u'lhih was celebrated in
Foundation Hall on the afternoon of November 12. Consider­
ing the time of year, the condition of the structure, and that it
was pouring rain, that around 1 50 people attended argues for
a reasonable degree of enthusiasm about using the building
among the adjacent Baha'i communities. At this meeting
True chaired, Vail and Bagdadi spoke, Mrs. Bagdadi chanted,
"and after a check of $1000.00 was presented for the Temple
-was sung: "Nearer My God to Thee" which was exceed­
ingly impressive. " 22
The form of these two meetings was obviously similar, as
was the personnel conducting them. That the former lacked
any ingredient of song might be accounted for by the solem­
nity of the occasion commemorated, but the latter was also
conspicuously lacking in any of the several well-known Baha'i
songs that would have been appropriate to the occasion. Yet
however these two meetings may have differed from what we
might have expected based on past events, they began to de­
fine a pattern for the use of Foundation Hall that would last
for many years to come. National Conventions held there con­
tinued to include hymns through the rest of the period of Ba­
ha'i hymnody, but the meetings organized specifically for
Foundation Hall concentrated on the verbal presentation of
certain aspects of the Faith and directed that presentation, in
particular, to non-Baha'is.
A central figure in this development was Albert Vail. Until
1918, Vail had been a Unitarian minister in Urbana, Illinois,
but in that year he was forced to resign because of his Baha'i
teaching. He moved to Chicago and proposed to establish
there an "independant, undenominational church . . . dedi­
cated to the universal principles of Baha' o'llah. "23 He further
explained:

This church would belong to the old religious order and be con­
ducted by a Bahai minister. But of course it could not be a Bahai
250 Part Three: The Practice

church for in our new revelation this is impossible. It would be
simply a bridge between the old order and the new. At its ser­
vices I would plan to present the great principles of the Bahai
Revelation, the pure Christianity of the Christ. . . . Step by step
would I and any other of the friends who spoke from this pulpit
endeavor to lead the seekers who are attracted by these universal
principles out of the old to the Threshold of the Abha Revelation.
We would then announce to them that classes for the study of the
Bahai principles were being held here and there throughout the
city on weekday evenings and afternoons, and there we could
give them the full Revelation. Thus would this church, we feel be­
come an open door to the Bahai Cause, and who knows how
through the assistance of the Covenant it may bring many souls
into our glorious Cause and strengthen the Chicago Assembly and
raise up those who are to worship in the Mashrak-el-Azkar.
Whenever the service of this institution was ended it could dis­
solve into the universal glory of the Mashrak-el-Azkar.
And all the time between Sundays the minister of this "Church
of the Kingdom" would be free to herald in Chicago and the un­
tilled West the divine Glad Tidings. And thus he could . . . be
both a travelling Bahai teacher and the minister of the "Church of
the Kingdom. "24

Among Vail's supporters for this plan were May Maxwell
and W. H. Randall from outside Chicago, and a Professor
Rugg, True, and Bagdadi in the city. 25 However, not all were
in favor. After two hours of discussion, the House of Spiritu­
ality ' 'unanimously voted against the establishment of a
church outside of the assembly. " 26 They wrote to Vail, asking
that he discuss the matter with them before going any fur­
ther, and stated that they hoped that he would decide ' 'in
favor of traveling and teaching as a Bahai teacher rather than
the establishment of the church you mention. ' ' 27 Vail did so
decide and began a career as a financially supported Baha'f
teacher that was to last until 1932.
The subject of Vail conducting independent Baha'f-related
Choral Song and Sermonizing 251

events came up again in 1920, however, when he proposed to
hold meetings at his home at the same time as the Chicago
Baha'i community's regular Sunday meetings. The House of
Spirituality sent a delegation to attempt to dissuade him, em­
powering it to ask Vail to take charge of the community Sun­
day meetings. 28 The minutes of the House of Spirituality over
the following year have various references to Vail being re­
quested to take charge of specific Sunday meetings, or series
of meetings, until he was asked to ' 'take charge . . . for an ex­
tended time" in October 192 1 . The arrangement then made
was that Vail would conduct all Sunday meetings in Chicago,
except for once a month, when he visited the Urbana Baha'i
community.29 Thus, by the time of the "first service" in the
basement structure, Vail was well established as a quasi-min­
ister to the Chicago Baha'i community, and thereafter his talks
dominated the presentation of the Faith in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar for the following decade.
Not surprisingly given his background, Vail was a univer­
salist Baha'i, seeing the "supreme concept" of "the teaching
of . . . the Bahai Movement" as being "the inherent unity of
the universe. "30 He was disinclined to press matters that
might seem exclusivist or dogmatic on non-Baha'is, to the ex­
tent that he on occasion accepted people as "Baha'is " who
only later found out, to their horror in some cases, that the
Baha'i Faith taught racial equality and even approved
"mixed" marriages. There was even a time in 1928 when Vail
had the Arabic Greatest Name removed from Foundation
Hall because it appeared foreign. It is not surprising, then,
that during his time as "pastor" of Foundation Hall the Baha'i
hymns were not used at public events. That ' 'universal' ' ones
were not much in evidence either may be related to the
general hymn controversy in Chicago (see Chapter Four) or
may be because the ethos of the meetings was so oriented
toward the direct presentation of selected aspects of the Faith
252 Part Three: The Practice

in speech. It is highly unlikely that Vail or True, his close as­
sociate in these activities, were of the anti-hymn party in
Chicago. Indeed , the meeting in the Perron home to hear
True's report of her 1925 pilgrimage began with prayer by
Vail, the singing of Waite's ' 'Softly His Voice is Calling,' ' and
Vail reading a tablet.31 It would seem, however, that their
general attitude toward most uses of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
was to deemphasize anything that made it seem " Baha'i" in
an exclusivist, denominational sense.
Although the main use of Foundation Hall during the 1920s
was public presentations, there were some attempts at com­
munity devotional use . During the summer of 1923, it was
planned to hold meetings on Friday evenings, as well as the
Sunday meetings, and these were probably for community de­
votions.32 And after the substantial completion of the base­
ment interior in 1928, there was another attempt. The
general letters of the Chicago Spiritual Assembly to commu­
nity members for August to October 1928 mention a devo­
tional or prayer meeting at 8 P.M. on Fridays. 33 It would seem
probable from this latter designation that this was a program
of readings , and from the lack of further mention that the ser­
ies of meetings died out from a combination of transport
difficulties and the onslaught of winter.
During the 1920s also, the use of Foundation Hall came to
be conceptualized as a national, rather than a Chicago, affair.
In its report to the National Convention in 1925, the National
Spiritual Assembly noted that in "Chicago the Assembly is
most fortunate at having at its disposal the Foundation Hall of
the Temple at Wilmette. "34 But in its 1926 report the Assem­
bly stated:

We desire also to make it clear that the meetings held in the
Foundation Hall of the Temple should not be regarded as a func-
Choral Song and Sermonizing 253

tion of any local Assembly, but as national in scope, and, because
it is necessary to regard the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as a national
Baha'f institution, the National Spiritual Assembly during the
present year requested the Temple Committee to supervise all
meetings in the Foundation Hall and grounds. 35

This changed conceptualization has been expressed
through the years in the organization of events in Foundation
Hall, and later in the auditorium, being under the jurisdiction
of variously named Temple Program, Worship, Devotions,
and Activities committees appointed by the National Spiritual
·

Assembly.
It is evident from a letter from the Chicago Assembly to
community members of 6 March 1929, that by the later 1920s
Foundation Hall meetings were not satisfying the needs of lo­
cal Baha'fs (be these devotional, informational, or social).36
This letter notes that during the previous autumn the number
of people attending the Sunday afternoon meetings averaged
around 90 to 100, and that even during the winter it had aver­
aged around 40 to fifty, but ' 'the percentage of Baha'i friends
as compared with the strangers has been very small. ' ' The
letter goes on to describe the teaching work of Vail, to say
how many of the people he had interested attend the Sunday
meetings, and to urge the Baha'fs to attend to give support to
his work.
Thus, by the time the superstructure of .the building began
to be erected, the last vestiges of the conceptualization of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar' s use as a Chicago Baha'f community
devotional center had disappeared, and it was seen increas­
ingly as oriented toward non-Baha'fs. The Chicago commu­
nity rented its own center in the city and arranged its own
community events there. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was now to
serve a "national" constituency.
Part Three: The Practice

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1930s
With the resumed construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
during the 1930s there were moves to explore the possibilities
for its future use.
In February 193 1 , the National Spiritual Assembly ap­
pointed a five-member music committee to "give considera­
tion to the subject of music and its relationship to Bahai
meetings and gatherings. ' ' 37 A copy of a chant by Kinney was
enclosed with the letter appointing the committee for it to
' 'report upon, ' ' and the letter concluded with a confession:

We realize the rather vague nature of the commission we are
turning over to you, and that it may not be feasible to work out
any extended recommendations, except gradually, but if your
Committee should be successful in defining, even to a small ex­
tent, that type of music most ideally adapted to the universal and
mystic spirit of the Bahai Cause, or to state to what extent music
should become a practical part of regular Bahai meetings and how
best adapted to the program of a meeting, much gain would be re­
alized. Later, other developments will appear.38

The members of this committee had not been active previ­
ously in Baha'f music. However, they produced a general
report (although there is, unfortunately, no surviving report
on the Kinney chant) that suggests a serious consideration of
the.ir topic:

The shortness of the time available to the present Music Commit­
tee has made it difficult for it to do more than make a recommen­
dation on the general subject of Baha'i music, and to request
some basic information for the use of the incoming Committee.
Although in the past several compositions have received the ap­
proval of the Master and are now being used at meetings and
feasts, your Committee feels that no exact pattern can now be
laid down for all future Baha'i music, and that the present func-
Choral Song and Sermonizing 255

tion of a Music Committee must be to recommend such music as
it considers suitable for Baha'i use, without the creation of any
official standard or definite type of Baha'i music.
The most important need at the present time would seem to be
to determine the general character of the musical accompaniment
to the Temple services, when inaugurated·. While it is undoubt­
edly necessary to make all possible use of the services of those
qualified and willing to contribute to the Temple music, it is also
highly desirable to safeguard the Temple from any musical ef­
forts, however well meant, which might not be commensurate
with the unique standard of the edifice.
It is necessary, also, to determine whether existing religious
musical motives may be adapted for Baha'i use, or whether, in
this wonderful building, it will be found best to create a new and
universal type of music truly Baha'i in character, animated by the
spirit of the Teachings and in keeping with the aims and nature of
the Temple itself.
Any Music Committee would undoubtedly hesitate to take upon
itself the responsibility of recommending any particular type of
music for Temple use until some general principles shall have
been laid down by the Guardian. The attached list of questions is
submitted, therefore, with the hope that this information will
make it possible for future Music Committees to function with en­
tire assurance that their work will be in accord with the wishes of
the Guardian and the National Spiritual Assembly.39

The questions, which were not sent at that time but which
were all previously or subsequently answered, were:

Since architectural motives from all religions have been used in
the Temple, may we assume that religious musical themes may
be likewise adapted to Baha'i use in that edifice? Or should the
characteristic themes of the music associated with the various
world religions be used only in the nine chapels, and a new and
universal type of purely Baha'i music be evolved for use in the
Temple proper?
256 Part Three: The Practice

Is the Temple music to be purely vocal, or is instrumental
music also permitted? Can Baha'i chanting be "inspirational" or
must it follow a definite score, as a protection · against the un­
skilled? Must any particular language be used? Should all re­
quests to chant in the Temple be approved, or should permission
be extended only to those of proven ability, and a gradually rising
standard of musical perfection be adhered to? Should the chanting
be the Persian or the Occidental manner, or both? Should
chants follow the exact words of the Holy Utterances, or are any
changes permitted for greater ease in singing?40

The appointment of this first music committee was not offi­
cially announced, nor was its report included with the collected
reports of national committees printed for consideration at
that year's National Convention. It is possible that the report
was not written until too late for inclusion. Indeed, the ensuing
music committee was only sent a copy in the middle of June
193 1 , with a covering letter that suggests that the National
Assembly might have only recently received it. 41 Neverthe­
less, the lack of announcement of the committee's existence or
any verbal report to the Convention suggests that the Assem­
bly was as tentative about the venture as was the committee.
The letter written on Shoghi Effendi's behalf to be read at
the May 1931 National Convention included the information
that:

Shoghi Effendi would urge that choir singing by men, women and
children be encouraged in the Auditorium and that rigidity in the
Baha'i service be scrupulously avoided. The more universal and
informal the character of Baha'i worship in the Temple the better
. . . . Prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah and the Master as well as
the sacred writings of the Prophets should be read or chanted as
well as hymns based upon Baha'i or non-Baha'i sacred writings.42

After the Convention the incoming National Assembly es­
tablished a new, and announced, committee on music. This
Choral Song and Sermonizing 257

committee included three members of the first committee and
three new people, including Albert Windust. The members of
the earlier committee , with one exception, had lived on the
East Coast, but two of the new members lived in the Mid­
west. This geographical dispersion of its members prevented
the committee from meeting more than once, a meeting
which "resulted in discussion as to what would not be accept­
able rather than forming decisions, " 43 and the bulk of their
report to the 1932 Convention consisted of their Chairman's
pilgrim notes.
Louise Drake Wright was Chairman of this second music
committee, and in the spring of 1931 she had been in Haifa
and had discussed the subject of music in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar with Shoghi Effendi. According to her account of
their conversation, he said that he preferred a solo voice for
the performance of sacred text. She then asked about choirs
and, as she put it, "after considering the beauty, dignity and
spiritual effect of the great Russian Choirs, he gave his con­
sent to the use of such choruses when the Words of Baha'u'­
llah are set to music. "44 During this conversation also:

Shoghi Effendi was asked if he thought it advisable for the
Western composers to pattern their music after the beautiful
Eastern way of chanting. He did not approve of this, he said the
West should use its own natural gifts of expression, that imita­
tions were never spontaneous and therefore not acceptable. 45

The same Committee on Baha'i Music was reappointed in
1932,46 but does not seem to have met again.
In 1930 the National Spiritual Assembly had written to
Shoghi Effendi asking for a statement on the use of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar47 so that when they received the awaited
information in the letter read at the 1931 Convention (which
seems to reflect the Drake Wright conversation as well as
their request) o�e might have thought that some more sub-
258 Part Three: The Pract£ce

stantive steps than the abortive music committee might have
been taken. They were not. However, one Baha'f in Chicago,
Louise Rich, was attempting to develop a body of Baha'f
choral music.
During the 1930s Louise Rich wrote settings for a number
of Baha'f sacred texts. Sometimes her music was original and
sometimes it was adapted from such composers as Mendel­
ssohn and Liszt. Her settings were mostly intended for unac­
companied choral performance in six parts, and in 1933 she
began to suggest their use at the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. In De­
cember 1933 , the National Assembly wrote to the Temple
Program Committee that:

Mrs Rich has written music for some Baha'i prayers . . . and . . .
this music has been commended by the Guardian. The members
felt that this singing should be tried out as an interesting experi­
ment and the Temple Program Committee is requested to make a
further report later on.
This matter of Baha'i music is extremely important, and only
by gradual evolution can this phase of the Cause become
thoroughly established on the proper and spiritual basis.48

The committee wrote back to the Assembly suggesting the
establishment of a music reviewing committee, ' 'In order that
compositions . . . may be passed on by people trained along
these lines. ' ' The committee also informed the Assembly that
they had had one of Rich's settings performed experimentally
as a solo at a Sunday meeting, but they made no comment on
the experiment.49 At the end of this letter in the National As­
sembly's files is penciled the following extraordinary note by
Carl Scheffler:

Horace-
isn't there a command somewhere which forbids set­
ting of the Holy Utterances to music. I believe there is but am not
sure.
Choral Song and Sermonizing 259

Not only had Scheffler been a member of the Vahid Choral
Society in its day, but it was he who had informed the National
Assembly of Shoghi Effendi's approval of Rich's work!50
Horace Holley informed the committee tersely that a music
committee had been tried before, "without the slightest
result. "51 He went on to say:

The only general principle we have is a statement made by the
Guardian that western believers should not imitate Persian chant­
ing . . . . It would seem advisable to allow the question of Baha'i
music to develop normally, taking one step at a time, and will
your committee consider this suggestion and express your views
again before our meeting on January 27th?52

Despite this direct request, neither the committee nor the
Assembly brought the subject up again until May 1934, when
the committee decided to audition another piece by the impor­
tunate Mrs. Rich, but with the reservation that the Assembly
would have to make the final decision on whether it should be
used.53 The audition was scheduled for 13 May, but there is
no record. as to whether it took place.
The surviving programs for 1930s activities in Chicago do
not suggest that Rich's music was being used at local Baha'f
events. Indeed, despite the number of pieces she produced,
there is no record of any performance other than the unfruit­
ful "experiment" under the auspices of the Temple Program
Committee. Undoubtedly, her addiction to six-part settings
without there being any trained Baha' f choir in the country
had much to do with her music not being used. However, it
could have been performed with one or more voices and piano
accompaniment, as for the ' 'experiment , ' ' and it seems likely
that it may have been so used in private homes, on occasion,
and that some account of such use may yet come to light.
Nevertheless, as Rich also wrote some undemanding Baha'f
hymns that do not seem to have been used by the community,
260 Part Three: The Practice

while a couple of inferior pieces by Nina Matthisen and Janet
Bolton were sometimes featured in Chicago, there may have
been personality factors involved in the exclusion of Rich's
music.
In 1935, Louise Waite attempted to support the use of
music by sending the Temple Program Committee a copy of a
letter that she had received from Shoghi Effendi which en­
couraged singing at Baha'f gatherings. 54 And in 1935 also, the
issue of chanting in Persian came up once more and the com­
mittee asked the National Assembly to ask Shoghi Effendi
about it. He replied that: "It should neither be required or
prohibited. " 55 This must have satisfied the last of the commit­
tee's curiosity on the subject of music in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar, as notice of the receipt of a copy of this letter from
Shoghi Effendi is the last mention of music in the surviving
minutes, which continue up to October 1 938.56
It should be noted that during this period when the National
Spiritual Assembly and the Temple Program Committee
were so indefinite over the issue of music in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar, and generally, Shoghi Effendi himself instituted a
music section in Baha 'i World, 57 and chose the music for it,
mainly by Louise Waite and Louise Rich, in the first three
volumes to include music. 58 It would seem that in their con­
cern over what was or was not correct to do, the Assembly
and the committee felt safer doing nothing, despite Shoghi
Effendi's instructions and encouragement. To understand how
this position came about, it is necessary to consider certain
aspects of the history of the East Coast Baha'f community,
and how these influenced the development of the ideology of
Baha'f devotions among those who made up the administra­
tive elite of the national Baha' f community.
Choral Song and Sermonizing 261

" HIGH CHURCH " BAHA ' f PRACTICE
In 191 1 , Dr. William Norman Guthrie came to New York to
take over the position of rector of the Episcopal Church of St.
Mark' s-in-the-Bouwerie. 59 This long-established church had
been left substantially high and dry by population movements
in the city, its former ' 'old family' ' parishioners having moved
out of the rapidly deteriorating area. The church, however,
was very well endowed and had sufficient income to sustain
itself eve:q. without much interest in it by the immediate neigh­
borhood. Guthrie set about creating a new clientele for the
church by trying to attract people from other parts of the city,
encouraging the use of church tacilities by various groups and
instituting a program of liturgical experiment that incorpo­
rated drama, dance, and non-Christian elements into a basi­
cally Anglican "office" framework. This policy made the
church both famous and infamous, the bishop of New York
refusing to make pastoral visits to it for a number of years in
the 1920s because of Guthrie's "pagan" rites.
Guthrie had had an association with Sarah Farmer's Green
Acre summer lectures in their pre-Baha'f days, lecturing
there in 1896, 1897, and 1900, 60 and it was possibly on the ba­
sis of contacts preserved from this time that he came into con­
tact with the New York Baha' fs after he came to St. Mark's.
Around the end of 1913 or the beginning of 1914, Guthrie in­
vited the Baha'fs of New York, through Edward Kinney, to
make use of:

. . .a audience room in the Parish House of his church, in
which to hold a weekly Bahai meeting on Sunday afternoons with
an unfettered platform. Through this he also invites us to come
into touch with the members of his church, and in cases wherever
convenient, to become members of the church, sacrificing noth-
of the glorious Cause, but bringing into it the Bahai Spirit.
262 Part Three: The Practice

While not, himself, a Bahai, he is an admirer of the principles and
vitality of that Spirit. 61

The invitation was accepted and the meetings of this "Con­
gregation of the Spirit" were planned to consist of " Readings
from the Word/Spiritual Conferences/Hymns and Volun­
taries. " 62
During the following years Baha'f association with St.
Mark's continued and developed. In 1919, Hooper Harris was
"conducting a Bahai Forum Sunday evenings, " 63 and the
church premises were being used for such events as a regional
convention of Baha'f communities. 64 A few detailed programs
of special Baha'f meetings at St. Mark's in the early 1920s
survive. On 7 January 1922 (a day on which meetings were
held throughout the country to mark the fortieth day after the
death of 'Abdu'l-Baha), and on November 28, 1922 (Com­
memoration of the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha), there were
programs of readings of prayers and Tablets, and on 28 No­
vember 1923, a program of similar readings was held but with
the addition of music between the readings and to open and
close the meeting. 65
In 1924, the Baha'fs became more involved with Guthrie's
liturgical experimentation when, on the Sunday afternoon of
May 25, there was held a "Symposium on the Bahai Move­
ment, " preceded by "a ritual Office on the Glory of God, " the
latter especially compiled for the occasion and both being
held to celebrate the birthday of 'Abdu'l-Baha (actually 23
May). The "Office" was "rephrased from translations" of Ba­
ha'f writings and consisted of parts for "Minister" and "Peo­
ple" including an Invocation, Responsive Reading, Litany
and Collects, and Congregational Benediction, with places
provided for hymns, Sentences, Lection, Address, and Offer­
tory. After the office, Guthrie was to "challenge with friendly
criticism the so-called NEW " CAUSE" as to its social Pro­
gramme, its world Message, and its alleged capacity for true
Choral Song and Sermonizing 263

federation, or spiritual Unification of existing religious sys­
tems and institutions, " to which Horace Holley, Mountford
Mills, and J enabe Fazel (a distinguished visiting Eastern Ba­
ha'i described as a " Mohammedan Mullah (or Priest)" on the
program) were to respond with speeches .
From 1925 to 1927, a similar event was held each year but
moved to the afternoon of Easter Sunday, and in 1 928 it was
held on the Sunday after Easter. On each occasion the office
was performed and followed by speeches. These meetings
were arranged by the Baha'is but under the supervision of
Guthrie, who stipulated that he wanted "no gush, slush or
twaddle, but . . . a straight up and down question and answer
business such as carries conviction to the Western mind . ' ' 66
Apart from Holley (1924, 1 925, 1927), Mills ( 1 924, 1927,
1 928), and Jenabe Fazel ( 1924), the other Baha'is who spoke
on these occasions were Ali Kuli Khan ( 1926), Howard Colby
Ives (1926), Marie Moore ( 1926), Harry Randall ( 1925), Keith
Ransom-Kehler ( 1928), and Roy Wilhelm ( 1925). Apart from
Guthrie's regular contribution, the non-Baha'is who spoke
were Jules Bois ( 1925), Kahlil Gibran ( 1 925), and Alfred W.
Martin (1928). In 1927, the proceedings were embellished be­
yond the usual organ solos by Kinney improvising "on orien­
tal themes. " 67
Apart from these special annual events, the New York Ba­
ha'is continued to use St. Mark's on a regular basis for a wide
range of religious and social activities during the 1920s. A
number of Baha'is were also actively involved in the running
of St. Mark's as an Episcopal church during this time. Apart
from those who were simply church members, Kinney was
choirmaster for a few years, Bert Randall was church treas­
urer for a time, and, most importantly, Holley was Junior
Warden of the vestry from 1928 to 1933. Holley wrote the
church's publicity materials and public statements (of special
importance as there was a fresh assault on Guthrie's experi­
ments by the bishop in these years), was part-time manager of
264 Part Three: The Practice
.

the church's rental apartment buildings, and spearheaded the
fund-raising effort that was necessitated by the loss of much
of the church's investment income after 1 929.
Although initially a firm supporter of Guthrie, Holley be­
came the vestry's spokesman in a fight with the rector that
broke out in the early 1930s. As Guthrie had expended con­
siderable funds on his liturgical experiments prior to the
decrease in value of the church' s investments, the church had
no reservoir of funds but only current income. The vestry
wished Guthrie to come to terms with this radically changed
situation, to curtail his more expensive activities, and to keep
the church open solely by . the performance of the minimum
required services until its financial position had recovered.
Guthrie largely refused to abide by the vestry's advice, and
after a period of considerable acrimony and politicking,
Guthrie had the vestry overturned at the 1933 parish meeting
and replaced by a slate of his own nominees. The result of this
election was challenged in the courts by the old vestry, but
stood.
The association of New York Baha'fs with St. Mark's from
around 1913 to 1933 is of some significance, especially as
many of the Baha' fs involved were, or would become, influen­
tial in the national Baha'f community. In particular, Holley' s
experiences as warden must have a t least reinforced his
growing tendency during the later 1920s and early 1930s to
display a distrust of individual innovation in religious practice
in his Baha'f administrative work at both the New York and
national levels.
Although the involvement with St. Mark's was by far the
most intensive by a large number of Baha'fs with a non-Baha'f
religious institution, it was not the only case. There were
other examples of Baha'fs being involved with and borrowing
from the ' 'higher' ' and more liberal circles of the American
Protestant church.
Choral Song and Sermonizing 265

The Baha'fs of New York held occasional meetings at the
Community Church of New York during the 1920s, and the
minister of this church, John Herman Randall, became even
more influential in the development of the public presentation
of the Baha'f Faith in North America than Guthrie. Baha'fs
also sometimes borrowed choirs from churches for their
meetings, as in 1924 when, at a meeting at the Community
Church, music was provided by the choir of the Russian St.
Nicholas Cathedral. 68 And in 1927, at the "Evergreen cabin"
meeting held annually to commemorate the visit of 'Abdu'l­
Baha to Roy Wilhelm's summer home in West Englewood,
New Jersey, in 1912, the choir of St. Paul's Lutheran Church
of Teaneck sang four selections. 69
Another example of the adaptation of a relatively "high"
service format to Baha'f use is the graduation service at Hen­
derson Business College in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925.
This small, Negro college was founded by George W. Hen­
derson and proclaimed itself to be a Baha'f college, though it
did not require any recognition of the Baha'f Faith from its
students. The program for the service on Sunday, 14 June
1925, consisted of:

ORGAN PRELUDE
Graduates' Processional - Holy Holy Holy
Responsive Reading
Song Choir
Scripture Reading
Decalogue
Announcements
Beside Still Waters - Rosetta Ammons
SERMON - REV. J. W. Hall, D.D.
Offertory
Bahai - Benediction
Dedicated to the Cause of BahaUllah
266 Part Three: The Practice

The printed program was also headed with a figure 9.
There had been a few signs of interest by Baha'is in high
church practices before the 1920s. In the early years of this
century, Lucy D. Hall Fake of Chicago produced an expanded
responsive version of the twenty-third psalm which ended
with six lines related to the then well-known "Knowledgf:!,
Faith and Love" prayer (thought to be by Baha'u'llah, but ac­
tually by Kheiralla).70 This text, without the last six lines, also
appears in a Baha' f funeral service dated 30 May 1910.71
There is another printed offic:e, "The Day of God, " compiled
for use at St. Mark's, which Is more simply constructed than
the "Office on the Glory of God. " As this simpler office is not
mentioned in any of the 1920s records, it may have been pro­
duced for use in the preceding, and less well-documented, de­
cade's Baha'i involvement with St. Mark's.
These instances, and the few others that exist, suggest that
although some Baha'is were open to reconstituting some of
the more elaborately liturgical forms of Christian worship for
Baha'i use, there was no broad movement devoted to this end
comparable to the widespread support for Baha'i hymnody
(see Chapter Three). Indeed, the occasions on which there
were Baha'i-sponsored religious observances that could be
roughly characterized as showing high church tendencies
seem insignificant in proportion to the thousands of occasions
on which Baha'is expressed their religious devotion in deriva­
tives of more populist Christian forms. The importance of
these numerically insignificant events lies, however, in the in­
fluence of those Baha'is who were involved with them and
their deference to those Christian clergy who were also
involved.
In a number of Baha'f communities in the 1920s, Baha'fs
were actively involved with churches, or at least were fre­
quent attendants at their services. This involvement was not
Choral Song and Sermonizing 267

new; some Baha'is had been active in churches from the turn
of the century. However, there does seem to have been a shift
in the dominant conception of the relationship between the
Baha'i Faith and the churches by the 1920s. This shift seems
to have had its strongest roots on the East Coast and to have
been greatly reinforced there by the prominence of clergy in
public Baha'i activities. This conceptual shift is not simply a
factor of the passage of time, but is rather a concomitant of
the power shift that saw the diminishing of the national im­
portance of the Chicago Baha'i community after 1909, and the
growth of a new national power base on the East Coast, which
became dominant from about 1915.
The Midwestern Baha'is who had taken the lead nationally
in the community had had a clear conception of the Baha'i
Faith as an independent religion. When they associated with
churches, it was usually with the intent that this should pro­
vide eventual openings to teach the Faith to church members.
On the East Coast, the Baha'i Faith seem:s to have been con­
ceived more as a social force. Thus by the 1920s, the standard
way of referring to it had become the ' 'Bahai Movement' '
rather than the earlier common ' 'Bahai Revelation. ' '
These differing conceptions probably relate closely to the
backgrounds of those who became Baha'is. The Baha'is of
the Midwest at the turn of the century saw and taught the Ba­
ha'i Faith as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and their
Christian hope. They conceived of membership in the Baha'i
Faith as the natural next step for the sincere Christian. East
Coast Baha'is seem to have come more frequently from tran­
scendentalist and nondenominational backgrounds and to
have viewed the Baha' i Faith as potentially socially redemp­
tive through the application of its principles. The first concep­
tion was based on a belief in the station of Baha'u'llah in
cosmic history, the second on the principles he expounded.
268 Part Three: The Practice

Thus, when the power center of the Baha'i Faith in North
America shifted to the eastern United States, it was not sur­
prising that its status as a distinct religion became blurred
and that it was relatively easy for socially activist and ecu­
menically minded clergymen to link themselves to it and cre­
ate for themselves positions of considerable influence. Just as
in the nineteenth century some American missionaries in Iran
had seen the Baha' i Faith as a wedge driven into the solid
body of Islam preparing it for conversion to Christianity, so in
the 1920s a number of "advanced" United States clergy saw
the "Baha'i Movement" as a form of higher ecumenism that
could bring together "advanced" members of all religions in
nondenominational concurrence to better the world, but in no
way was this to imply that anyone should change their previ­
ous religious identity. This conception is obviously one which
is capable of being more widely accepted than that which saw
becoming a Baha'i as a change of identity, and it became very
much the face that the East Coast dominated Baha'i Adminis­
tration determined should be presented to the public during
the 1920s and early 1930s. And, indeed, this presentation was
frequently made by clergy during these years, the prohibition
on clergy in the Baha'i Faith seemingly being seen more in
terms of its lack of discrete religious identity than as a decla­
ration of the redundancy of clerical authority for its purposes.
We have already discussed Guthrie's involvement with Ba­
ha'i activities at St. Mark's, and in the New York area there
were also some ministers of black churches who encouraged
Baha'i involvement with their congregations and who spoke
at Baha'i meetings. But the cleric who was most used by the
Baha'is as their spokesman was John Herman Randall. As
early as 1923 Randall traveled to Boston once a month to
speak for the Baha'is at a public meeting, 72 and as the 1920s
progressed Randall became more and more a public presenter
for the Baha'is. Indeed, his role was not limited to public pre-
Choral Song and Sermonizing 269

sentation; he was even a featured speaker at Baha' f National
Convention sessions as in 1927, when in his talk he describes
himself as a Baha'f.73 There was some discussion of Randall's
status at this convention, the chairman, Mountford Mills, re­
ferring to him as a Baha'f, "but he does not accept the man­
ifestation [i.e. , the station of Baha'u'llah], "74 this being a
typically acceptable way of looking at things from the Baha'f
Movement perspective. Objection was made to Randall hav­
ing addressed the convention by Nellie French, who felt that
only those who accepted Baha'u'llah should do so, although it
was acceptable for Randall to address public meetings.
Randall's involvement with the Baha'is intensified the fol­
lowing year when he was made director of the World Unity
Foundation, a body formed and financed by a small group of
Baha'fs specifically to promote generally ecumenical and so­
cial reform propaganda. The secretary of this foundation was
Holley, who actually did most of the organization while Ran­
dall did most of the public speaking. In the financial difficul­
ties of the end of the decade, the Baha'fs who financed the
foundation and its magazine found that they had to reduce the
amount of money they put into it and a split grew between
them and Randall as the money they paid him had to be
reduced. Randall had actually resigned from his church and
become a full-time paid lecturer for the foundation, but now
he progressively lessened his commitment to it and eventu­
ally returned to a clerical post.
Also associated with the World Unity Foundation and a fre­
quent speaker for the Baha'fs was Alfred Martin, the quasi­
ministerial head of the Society for Ethical Culture. Although
not as influential as Randall, he had considerable prominence
in the presentation of the Baha'f Faith at that time. Among
the Baha'fs themselves we have noted that Albert Vail was a
paid Baha'f teacher during this period (the only other person
in such a position was Louis Gregory, a black lawyer who did
270 Part Three: The Practice

not have the general influence of Vail), and the former Unitar­
ian minister Howard Colby Ives was also prominent. The
former church associations of these two were usually featured
. in publicity surrounding their activities.
Although there were a number of Baha' is who were travel­
ing and teaching the Faith in the 1920s, there was a definite
tendency to see the work of the Baha'i clerics (whether ac­
cepting Baha'u'llah or not) as the most important for present­
ing the Baha'i Movement to the public and expanding its
membership, and the prominence given to them at National
Conventions amply demonstrated their status.
It is evident that for those who wished to present the Baha'i
Faith in broad social and nonexclusive terms the idea of its de­
veloping its own distinctive devotional practice would be not
only irrelevant but potentially dangerous. If adherence to the
Baha'i Faith was not to replace previous religious affiliation,
there was no need to provide for devotional wants that were
presumed to be met in the new adherent's previous commu­
nity of faith. Conversely, the development of a distinctive de­
votional practice for the Baha'i Faith would stand in the way
of its serving as an ideological umbrella for those still adher­
ing to various religious traditions, as such a distinctive prac­
tice would suggest that the Baha'i Faith was simply another
religion itself. Thus, attempting to develop a Baha' i commu­
nity devotional practice, locally or for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
was not encouraged by the national Baha'i administration.
We can see· how this indifference to the devotional quality
of Baha'i community life actually induced Baha'is in some
areas to join churches for spiritual sustenance in the dispute
that arose in New York in the late 1920s between the Local
Spiritual Assembly (of which Holley was the Secretary, at the
same time that he was Secretary of the National Assembly,
and Junior Warden at St. Mark' s) and a group of Baha'is who
felt that Baha'i community meetings in the city were not
Choral Song and Sermonizing 271

providing them with spiritual support. A leading member of
this group, Dr. Genevieve Coy, a well-known Baha'f, de­
scribed her rationale for joining a church to supplement her
Baha'f experience thus:

I find that if I am to make any progress in spiritual living, I must
at least occasionally have some source of inspiration outside what
I can get from my own prayers and meditation and reading. Natu­
rally I had hoped to get that inspiration from the New York Bahai
meetings. Actually I have never felt that, save in rare instances
the meetings here have given me that. Rather, I have felt that I
had to find outside the Bahai Cause, some inspiration to help me
face the weight of discouragement that came to me when I at­
tended most of the Bahai meetings. In searching for spiritual
help, I eventually found a church where the pastor had a spiritual
vision which gave me the thing I needed. After a great deal of
hesitation, I joined this church. I do not mean that I gave up at­
tending Bahai meetings. I continued going to them, from a sense
of duty, but I had to look elsewhere for the inspiration I needed
for daily living. 75

It would seem fair to suggest that this indifference to the
devotional needs of many Baha'fs by the administration was
reinforced by the close ties that its most influential members
already had with churches, and that as their personal needs
were thus taken care of they did not feel any need for Baha' f
activities to address this area of their lives. Indeed, we may
note that in the case of Louise Drake Wright, the chairman of
the ineffectual Music Committee, her 1931 diary contains
only two brief mentions of that committee. but numerous
references to her enjoyment of services at St. Paul's Church
in Boston. 7 6
In the case of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, we have seen how the
use of Foundation Hall came to be dominated by the former
minister Vail, and how the concept of the building's purpose
272 Part Three: The Practice

became to present the Baha'i Faith to non-Baha' is. With this ·

local situation being reinforced by the nationally dominant
anti-exclusive concept of the Faith, it is not surprising that
the efforts of Louise Rich received as little encouragement as
they did or that the committees responsible for the use of
Foundation Hall were so apparently unconcerned with any
need for devotional development. There was always the read­
ing of prayers, of course, and occasional discrete use of chant­
ing in Persian or Arabic, but no searching for new forms in
worship comparable to the claims being presented as to the
new possibilities for social reform and advancement provided
by the Baha'i Faith. The one development that had taken place
in Baha'i devotional life, its hymnody, was limited to the rela­
tive privacy of national convention sessions. The Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar had become-and, despite developments in other
areas of the Baha'i Faith, would remain-conceptually a
"Non-Sectarian Temple , " as it was described on the card
labeling a model of it exhibited in Philadelphia in 1939.77
When Shoghi Effendi informed the American Baha'is in the
1930s that active membership in, as opposed to friendly con­
tact with, churches was incompatible with membership in the
Baha'i Faith, as in being a church member a Baha' i was sub­
scribing to beliefs incompatible with the teachings of the
Faith, there was some consternation. This was not as great as
it would have been just a few years earlier, however, because
by this time the fight between the rector and vestry at St.
Mark's and the estrangement of Randall from the Baha'is in­
volved with the World Unity Foundation had lessened the in­
volvement of the higher echelons of the national Baha' i power
structure with churches and clergy. This breaking of mem­
bership ties between Baha'is and churches, and the concomi­
tant insistence on the status of the Baha' i Faith as a distinct
religion, did draw attacks from some of those clergy who had
been active in promoting the Baha'i Movement. They saw
Choral Song and Sermonizing 273

Shoghi Effendi's, and the National Spiritual Assembly's, en­
deavors to strongly establish the Baha' i Faith conceptually
and actually as a separate religion as the betrayal of the aims
they had had for the Baha'i Movement, aims which they er­
roneously continued to attribute to 'Abdu'l-Baha in particular
on the basis of their relatively superficial acquaintance with
Baha'i writings. Among the Baha'is there were few cases in
which separating from church membership was seen as a
major problem. But one of the reasons Baha'is had continued
to affiliate with churches, the wish for a communal devotional
experience, remained mostly unaddressed within the now
more clearly boundaried Baha'i community.
Since the mid-1930s� there has been no further confusion in
North America as to whether belonging to the Baha'i Faith
constitutes a distinct religious identity. But the emphasis on
the presentation of the social aspects of Baha'i teachings that
marked the 1920s has continued, supplemented by a concern
with the development of internal administrative institutions.
This certainty of a distinct religious identity has been accom­
panied, however, by a continued lack of support for any de­
velopment of distinct community devotional observance.
That individuals should observe the few aspects of individual
Baha'i devotional life that are known about and taught is
recognized; but at the community level, "devotions" is syn­
onymous with one person at a time simply reading aloud from
the Baha'i writings to a group in order to begin or close a
meeting whose focus of concern is elsewhere. The problem,
however, was and is that, despite this unconcern for Baha'i
community devotional life, the national Baha'i community has
had a large and expensive House of Worship that is in itself a
major contact point between the Baha'i Faith and non­
Baha'is, and with which something has had to be done.
(
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f.
!!'

�
J
;3

THE NATIONAL BAHA'f CONVENTION OF 1944
gathered in Foundation Hall. In association with this convention, the Centenary of the
Declaration of the Bab was celebrated and a dedication held for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
CHAPTER EIGHT

THE MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR IN USE

THE AUDITORIUM DEDICATIONS
In the c.ourse of the years it took to construct the Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette, a number of events were held that
had some dedicatory character and intent; here I will concen­
trate on the two official dedications of the upper part of the
building (known as the Auditorium, which is the House of
Worship proper). However, before turning to the first of
these dedications in 1944, it might be well to recount the first
devotional meeting held in the stark concrete shell of the Au­
ditorium on 1 May 193 1 , during that year's National Conven­
tion, to mark the construction of the shell and the nineteenth
anniversary of the dedication of the site by 'Abdu'l-Baha. The
report of the convention written by Louis Gregory includes
this description of the occasion:

During the afternoon of the first day the delegates and friends
went to the main auditorium where standing in a silent and rever­
ent attitude, they listened to the prayers and Tablets of Baha'u'­
llah as read and chanted by a little band of angels who occupied
the gallery above. An atmosphere of sanctity pervaded this meet­
ing . . . . [He then quotes from the readings used.]

2 75
2 76 Part Three: The Practice

These brief quotations from Tablets may well suggest the so­
lemnity and beauty of the service during which all stood. It is
characteristic of a place which will be used for worship, medita­
tion and prayer, where also beautiful music will pay homage to
God, but where no speeches will be made. Even the foundation
hall is being used only temporarily for other kinds of meetings,
this by permission of the Guardian. 1

This account by such a long-established member of the
community as Gregory exhibits a concern for the devotional
intent of the building and suggests a knowledge of the writ­
ings of the Faith related to it that was becoming rare at the
time it was written and would become rarer still.
In 1943, there was another of the occasional experiments
with a devotional meeting in Foundation Hall: ,

As a variation in the type of program in the Temple, a Devotional
Service was held there on January 24. It consisted of prayers and
selected readings, which were given by a Chairman and three
readers. From favorable comments received, the program ap­
pealed to those who heard it. We plan using this type of program
again from time to time. 2

However, the emphasis remained squarely on the use of
Foundation Hall for talks. During 1942-1943 also, the Tem­
ple Program Committee noted:

The presentation of our Sunday services has been improved in
spirit, reverence and respect, by the installation of a combination
radio-phonograph which, with a selection of choice records, pro­
vides a preliminary musical program lasting ten minutes prior to
each lecture. During the playing of the music, those attending are
· seated and remain quietly in their seats, thus being in a proper
mood to hear the Creative Word. This has reduced to a very great
extent the noise and confusion that formerly prevailed. 3
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkar in Use 277

We may note the use of the term "services" here as syn­
onymous with lecture meetings.
As part of the National Convention in 1944, it was planned
to celebrate the centenary of the Declaration of the Bab and
to dedicate the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, whose exterior had now
been ornamented. To accomodate these events, the conven­
tion was held later than usual and for a longer period, from
May 19 to May 25. Shoghi Effendi had instructed that the
programs for these two celebrations should include :

. . . appropriate selections from the revealed writings . . . whether
prayers, meditations, Tablets, the addresses of the Master or
selections from the Bible or the Quran. Passages from the writ­
ings of the Bah should be a special feature of the readings
selected for this occasion. Singing, whether by soloists or choirs,
should form part of the program. The utmost care should be
taken to ensure that the standard of the vocal music should befit
that solemn occasion. The Guardian approves the selection of
some of the psalms of David as an evidence of the universality of
the Faith which should be amply demonstrated on that occasion. 4

In the event, the Auditorium was supplied with loud­
speakers "to bring the voices up from Foundation Hall" and
was used as overflow seating throughout the convention. In
particular, those younger and more sprightly Baha'is who
could easily negotiate all the steps were expected to sit there
and resign Foundation Hall seating to older Baha'is and to
non-Baha'is who attended the public meetings held as part of
the convention. The programs thus relayed to the Auditorium
included talks and recorded music from Foundation Hall's re­
cently acquired radio-phonograph, , including symphonies by
Franck and Beethoven, oratorio, and Bach. (Baha'is in North
America had been informed that instrumental music was not
permitted in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar a number of times from
278 Part Three: The Practice

1909, and were also aware that speeches were not allowed in
the House of Worship proper.)
The Dedication and the Centenary Commemoration were
held one after the other on the evening of 22 May 1944. The
evening began with a public meeting in Foundation Hall, with
the Auditorium being used for overflow seating as usual. This
meeting heard three talks on the general theme of the need
for a religiously constituted world consciousness to bring
about world unity and peace. After this meeting, those Ba­
ha'is Who were in Foundation Hall joined those already up­
stairs in the Auditorium. Children under twelve years were
supposed to be excluded, as the readings were to be recorded
and silence was desired. The two programs ran into each
other. The Dedication consisted of readings from the writings
of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. The Centenary program
also included readings from the writings of the Bah, a psalm,
selections from the New Testament and the Qur'an, and "the
John Charles Thomas recording of the Lord's Prayer. " After
the Centenary Commemoration, a copy of a portrait of the
Bah which Shoghi Effendi had sent to be shown on this occa­
sion was displayed together with a framed lock of his hair. As
the Baha'is filed past to view these, "the strains of Parsifal"
were heard!5
It is not necessary to question the sincerity of those who ar­
ranged and took part in this joint celebration and the events of
the days surrounding it. Nevertheless, it can only be charac­
terized as extraordinary. That the Auditorium functioned
mainly as an annex of Foundation Hall during the convention
and so was used for relayed talks and instrumental music;
that Shoghi Effendi's instruction that vocal music should be a
part of the Dedication and Commemoration program should
be responded to only by a recording of the Lord's Prayer
(Walter Olitzki of the Metropolitan Opera, and a Baha'i, sang
twice as part of a program broadcast from the banquet held in
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 279

the ballroom of the Hotel Stevens on 25 May to celebrate the
coming of the Faith to Chicago in 1894); and that a recording
of Parsifal (or any instrumental music at all) was chosen as a
background to the viewing of the portrait of the Bah all testify
to the lack of knowledge and consideration of the place of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Baha'i life as expressed in the writings
of the Founder of the Faith and his successors.
The background to this state of affairs may be seen in views
such as were expressed in an article on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
by Horace Holley, which first appeared in Bahd '{ World in
1928 and was subsequently reused (although in increasingly
shorter form) in volume after volume of that work. Holley
stated:

Moreover, since the Baha'f Faith has no professional clergy, the
worshipper entering the Temple hears no sermon and takes part
in no ritual the psychic effect of which is to establish a separate
group consciousness. Not even music-only the reading of the text
'
of the Holy Books-will condition the experience of free worship
and meditation in this edifice dedicated to the unity of mankind.

It is helpful to realize that Holley wrote this at a time when
he was enthusiastically welcoming the 1 928 reprint of Bahai
Hymns of Peace and Praise, was still active at St. Mark's, on
good terms with Guthrie, and some years before the abortive
attempt at a music committee. Thus, although Holley can be
shown to have had positive views about devotional music,
when it came to considering the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the ab­
stract he seemed to feel that this environment was above us­
ing it. No doubt such a feeling encouraged the tentativeness
shown by the National Assembly in the 1930s on the issue of
song for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Equally, although the building is ' 'dedicated to the unity of
mankind, ' ' Holley seemed to regard any attempt to create a
280 Part Three: The Practice

particular unity among the worshippers in it as suspect. His
acknowledgment of a lack of sermons in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar may be seen as an almost ritual statement consider­
ing the emphasis that had already been established, by the
time he was writing, on the use of Foundation Hall to deliver
speeches and the general · trend of development in Baha'i
group meetings. Indeed, Holley had written to Shoghi Effendi
in December 1926:

It seems to me that we American believers have unconsciously
produced in our Assembly [community] life a psychological imita­
tion of the Protestant churches which represented the previous
experience of by far the greatest part of our numbers, and that
the tendency to make the life of a Baha'f Assembly revolve exclu­
sively around preaching has been responsible for a dullness and
apathy which must have been more or less inevitable but no
longer corresponds to the opportunities which now reach out to
us from the public itself. We must find a way of severing our
group consciousness from minor internal questions and creating
such expressions of the Baha'i ideal as correspond to the needs of
the hour. As people of varied character and capacity enter into
the life of the local Assemblies, the Baha'i communities will un­
doubtedly reflect more richly and interestingly other aspects of
the Cause which up to now have been held in suspense.6

However, Holley' s example of another aspect that shows
current promise is ' 'the beginning of a conscious effort to put
into application some of the economic principles, " not any
sign of a decline in preaching. By the time of the Auditorium
dedication in 1944, " preaching" was still the major Baha'i ac­
tivity; it absorbed much of the energy of the most active
members of the community and proficiency in it was the sur­
est way to acquire status.
In 1942, Holley as National Assembly Secretary wrote to
Shoghi Effendi that "we have but a feeble and inadequate
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 281

conception of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in full operation as a Ba­
ha'i House of Worship, though of course there may be years
before the American believers are called upon to conduct
such a holy edifice. ' '7 Most of the not inconsiderable material
available from the Baha'i writings on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
now was available when that statement was written. The lack
of knowledge of it among the leading ranks of the Faith in
North America, together with the frequent repetition of the
same questions to Shoghi Effendi (especially as the same
queries had often been answered by 'Abdu'l-Baha on more
than one occasion), suggests an unconscious selective blind­
ness to certain parts of the writings of the Faith and the let­
ters of Shoghi Effendi where these did not cohere with
feelings and views already held. Indeed, we might suppose
that for an institution of the status of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
that banned the exercise of the principal means to recognition
within the community, the ability to make speeches, and fo­
cused on producing spiritual cohesion through prayer in
spoken and sung form to become operational could be seen as
threatening. Perhaps it was more reassuring to "have but a
feeble and inadequate conception' ' of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar's
function and to suppose ' 'there may be years before the
American believers are called upon to conduct such a holy
edifice. "
It is difficult to distinguish between Holley's views and
those of the National Assembly (as Secretary he wrote their
correspondence and public statements), but it may be noted
that in the case of the function of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at
- -

least there is little indication of disagreement with his views
by either the other members of the Assembly or the commu­
nity as a whole. On the contrary, he seems to have been re­
garded as the principal elucidator of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar's
function both to the community itself and tonon-Baha' fs.
In October 1948, Holley gave a talk at the Baha'i Center in
282 Part Three: The Practice

Los Angeles which was highly appreciated . It was circulated
in typescript and later published in Baha'f News. In this talk he
spoke of the necessity to finish the interior of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar "because the meetings conducted in that Temple will
revolutionize religion on this continent. ' '8 He continued:

When we asked the Guardian to give us a clearer picture than
what we have of the meetings to be held in the Temple, he said:
"Only readings from the Holy Books . " Now he did not say read
only the words of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha. We can
read words of all the Manifestations of God, but we cannot read
anything else.

This is the only purported instruction from Shoghi Effendi
that he mentioned. He then turned to describing a future
meeting in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, concentrating entirely on
the supposed effect on non-Baha' fs; he made no mention at all
of how a Baha'f might experience it. The whole point was to
provide non-Baha'fs with an experience that "is going to be
infinitely more potent than our outer teaching word can ever
be. ' ' The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was to ease the teaching process
for Baha'fs, and its services were to function as one more ele­
ment in the teaching program that presents the Faith through
preaching; they may be more potent, but their aim is the
same. There was no suggestion that Baha'fs have anything
to gain from the services other than more easily increased
numbers.
In the late 1940s, the United Nations asked for statements
on worship from various religious groups with a view toward
possibly adopting some/ interfaith form for its own use. The
National Assembly wrote to the Secretary General of the
United Nations that " Congregational worship among the Ba­
ha' fs consists of the reading of passages from all extant Holy
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 283

Books, with no ritualistic device, no racial, denominational or
nationalistic discrimination. ' ' Later in the letter, the following
is given as a quotation without attribution as to source:

The Baha'i House of Worship is not one more religious edifice of
denominational character. It has been built according to a new
and higher pattern of worship, wherein persons of all races, na­
tions and creeds may enter the unifying Spirit �hich emam:Ltes
from the Word of . God. Baha'i worship includes no sermon, no
physical drama, no man-conceived prayer, invocations or conven­
tionalized response. The Manifestation of God, He alone, has ut­
terance in this holy place. 9

Although this passage was placed within quotation marks
as if fro111 an authoritative source, it is actually from an essay
by Holley, 10 who wrote the rest of the letter, and is more nota­
ble for its ponderousness than its accuracy. However, we
again see in it the simultaneous assertion of the aim of unity
with an underlying suspicion of anything that tries to draw
the worshipper beyond a purely personal and individuated en­
counter with the word of God. In a strange inversion, a highly
individuated experience in worship is supposed · to fuel a
highly unified ,§!Ocial experience.
As further evidence of the paradoxical attitudes that sur­
rounded the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar we may note that, despite the
indifference shown to providing vocal music at the Dedication
in 1944, the information about the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar com­
piled for the training and use of those who were to explain it
to the public included the following statement: "There will be
a new form of singing-not like church, popular, or classical
music-but something that will evolve from the present forms
of music . " 11 Thus, the 1930s' claim to aspire to an eventual
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar musical style was not entirely forgotten in
the 1940s.
284 Part Three: The Practice

To summarize the view of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar that im­
bued the dedication of 1944, then, the building was seen as di­
rected largely toward non-Baha'fs rather than Baha'fs; there
was abstract expression of the sacredness of the building
combined with a casualness as to its actual use; there was an
expressed concern for the eventual development of a music
form for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar associated with a reluctance
to encourage this or even a flat denial of the possibility of us­
ing music, all from the same sources; information coming
from the highest sources in the national administration was
often simply wrong when judged by the Baha'f writings; and
instructions of 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi regarding
the building and its use were recollected in a very selective
fashion. As we shall see, this confused conception of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its functions continued.
After its dedication in 1944, the Auditorium was no more
usable than before; the interior was still a concrete shell and
the emphasis of use continued on Foundation Hall. As plans
for the ornamentation of the interior of the Auditorium were
being developed from 1946, Shoghi Effendi emphasized the
importance of acoustical considerations and specifically men­
tioned that acoustics should be the main consideration in
deciding where to place singers when the building was in use.
Unfortunately, almost all of the highly competent acoustical
advice that was obtained from the well-known acoustician
Dr. Paul Sabine was ignored or misapplied as the plans for
the interior were developed and carried out.
By 1952, the National Assembly realized that it was soon
going to be in the position of actually operating a Baha'f
House of Worship, after all, and they sent a list of questions
to Shoghi Effendi related to the use of the completed build­
ing. One thing they asked was whether they could begin to
train a choir. The answer was, ' 'By all means prepare a
choir. ' ' As Shoghi Effendi had first urged the Assembly to do
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkar in Use 285

exactly this twenty-one years previously, this answer is not
surprising.
During the year 1952-1953, the Temple Program Commit­
tee 'YfOte to the National Spiritual Assembly:

. . . suggesting that they appoint a National Music Committee to
do a research job for appropriate musical selections for an a cap­
pella chorus; that the Baha'f music now available, as printed in
the Baha'f World Books, be given first consideration and Baha'f
talent be used to make the arrangements for use by choruses, that
the various assemblies be alerted about this, especially in Chicago
and its environs. 12

Also, in February 1952 , the National Assembly appointed a
committee to make arrangements for the dedication to be held
in 1953. In a letter to the members of that committee written
in early March, Holley, as chairman, outlined some of the mat­
ters the committee would have to decide, and among these he
included "Music: This is one of our most important features.
One question is whether Baha'f singers can be trained, and if
not the choice of a suitable chorus of non-Baha'fs . " 13
Despite these signs of concern, no apparent effort was
made to supply the need with Baha'fs. In September 1952, the
National Assembly gave permission to the committee to en­
gage a choir. In October, they expanded this instruction to
suggest that "an attempt is to be made to secure the services
of such a choir without compensation' ' before engaging one
that had to be paid. 14 On 13 December the committee decided
to engage the Northwestern University a cappella choir to
perform "classical non-sectarian pieces, " 15 and arrangements
were finalized in that month. The choir was to perform ' 'three
groups of selections . . . of from 5 to 6 minutes each" in the
dedication service and was to be paid $ 1 50 per service. 1 6 It
would seem that the continued high church leaning toward
286 Part Three: The Practice

"classical non-sectarian pieces" of the kind performed by
such a semi-professional choir as most suited to the Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar was a factor militating against the sung part of
the program being actively sought from within the Baha'f
community itself. As to the music to be sung, the pieces later
suggested by the choir director might be defined as nonsec­
tarian Christian, although they were ' 'classical' ' merely in the
sense that this is used as the opposite of ' 'popular, ' ' as they
were mostly twentieth century.
At their meeting on 13 December, the committee had also
decided to have Holley write to Charles Wolcott, a· Baha'f of
considerable professional musical standing, to ask for copies
of his settings of Baha'f texts. In January 1953, Eunice Braun
wrote to the committee suggesting that they consider using
Wolcott's " From the Sweet-Scented Streams, " as "Many
who have heard it think it is a very fine and acceptable piece
of work and it would be wonderful to have some Baha'f music
appear on the dedication program, containing a Baha'f
prayer. " 17 ,The choir director's suggestions came to the com­
mittee in February 1953, and by early March they had made
their final decisions on the music after having had further dis­
cussion with Northwestern's music department. The dedica­
tion program was to open with ' 'Who Can Comprehend Thee' '
(Peter C. Lutkin) and "God b e i n my Head" (Walford Davies);
in the middle there would be "Have Ye Not Heard" and "Ye
Shall Have a Song, " both from "The Peaceable Kingdom"
(Randall Thompson); and the program would close with Wol­
cott's "From the Sweet-Scented Streams. " It was also noted,
"It is gratifying to note that the Music Department commend
Wolcott's Baha'f song and are glad to use it. " 18
The 1953 dedication was held as part of a series of events
connected to the national convention of that year, which
marked the Jubilee Year of 1 5 October 1952, to 15 October
1953. This year commemorated the centenary of Baha'u'­
llah's period of imprisonment in the Sfyah-Chal in Tehran,
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkar in Use 287

during which he received intimation of his station. The dedi­
cation was preceded by the National Convention and followed
by an Inter-Continental Baha'i Conference, one of a number
held in various parts of the world during the Jubilee Year. As
well as the public dedication of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, which
was held on 2 May, there was also a private service, held for
Baha'is on 1 May to observe the anniversary Qf 'Abdu'l­
Baha's visit to the site. It is interesting to note the rationale
behind the scheduling of the two meetings:

This matter of two services has been thoroughly discussed by the
National Spiritual Assembly, and an important distinction made
between the meeting scheduled for Friday, May 1 , and the public
dedication on Saturday, May 2 .
The original thought of the Temple Dedication Committee was
to have the public dedication take place on May 1 , the Anniver­
sary of the Master's visit to the Temple grounds. The National
Spritual Assembly selected May 2 because Saturday is a much
better day than Friday for a public event.
. To observe the Anniverary, however, it was decided to hold a
meeting in the Temple auditorium on May 1 for Baha'fs only, in
the nature of a commemoration of the Master's visit. 19

If we turn to the programs for the two events, we see that
the emphasis was placed on the public dedication. There
seems to have been no consideration of . using singing in the
Baha'fs-only meeting. The committee discussed the program
for this meeting in December 1952, but it was left indefinite
until clarification could be obtained from Shoghi Effendi as to
whether the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha :could be included.20 In the
end, the program for this meeting was supplied by Shoghi Ef­
fendi, and on his instructions it was considered to be a service
of dedication as well as commemorative of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
visit.21
In respect to the public dedication, Shoghi Effendi added
material from the writings of the Faith to be chanted in the
288 Part Three: The Practice

original.22 The planned program as published in April 1953 in­
cluded one " Commune, Chanted in the Original Persian. "23
Shoghi Effendi added to this: passages from the writings of
the Bab in the original language, with the suggestion that
these be followed by others in English (there had been noth­
ing from the Bab in the original program), and passages from
Baha'u'llah in the original, to be followed by the same in
translation.
The program used at the meeting on 1 May consisted of a
passage from The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf by Baha'u'­
llah relating his experience in the Sfyah-Chal; the same in
translation; the address by 'Abdu'l-Baha at the dedication of
the site on 1 May 1912; the Tablet of Visitation of Baha'u'llah
in the original and the same in English.
The public dedication program on 2 May consisted of the
first two choral selections; a message from Shoghi Effendi
presented by Rul)fyyih Khanum as his representative; Psalms
xix, xxiv, and cxxi; Matthew V, 3-17; John XVI, 12-13;
Qur'an, sura II, 81, 130, 284-286; second two choral selec­
tions; from the Bab in the original and a prayer and excerpt
from the Commentary on the Surih of Joseph in English; from
Baha'u'llah in the original, excerpts from various works in
English (Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 153-1 54; Epistle to the Son of the
Wolf, pp. 13-14; Prayers and Meditations, pp. 94-95) and a
prayer in the original; and Wolcott's ' 'From the Sweet-Scented
Streams. " More than half of Rul)fyyih Khanum's address was
actually the reading of a prayer by Baha'u'llah. The entire
service, except for the introduction of Rul)fyyih Khanum and
the words of her address other than the prayer, was repeated
three times to accomodate the numbers who had come, some
of the readers being different each time. 24
As at the 1944 dedication, the portrait of the Bab was ex­
hibited in the Auditorium in 1953, this time together with a
portrait of Baha'u'llah that Shoghi Effendi had sent for the oc-
The Mashriqu '1-Adhkdr in Use 289

casion. The viewing of the portraits was held separately from
either of the dedication services, and this time there was no
Parsifal. Shoghi Effendi had sent instructions that each view­
ing (there were several to a:ccomodate the numbers of Baha'is
there) should be accompanied by a brief devotional program
consisting of an ode and a prayer by Baha'u'llah chanted in
the original follo��d by a prayer read il}J�ggli�h , the last to
be cbosen by the National Assembly. For this program, as for
the other, Shoghi Effendi stressed that those chosen to chant
should know how to do it well. 25
The dedication of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 1953, then, had
fewer peculiar characteristics than that of 1944, in great part
because of the direct . participation of Shoghi Effendi in the
programming. However, the main emphasis w�s still placed
on non-Baha'is, even to the changing of the date of the dedica­
tion from one of historic associations to one more likely to be
convenient to non-Baha'is. Although Shoghi Effendi restored
to the meeting planned for the original date a dedicatory
character, the balance of concern and resources was heavily
weighted toward the public occasion on 2 May. Shoghi Ef­
fendi's intervention may have made the 1 953 dedication less
odd than that of 1944, but the basic ideological conception of
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its function held by those Baha'is
who were to operate the building afterwards had not substan­
tially altered.

POST-1953 PRACTICE
Following the dedications on 1 and 2 May 1953, the prin­
cipal use made of the Auditorium was for public devotional
meetings on Sunday afternoons. From their beginning, these
meetings were organized ' 'following the pattern set in the
service of public dedication, "26 rather than being directly
based on the accumulated instructions from 'Abdu'l-Baha and
290 Part Three: The Practice

Shoghi Effendi on Mashriqu'l-Adhkar worship. This may
have been in part because the various dedication meetings as­
sociated with the building from the 1920s had obscured the
essentially transformatory quality of dedicating a place of wor­
ship: such a dedication is not a model for future practice but,
rather, marks a giving over of the building to that practice .
That such a distinction applied i n this case may be confirmed
by noting that in his instructions for the 1953 dedication
meetings Shoghi Effendi included material (such as the ad­
dress given on his behalf by Rtil)fyyih Khanum at the public
dedication and the reading of a talk by 'Abdu'l-Baha at the
Baha'f ded1cation) which he elsewhere stated were impermis­
sible in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. However, the pattern set in
1953 of a series of readings from various sources with choral
music (usually around the beginning, the middle, and the end
of the program) was considered the norm and continued for
next thirty years with little apparent change. I will discuss
this thirty years of use by considering first the concept of de­
votional meetings in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as primarily pub­
lic events, and then the issue of providing choral music. 27
After the inception of Sunday afternoon devotional meet­
ings in the Auditorium, Sunday afternoon public meetings
with a speaker in Foundation Hall continued for many years
with the hope that visitors would attend both. Nevertheless,
despite the continuing Foundation Hall meetings, it was felt
that the devotional meeting itself had to address some spe­
cific topic in order to be of interest; mere devotional intent
was deemed insufficient. This point of view was expressed in
June 1953, in a letter from the Baha'f Centenary News Ser­
vice (which had been set up,to handle publicity for 'the cente­
nary events) to the W<>rship Committee, apparently in reply
to a request from the comnrittee as to how to set about pub­
licizing the devotional meetings:
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 291

As you know, publicity for Sunday services in Christian churches
is usually built around the subject or the speaker. In the "old
days" the subject was often a quotation from the Bible. We have
no clergy, no serm9nizing, no organ recitals, but one thing that
can be publicized is" the theme used in selecting the readings, the
prayers and the singing.
These Sunday gatherings are for public worship and the themes
chosen, no doubt, will be selected with an eye to the public's in­
terest. In other words, these gatherings will be designed to uplift
the soul and educate it through hearing the Creative Word as
found in the various Sacred Scriptures on a particular theme
which could be publicized because it is one that holds the public's
interest . . . .
We believe that worship at the Temple which includes the read­
ing of various Scriptures, coincides with a growing inter­
est in comparative religion, courses for which are being presented
by schools and churches and that emphasis upon this aspect of
our services may be utilized in publicity.

Both of these things, the use of a particular theme and an
assumption that there was inherent interest in an event that
drew on scriptures from various religious traditions, became
and remained the principal points around which devotional
meetings were programmed and publicized .
At the Worship Committee meeting of 12 September 1953,
these "topics for future programs were listed: Unity of
Mankind/ Eternal Life/ Man/ Forgiveness/ Justice/ Humility/
Prayer/ Joy, Gladness/ True Liberty (Reward & Punishment)/
Submission (to will of God)/ Trust in God/ Detachment. " It
was decided that the first four topics would be researched by
the members for the next meeting, and at the current meet­
ing they worked out a program on immortality and one on
world peace.
Apart from the Sunday afternoon devotional meetings,
292 Part Three: The Practice

whose form had now been settled, another type of occasion
with which the committee was concerned was Baha'f holy
days. Again, the rationale for selecting which holy days would
be commemorated in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (as opposed to
the obvious assumption that they all should be) and how to
commemorate them was based on public appeal. In July 1 954,
the National Spiritual Assembly wrote to the committee:

The National Spiritual Assembly wishes your Committee to as­
sume responsibility for planning and ·conducting the following
Anniversaries:
Declaration of the Bab, May 23
Birthday of the Bab, October 20
Birthday of Baha'u'llah, November 12
Day of the Covenant, November 26
Naw-Ruz [Baha'f'New Year], March 2 1
The cooperation of the neighboring Assemblies can b e re­
quested, for example in the providing and serving of material
refreshment.
Because of their value in teaching, the Anniversaries are to be
handled as public meetings. . ..

The National Assembly is anxious to bring up all Temple Ac­
tivities to a higher degree of perfection in keeping with the dig­
nity and significance of the dedicated House of Worship.
The personal part can be conducted in Temple Foundation Hall
and the spiritual readings in the Auditorium.

Thus, holy day meetings were also fitted into the Sunday
afternoon mold: talks in Foundation Hall and readings in the
Auditorium. The extent to which these commemorations of
Baha'f holy days were seen as directed at the public, rather
than at Baha'fs, may be seen from the reluctance to disturb
visitors with too much devotional use of the Auditorium or to
suggest too strongly the distinctive nature of the Baha'f Faith
The Mashriqu '1-Adhkdr in Use 293

as a separate religion by publicly commemorating those holy
days that were harder for non-Baha'fs to comprehend.
In 1960, it was decided to permit the Temple Children's
Committee ' 'to hold a half hour program of prayers and read­
ings in the auditorium" to mark the Birthday of Baha'u'llah
on the afternoon of Saturday 12 November: "Even though
visitors may be coming in, the program will go forward and
the guides can explain that this is a Baha' f Holy Day and the
children are conducting a program of worship. ' ' There seems
to be an underlying presumption that visitors might be sur­
prised to find the building being used for such a purpose . .
Also, in the mid-1960s there was some disagreement over
whether to permit the use of the Auditorium to commemorate
the Martyrdom of the Bah. In June 1964, the Assembly secre­
tary wrote to the Worship Committee:

You have requested permission to hold a special public worship
service on the occasion of the Martyrdom of the Bab, July 9,
1964. The Temple Activities Study Committee , comprising four
NSA members, discussed the issue, recognizing the need for your
having an immediate decision. Following full consultation, it was
felt that, as a project, and an experiment in the public worship
activities in the House of Worship, it did not promise well at this
time.

The letter then listed several reasons for this decision, in­
cluding the statement that this ' 'is essentially a Baha'f affair,
requiring rather elaborate explanation in terms of the non­
knowledgeability of the public' ' ; that it would be difficult to
find explanatory material that could be used in a devotional
program; that if Foundation Hall were used "for presentation
of the background . . . and further effort to make intelligible
what otherwise would be a private Baha' f celebration" in the
Auditorium, this would involve the ' 'usual clumsy time' ' in
294 Part Three: The Practice

transferring from one venue to the other; that ' 'on a Thursday
afternoon in mid-summer, in competition with a crowded au­
ditorium of sight-seers, perhaps on tour, we wonder whether
more than a handful of Baha'is could possibly plan to attend";
and that as communities in the Chicago area planned their
own commemorative meetings ' 'we wonder whether there is
time to bring :all the communiti�s together in the early after­
noon, since work schedules are what they are . ' ' The letter
concluded :

I n short, we have thought seriously of the innovation which such
a program would represent. While we applaud the thought behind
the suggestion, and are entirely open to the possibility of such an
event, we were reluctant to consider its occurrence this year.
Our warm Baha'i regard in every sense notwithstanding.

It is evident that behind this letter are the assumptions that
the first duty of the building is to present the Baha'i Faith to
the public and that this duty is not fulfilled by inviting their
participation in a purely devotional experience of spiritual
intent.
In 1965, a local Spiritual Assembly in the North Shore area
wrote to the Department of Temple Activities (this title was
then used for the umbrella committee generally responsible
for the House of Worship; the Worship Committee was under
the direction of this committee):

We are seeking permission to use the auditorium of The
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar for a devotion service at noon on July 9, our
Holy Day commemorating the Martyrdom of the Bab. In view of
the fact that it is our understanding that the Temple Worship
Committee is not now held responsible for conducting such a
service, we would hope that permission could be granted. We
would select readings from our Baha'i Scriptures and would ex­
tend invitations to all Baha'is in this area to join us in this worship
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 295

service which we anticipate would be approximately one-half
hour long.
In the event you are unable to grant our request, our commu­
nity would like to simply use one of the small sections in the au­
ditorium [usually known as the alcoves] to pray quietly among
ourselves.
We are aware of the fact that the auditorium is open to the visit­
ing public at that time of day, but our thinking is that since a
guide is always on duty, they could· inform any visitors that a wor­
ship service is in progress and if they wish to join us in prayer,
they are certainly welcome to do so.
Our reason for making this request is twofold: we earnestly
wish to see our House of Worship used to the fullest extent possi­
ble for the purposes for which it was intended and we especially
feel that it is of the utmost importance that all of our Holy Days
should be observed within its hallowed precincts. Also, we would
hope that the friends, through such observances, may little by lit­
tle become more aware of their duties and obligations in living the
Baha'f life.
Under the stimulus of this letter, the Department of Tem­
ple Activities instructed the Worship Committee to ' 'arrange
for a devotional service at the auditorium for noon, July 9, in
commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Bab . " This may
have been, in part, because of the suggestion in the Assem­
bly's letter that their local community intended to com­
memorate the holy day in the Auditorium by themselves if
they could not sponsor a larger meeting. Since the shift from
Chicago to national status for the use of the building in the
mid-1920s, there had been a disinclination to have a local
community sponsor any event. Their place was to assist the
national committees in charge. We should also note that the
Secretary of the local Assembly which requested permission
was also a member of the Activities Department staff and the
request may have been made with an insider's expectation of
it causing the department to sponsor the event.
296 Part Three: The Practice

The 1965 commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Bab did
not occur without objection, however, as it drew forth a
lengthy letter from Charlotte Linfoot, a long-time member of
the National Assembly and, as assistant secretary during the
1950s, sometimes the de facto Secretary due to Holley's de­
clining health. She wrote:

This is a purely personal letter which is not to be interpreted as
reflecting any view of the National Spiritual Assembly. It is writ­
ten because of my own deep personal interest in the gradual im­
provement of the services of public worship which I feel are not
as inspiring and meaningful as they should be to visitors who
have no background or very little background about the Baha'f
Faith.
Beginning with the recent observance in the Baha'f House of
Worship of the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Bah, I ques­
tion whether that service was truly effective. Since I was one of
the very few individuals who sat downstairs in Foundation Hall to
hear the program [relayed from the Auditorium through a loud­
speaker], I could not, of course, observe the reactions of visitors
or even the believers. I tried to put myself in the position of a non­
Baha'f who may have dropped in because she saw people going
into the Temple, or even one who had been invited by a Baha'f to
be present. The reading was beautifully done but there was noth­
ing whatsoever in the program to indicate its purpose. While the
Baha'fs could appreciate the prayers and the readings they must
have been almost completely meaningless to non-Baha'fs. Had
there been distributed at the door a very brief statement about
the purpose of the service, who the Bah was and something about
His martyrdom, it could have been understandable. Or, if there
had been a brief meeting before the service of worship in Founda­
tion Hall in which the story of the Martyrdom of the Bah could
have been told, then the service upstairs would certainly have
been meaningful. I personally question the wisdom of making this
particular event one open to the public. It is comparable to the
Commemoration of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 297

Baha and therefore very intimate and precious to the believers. I
believe it is for this reason that the National Spiritual Assembly
for many years has indicated to the Temple Worship Committee
those particular Baha'f Holy Days which are to be shared with the
general public by services in the Baha'f House of Worship. It is
my understanding that this service was requested by one of the
communities and the responsibility for planning it was referred to
the Temple Worship Committee for carrying ou"t .
I do not wish to seem unduly' critical, but as an individual I do
feel deeply about the services of worship and wish so much that
they could be made more attractive and more meaningful to non­
"
Baha'fs . The Temple Worship Committee is a very hard-working
group and some of their programs are excellent but there are still
a number which are far beyond the comprehension of non-Baha'fs.
Again, my comments are purely personal and made only be­
cause I have given them a great deal of thought during the past
year.

That the event "was beautifully done" and that Baha'fs
"could appreciate the prayers and readings" is evidently be­
side the point; the focus is again on the non-Baha'f. This letter
is based on similar premises to those of Holley's 1 948 talk in
Los Angeles on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and equally discounts
the importance of how Baha'fs might feel in the Baha'f House
of Worship. That ' 'this service was requested by one of the
communities" and so arranged in response to the expressed
wishes of Baha'fs for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to contribute to
their community devotional life, rather than arranged with an
explicit orientation toward the general public, seems to be
sufficient to cast suspicion upon the legitimacy of the exercise.
The other two holy days Linfoot mentions, the Ascensions
of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, are commemorated in the
early hours of the morning. When they came to be commemo­
rated in the Auditorium, they do not seem to have occasioned
the misgivings as to their appropriateness as surrounded the
298 Part Three: The Practice

Martyrdom of the Bab. Of course, they were commemorated
at a time when there would be no visitors. 28
In November 1965 , a member of the Worship Committee
suggested that at the top of the ' 'Order of Devotions' ' given to
visitors attending Sunday devotions there should be a state­
ment to "tell what these devotions really are-that they are
for the public & it is not a Baha' i service. " That was undoubt­
edly largely the case, and still is, but the statement was not
included.
One factor which has generally been considered essential in
devotional meetings that are oriented to the public, but not so
important when the targeted audience are Baha'is , is vocal
music. After the public dedication in 1953, a professional
choral director was contracted to provide a choir of eight
singers to perform at the subsequent Sunday public devo­
tions, and in 1954 the oversight of this choir was given to the
Temple Worship Committee. The importance given to pro­
viding such music at the public devotions can be seen from
the Committee's 1954--1955 budget, in which $5,900 was de­
voted to the choir and $500 to all other expenses (printing
programs, flowers, stationery, etc.). However, despite this
disproportionate sum being appropriated for the choir, it was
far from adequate to ensure the standard of vocal music the
committee wanted, and the subject of financing a choir that
fulfilled the committee's expectations became a matter of in­
creasing concern from 1958. Thus, on 22 March of that year
the committee heard:
That [committee members] talked to [choir director] about the
singing. [The director] was not satisfied with the singers, either,
but it seems better to have a good choir some of the time than a
mediocre one all the time. The difficulty is, of course, that the top
singers can get $65 for one night elsewhere & we are able to pay
them only $10 a Sunday, which is quite a difference. [The direc­
tor] said he would do the best he could.
The Mashriqu '1-Adhkdr in Use 299

The amount paid to the choir director and members re­
mained the same from 1953 to the mid-1 960s. In 1963-1964,
the director requested some · increase and was told that this
would be considered in the 1964-1965 budget. However, pay­
ment remained the same for that year and the following one.
In the budget allocated by the National Assembly for
1966-1967, not only was there no increase, but the total sum
available for providing vocal music was cut to $2,500. The
Assembly secretary explained the rationale behind this deci­
sion to the Activities Department:

The purpose of the reduction in funds was to reduce what is to
many a disproportionate expenditure in the total of those funds
disbursed for the operations and functions of the House of W or­
ship. Further, it is felt that, with the retention of Mr . . . . as ,choir
director, and working with a selected small advisory group of the
Temple Activities Department, a varied and unusual musical fare
might be achieved, using the choir for perhaps one Sunday a
month, invited choirs, such as the New Trier High School Choir,
varied church choirs, etc, for other days of the month, and having
chanting, single voices and varied voices for the remainder of the
services. It would not be inappropriate to have occasional ser­
vices without music.

This proposed "radical change, " as the Assembly itself
termed it, appalled the Worship Committee. At a special
meeting on 15 May 1966, the committee decided to write to
the Activities Department, "explaining why we .feel this sud­
den ruling regarding the choir to be impossible & asking that
time be extended to Jan. 1968 . " The contractual commitment
to the current situation ran through June 1966, the following
month, at which time the Assembly expected any new ar­
rangement to take effect. The letter the committee wrote to
the Activities Department (as a sub-committee, the Worship
Committee was supposed to communicate with the Assembly
300 Part Three: The Practice

indirectly through the Activities Department) urged the
reconsideration of the decision, as "we must maintain a qual­
ity and excellence that cannot be changed by substitution of
the choir in a period of a month or two, " and therefore the
commitment to the current choir "should continue through
January 1 , 1 968. " The letter then commented on the limita­
tions of the Baha'f singers in the area and the unsuitability of
borrowing choirs from churches and schools, as ' 'by using
them we are assuming [financial] support as well as a sympa­
thy with the Cause on the part of the Church which does not
always exist' ' and as it was difficult to ensure control of what
they sang. The committee concluded their objections with,
"We do not feel that by eliminating the present a cappela
choir at this time that we are fulfilling our objectives in
presenting to the public a program of such beauty and power
that they will be aware of Baha'u'llah and the Baha'f Faith. "
By means that are not entirely clear, as the Assembly did
not reply to any of these objections to the planned change, the
choir was granted a stay until the beginning of 1 968. The
Worship Committee does not seem to have seriously consid­
ered the groups of Baha'f singers that were active in the area
as possible substitutes for the choir, and in the end it came to
an arrangement with the director that he would use the re­
duced funds to supply duets (in practice it was sometimes a
soloist) during the winter and a quartet during the summer
months when there were more visitors. The Activities De­
partment report for 1967-1968 had this to say about the
change: "This new format has allowed for pleasing innova­
tion in musical selections and, of course, has helped the
budget by greatly reducing expenditures for this purpose. "29
However, the Worship Committee was not so sanguine. Be­
fore the department' s report was written, the committee
wrote them on 8 March.
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 301

For two months we have had either a soloist or duet. The singers
have been most capable, the selections have been excellent but
we do not feel that the overall effect has been up to the standard
of this "Most Holy House of Worship. "
We have had several of the friends say that it just wasn't the
same without the choir. That the mingling of voices raised in
Praise of God, added much to the beauty of the devotions.
We realize that there is a deficit but isn't it possible to cut down
somewhere else and continue with the a cappela choir? We feel it
is most important for our Proclamation effort to the public, that
an outstanding Devotional Program be presented every Sunday.

And the department itself was nbt quite so happy as its re­
port seemed to indicate. On 27 Apri1 1968, they wrote to the
committee that they were in full agreement with the view of
the committee that the previous choir " added much to the
beauty of the devotions, ' ' and added that they hoped ' 'to pur-
sue this matter in the coming new year. ' ' ,
On 22 December 1968, the committee wrote to the Activi­
ties Department asking them to forward a letter to the Na­
tional Assembly expressing the committee's views on the
matter of the choir:

There is no question that the loss of the choir to solo voices has
produced a noticeable change in the character and quality of our
devotional programs. After many months this has become quite
apparent to the members of the committee, and to many who
have attended the Sunday programs. Oftentimes the voices can­
not be understood and this destroys much of the intent of the
music. Our musical director, Mr. . . . , has been most cooperative
and done a fine job under such limitations. However, he shares
our concern. He has told us that an a capella choir does not lend
itself to two, three, or four voices and that it is very difficult to
continue to find appropriate music.
302 Part Three: The Practice

We are aware of the many important and time consuming mat­
ters which the National Spiritual Assembly must consider, includ­
ing the budget. At the same time we would imagine the activities
taking place in the House of Worship would be of primary con­
cern. With a national budget which has been so increased over
this time, we fail to understand how the necessary allocation for a
full choir could be excluded. This raises an important question of
priorities which we feel must be re-evaluated.
We ask you to consult upon this. We continue to pray and hope
that the Guardian's intentions for the House of Worship may al­
ways be fulfilled.

In February 1969 , the committee acknowledged a letter
from the Activities Department confirming that these com­
ments had been forwarded to the Assembly along with the
department's own recommendations. The committee averred
that they "sincerely hope and pray that we will be able to
have an eight-voice choir again soon and that a Baha'f choir
will be organized and functioning for the House of Worship. "
The committee did get the choir back, although it was not
quite the same as before. The new choir did sing in four parts,
but it consisted mainly of Baha'fs, with a sprinkling of non­
Baha'f voice students. However, the director did remain a
hired non-Baha'f professional. This situation lasted until
1983, when the choir broke up, in part because of disputes be­
tween the then director, with his principally musical goals and
shallow acquaintance with the Baha'f Faith, and the amateur
Baha'f members of the choir. Subsequently, there have been
attempts to revive the choir under various expedients and, al­
though these have met with indifferent success, there is still a
feeling that a choir is needed for Sunday public devotions.
I am informed by a participant that between the two non­
Baha'fs who have directed the choir, there was an interreg­
num of about a year during which a Baha' f choir director and
choir' provided the vocal music. According to my informant,
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 303

the Baha'i director composed for the choir and took a gener­
ally experimental attitude that was not always appreciated by
others involved with operating the House of Worship. The ex­
istence and career of this short-lived choir was not reflected
in the records available to me, and I am unable to discuss it in
detail here. It may be that this experience with a director and
choir that had specifically Baha'i motives and goals further in­
clined the institutional structure toward employing a ' 'profes­
sional' ' with only musical goals.
Despite the changes in the arrangements for vocal music
that took place over the three decades, the repertoire re­
mained largely similar in character and even actual pieces
from 1 953 to 1983 . It consisted mainly of suitably "universal"
music, which might be more accurately characterized as high
church Christian music whose texts lacked blatantly denomi­
national implications. Probably as a result of the notes of
Louise Drake Wright's discussion with the Guardian in 1931
being publicized and thus entering into the miasma of half­
truth as to Shoghi Effendi's instructions regarding the Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar, there was a vastly disproportionate use of
Russian church music. Works by Palestrina and Orlando Gib­
bons and a reasonable number of twentieth-century church
compositions were also used. The repertoire was mostly sug­
gested by the director, although the committee had approval
and did occasionally ask for pieces to be discontinued (usually
on the grounds of loudness). Baha'is were encouraged to sub­
mit settings of Baha' f sacred text to some extent, but always
with the understanding that it be in the approved style. The
one piece by a Baha'i that was used with any frequency was
Wolcott's "From the Sweet-Scented Streams. " When this
was sung, a printed sheet with the words was added to the
program sheet. Indeed, this was used so often that it was re­
ferred to by the Worship Committee in conversation and in
records as " SSS . " There was and is a particular aversion to
304 Part Three: The Practice

anything, from whatever source, that could be characterized
as "loud. " Assertiveness of vocal tone or compositional style
does not fit the model of vocal music as meditative punctua­
tion between readings. Although the change from a profes­
sional to a largely amateur choir had an obvious effect on the
difficulty of music that could be used, there was no basic
change in the character of the repertoire.
The above discussion has concentrated mainly on the
1960s, as this was a time when the way in which the Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar functioned seemed most likely to change. The
building had been in use long enough for the gilt to have worn
'
off the gingerbread, for the realization to have dawned that it
was not going to induce people to become Baha'is in some
mystical, talismanic way, however doggedly its use was fo­
cused on the public. Indeed, it was seen that the area around
it was apparently less fertile for the growth of the Faith than
others in the country, which still holds true. Thus, a report
written in 1962 noted:

O n the basis o f Baha'i population considered a s a "teaching
force, " the Temple area . . . should have enrolled 160 believers
last year, but, in fact, only enrolled 102 . . . . This is all the more
amazing when one considers the fact that the Temple makes be­
tween 35,000 and 40,000 contacts for us annually in this area . . . .
New York has not pulled her load so far as enrollments are con­
cerned, but she has done better than the Temple area and she has
no Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to help her.
California has been largely responsible for the increase in en­
rollments. She alone has handled 22% of the total enrollments in
the Continental United States during the past 5 years. The Tem­
ple area was responsible for 6%.30

Nevertheless, there was no general impetus to reorient the
use of the building toward Baha'is; better ways to directly
reach the public was the usual goal. The fundamental ideolog-
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 305

ical assumption remained unchanged. Currently, the House of
Worship is visited annually by many more people than in 1962
(203,089 in 1982-1983), but even fewer residents of the area
enroll in the Faith.
The National Assembly of the 1960s was in many ways an
institution attempting to be in flux. Between 1960, when Hol­
ley moved to the Holy Land where he died shortly thereafter,
and 1968 there were three different Assembly Secretaries,
and considerable changes in Assembly membership from the
1950s. The emphasis throughout the period, and particularly
in the mid-1960s, tended toward openness to innovation.
There was a desire on the part of the Assembly, however na­
ively expressed, for the Faith to develop and grow not only in
numbers but in understanding and action; and there was con­
siderable tension between this desire and the wish of some
other participants in the national administration to leave well
enough alone and continue the . patterns firmly established in
the preceding decades. In the case of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
at least, the latter won; the drag of the past was sufficient to
slow the impetus toward change until the push for change
was over.
Although the National Assembly was not in disagreement
with the Worship Committee over the primary clientele for
the building being the general public, their approach toward
how the Sunday devotions directed at that public should de­
velop was quite dissimilar. We have seen how on the issue of
the choir the committee fought for the status quo, and gener­
ally they saw no need for much change in format. The Assem­
�bly, on the other hand, wrote to the committee in 1964, "we
hope that the music will begin to assume an experimental ap­
proach, seeking innovations of various kinds, until ultimately
there is evolved a steadily more unique and distinctive Baha'i
presentation of music with the readings of the Word of God . ' '
And during the period of controversy over discontinuing the
306 Part Three: The Practice

professional choir, the Assembly expressed itself in stronger
terms on 3 May 1967:

As we enter a new Baha'f year, we hope that the Committee will
experiment with more variety in the programs of devotion. We
feel that they have become almost ritualistic in manner, and we
would like to see much more variety in the selection of passages
and prayers to be read and also in the manner in which they are
presented. For example, consideration might be given to having
only one reader occasionally, in which case the reader should be
particularly good. Thought may be given also to having an occa­
sional program of Baha'f selections only. Finding new and in­
teresting programs for these services presents a real challenge,
which we are sure you will welcome.

In both of these quotes and in the comments of the Assem­
bly regarding the discontinuing of the professional choir given
earlier, it is evident that there was a dissatisfaction with cur­
rent practice and a desire for change. It is equally evident that
the concept of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar held by the Worship
Committee pervaded these comments, although there was
discomfort with it. The difficulty, however, was that the nor­
mativeness acquired by that conception was considerable,
and there was no countervailing concept based on the Baha'i
writings (or anything else, for that matter) to give substance
to the Assembly's discontent. The suggestions for change
made by the Assembly were trivial and tentative; the commit­
tee, on the other hand, knew exactly what it wanted. Under
the circumstances, it is not surprising that the established
form weathered the squall.
On the Assembly, the bridge between the 1950s and the
later 1960s was Linfoot. After 1 968, she witnessed the older
pattern regain its stable hold on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
From the late 1960s to the demise of the choir in 1983, there
was no further sustained push to change the expression of the
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 307

premises that had guided the Temple Worship Committee
since 1953 . There was certainly no significant pressure to
change the premises themselves. Whatever dissatisfaction
continued to be felt in the surrounding Baha'f community, the
operation of the administrative structures of the Faith stood
behind the status quo. The ideology had held firm, and the
form through which it was expressed survived its few years of
questioning relatively intact. It still did not attract non­
Baha'fs to the Faith to any significant extent, and it did not at­
tract Baha'fs to attend, but it survived.
That the form still does survive is probably because it is so
firmly attached to the ideology of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in
Wilmette as a public place. It is acceptable to criticize the de­
tails of the devotions, to suggest tinkering with them only in
terms of that ideological assumption. To suggest that the
principal aim of devotions in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, indeed
the principal aim of its use, should be to attract Baha'fs and to
cater to their spiritual needs is to suggest the subversion of
the ideology on which the entire conception and use of the
building has been based for over half a century.
In April 1 986, the Baha'f House of Worship Activities Com­
mittee wrote to " Every Baha'f Within 100 Miles of the House
of Worship, " urging them to attend events there, primarily
held in Foundation Hall, stating:

During the past two years the quality and diversity of programs
have been improved dramatically in an effort to attract more peo­
ple to the House of Worship. When these programs are poorly
attended by Baha'is, however, we run the risk of appearing un­
caring and inactive as a group. Unfortunately, such a perception
is enough to cause a visitor to abandon any interest they might
have in learning more about the Faith.
This situation is also offensive to non-Baha'fs participating in
these programs. On Naw-Ruz we were privileged to present a
concert by [two violinists] . . . . These outstanding professionals
308 Part Three: The Practice

performed at no cost to us; yet, sadly, only some sixty people
were in attendance.

The premise is the same as the appeals in the late1920s for
Baha'fs to support Vail's talks. Baha'fs should attend for the
non-Baha' fs; their function is to pack the house, to form part
of the mise-en-scene , not to expect the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to
cater to them. As we might expect, the public ideology is still
dominant in the use of Foundation Hall as it is for the Audito­
rium. The deciding factor is public appeal. Even when it has
been explicitly pointed out that an activity was named by
Shoghi Effendi as inappropriate for Foundation Hall, there is
no hesitation about doing it if it is thought to be a possible at­
traction for the public. This despite the continued fact that,
just as in the case of the use of the Auditorium, events in
Foundation Hall do not attract large numbers and have not
occasioned any considerable expansion of the membership of
the Faith.
A pattern has been set that is supposed to lead to certain
ends, and a great deal of energy and resources have been
committed to that pattern. To admit that it does not work, to
admit that the ends have been sought by inadequate means, is
to admit that the administrative structure of the Faith in the
United States has been mistaken in its leadership of the com­
munity. Therefore, more resources are called for to pursue
the set patterns, Baha'fs are exhorted to support them and
chastised for not doing so, and the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wil­
mette becomes more and more a beloved abstract symbol of
their Faith for Baha' fs and an irrelevance in their lives.
One day I overheard a visitor asking one o{ the Baha'f
guides what the building was built for. The Baha'f replied
that it was built for all those who would come to see it. Yes,
replied the visitor, but what was it built for? The Baha'f sim­
ply looked puzzled and had no reply, other than to repeat that
The Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr in Use 309

it was for those who would come t<? see it. Like any Gothick
folly, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar has become a conspicuous con­
sumer of assets with no actual function other than to look
pretty. To imbue it with any other function would necessitate
a revolution in North American, and probably world, 0Baha'f
thought about the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and
the place of devotions in Baha'i community life.
I

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CHAPTER NINE

SCRIPTURE AND CULTURE IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN
BAHA'I DEVOTIONAL PRACTICE

Between 1903 and 1953, developments took place within
the North American Baha'f community that resulted in a
building in Wilmette with an associated devotional praxis. Be­
tween 1 953 and 1 983, that praxis and the ideological basis for
it remained largely unchanged, despite dissatisfaction with it
and its results. The processes that led to this situation have
been discussed in some detail in the preceding chapters. In
this final chapter, I will deal with some general aspects of
the establishment of the Baha'f Faith in North America as
these have been expressed in the development of Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar devotional praxis.
I began this work by stating that before the introduction of
the Baha'f Faith to North America it was, in a broad sense, a
Middle Eastern religion. This had implications beyond the
merely socio-historical. The scriptures of the Baha' f Faith
were written in Arabic and Persian and thus of necessity are
imbued with the religious and cultural environments of those

312 Part Three: The Practice

languages. The religious and cultural environments of their
English translations was, and is, considerably different.
The originals of Baha'f scripture draw upon a technical Is­
lamic vocabulary that often has no specific English equiva­
lent. Moreover, the Islamic vocabulary is not always used in
its usual sense, but words may be reoriented to specific Ba­
ha'f referents so as to transform them into Baha'f terms.
There was a presumption on the part of early Western Ba­
ha'fs that Eastern Baha'fs could understand the Baha'f writ­
ings by virtue of being literate in the appropriate languages.
This was not necessarily so, as understanding required not
only an acquaintance with each language's technical Ishtmic
vocabulary but also with the re-referenced use of it in Baha'f
texts. It is evident from correspondence and accounts of con­
versations between Eastern and Western Baha'fs that some
Eastern Baha 'fs had as far to go in understanding aspects of
Baha'f scripture as Western Baha'fs generally did.
Let me approach the subject of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar from
an angle that would seem odd to most current Baha'fs: daily
obligatory prayers. Two distinctive features of Baha' f reli­
gious practice are the requirement for daily )'Obligatory
prayers and the annual fast. The observance of these prac­
tices is between the individual and God, and there is no
mechanism for determining whether or not they are ob­
served. Berger remarked that, " Personal impression seems to
indicate that they are widely observed in the community. " 1
This i s probably the case. From the 1890s, there has been
considerable interest among Western Baha'fs in these two
aspects of Baha'f religious life, and it would seem likely that a
reasonable percentage of those who could be considered ac­
tive Baha'fs have always observed them with some degree of
exactitude .
Currently, the individual responsibility for daily obligatory
prayer is taken to mean not only that there . is no mechanism
Scripture and Culture 313

of oversight but that the practice itself should be carried out
in private, indeed, almost secretively. This has not always
been so. As recently as 1 95 1 , the agendas for the first annual
conventions to elect the National Spiritual Assemblies of Cen­
tral and South America (which were prepared by the Inter­
America Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
United States) included that at noon each day:

The Chairman is requested to ask the friends to rise and face the
east for a period sufficient for the use of the noon obligatory
prayer in silence. The Chairman will indicate the close of this
period.2

In the Baha'f writings, the term saldt (Arabic; namdz in Per­
sian) is used for the obligatory prayers. This is the standard
Islamic term for the "ritual prayer" or "worship" that is of­
fered five times daily. In Islam, it is regarded as more mer­
itorious to offer saldt in congregation than individually, and
attendanc.e at noon congregational saldt in a mosque on Fri­
days is h!ghly regarded. The extent to which attendance at
Friday congregational saldt is seen as obligatory, rather than
merely preferable, varies. In particular, Shf'ih Islam has not
always stressed this practice as strongly as has Sunnf Islam. 3
In the Kitab-i Aqdas, Baha'u'llah requires saldt to be offered
three times daily and abolishes the offering of congregational
saldt, making it an individual duty.
In Islam, there are various saldt other than the daily one. In
the Baha'f Faith the only other one is the funeral saldt, which
must be said in congregation. As funerals are not held in a
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, it goes beyond our current concern to dis­
cuss the Baha'f funeral prayer here.4
The saldt text to which Baha'u'llah refers in the Kitab-i Aq­
das was later replaced by him with three other texts. Baha'fs
are free to choose any one of these three texts for their daily
314 Part Three: The Practice

saltit, and each has its own ritual requirements. The three
texts are differentiated simply by reference to their compara­
tive lengths. All three are said facing the Baha'f qiblih (the
Tomb of Baha'u'llah at Bahjf).
The short obligatory prayer is recited after ablutions (wash­
ing the hands and face) at "noon" (betweeq midday and sun­
set), preferably while standing. The medium obligatory
prayer is said three times, in the "morning" (sunrise to mid­
day), at "noon".. and in the "evening" (sunset until two hours
after sunset). The medium prayer has verses to be said while
performing ablutions and actions to be performed during the
rest of the prayer. The long obligatory prayer is said once a
day at any time during the twenty-four hours that the individ­
ual chooses. It is recited after ablutions and has prescribed
actions.
While the Baha'f saltit has obvious structural parallels with
that of Islam, fulfilling the required devotional practice is con­
siderably simplified, as the apparatus of ritual stipulation sur­
rounding the Islamic practice (and upon the observance of
which depends the validity of the devotional act) is absent. In­
deed, Baha'u'llah specifically abrogates the principle, of such
importance in Islamic practice , of prayer being nullified by
contact with any of a long list of ritually impure substances.
As the Kitab-i Aqdas states that saltit should be offered
three times daily, the medium obligatory prayer seems to
have been regarded as the preferred Baha'f one by Eastern
Baha'fs around the turn of the century. A.t least, that is the
impression they gave early Western Baha' fs. The Western
Baha'fs had a translation of the medium prayer from 1899 and
translations of all three prayers by 1 902, at the latest. In the
twenty-six pages of prayers included with the early 1 905 edi­
tion of the Hidden Words, the medium prayer is headed sim­
ply ' 'The Daily Prayer, ' ' and there are accurate directions as
to the required actions. The short prayer is given after the
Scripture and Culture 315

medium one, as it " may b e used instead of the longer 'Daily
Prayer. ' ' ' The long prayer is not included in the selection.
The information available on Eastern Baha'i devotional the­
ory and practice is not sufficient to draw firm conclusions, but
it seems that the medium prayer was conceptualized as the
actual daily saltit; the short prayer as a possible substitute at
need; and the long prayer as a supererogatory prayer that
could be added at will to daily devotional practice. At any
rate, the circumstances under which most of the Eastern Ba­
ha'i community lived required them to continue public obser­
vance of the Islamic salat. The Baha' i saltit was seemingly
limited to their homes. Even in those cases in which Baha'i
communities did have a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (including 'Ishqa­
bad) they do not seem to have used it for sa lat. This would not
seem strange to current Western Baha'is, as they regard the
daily obligatory prayers as required to be said in such privacy
as exists at home. But in the early days of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar project, the Western Baha'is were differently informed.
'Abdu'l-Baha addressed this question in a Tablet to Charles
Mason Remey that was translated by Ali Kuli Khan in Janu­
ary 1905, and "for the sake of further elucidation" the trans­
lator added notes in parentheses:

As to the prayer (by which he means obligatory prayer, which is
to be said three times a day): Each one must say his prayer alone
by himself, and this is not conditional on a private place-that is,
both at home and in the worshiping-place which is a gathering
place, it is allowable for one to say his prayer, but each person
must say his prayer by himself (i.e. not in company with others
who might recite the same words and continue the same postures
together at the same time).

The term which is translated as "prayer" is saloL The term
which is translated as "worshiping-place" is ma 'abad, which
316 Part Three: The Practice

is a generic term for a place of worship of any religion. In
other Tablets, 'Abdu'l-Baha used it as synonymous with
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. This understanding of the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar as an optional place for the performance of salat was
embodied in the architect's circular of 1 909, in which the
main floor requirements for the interior included that ' 'Near
the entrances provision should be made for fountains and ba­
sins, where worshippers may perform their ablutions. ' '5
Again, to most contemporary Baha'is this would seem like a
quaint misunderstanding on the part of their predecessors.
The architect's circular also included the stipulation that
there should be a pipe organ. This was later discovered to be
impermissible, and many modern Baha'is would feel that the
demand for facilities for ablutions was equally mistaken. That
it was not is evident from information that the early Baha'is
did not have: the actual content of three Tablets written in
1903 .
One of the difficulties faced by those translating 'Abdu'l­
Baha's Tablets into English was that when he used precise
Islamic terminology there was no English equivalent. Unfor­
tunately, few translations included parenthetical glosses (as in
the 1 905 translation quoted above) to aid the understanding of
the reader. It was more usual for translators to give a general
sense of the original. When 'Abdu'l-Baha had actually been
very specific, such generalized translation could do consider­
ably less than justice to his intent.
In one of the Tablets written in 1 903 to the Chicago House
of Spirituality in which 'Abdu'l-Baha approved of the building
of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, he exhorted the members of the
House to, " Exert your energy in accomplishing what ye have
undertaken so that this glorious temple may be built, that the
beloved of God may assemble therein, and that they may pray
and offer glory to God for guiding them to His Kingdom . ' ' In
this Tablet, the word translated as ' 'pray' ' is salat. Another of
Scripture and Culture 317

the 1903 Tablets approving the idea o f a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
in Chicago concluded with a passage that has since become
famous, has been quoted in innumerable places to testify to
the importance of the project, and has been used in virtually
every fund-raising campaign for the building to date:

When the Mashrak-el-Azkar is accomplished, when the lights are
emanating therefrom, the righteous ones are presenting them­
selves therein, the prayers are performed with supplication
towards the Mysterious Kingdom (of Heaven), the voice of glorifi­
cation is raised to the Lord the Supreme; then the believers shall
rejoice, the hearts shall be dilated and overflowed with the love of
the All-Living and Self-Existent (God). The people shall hasten to
worship in that heavenly temple, the fragrances of God will be
elevated, the Divine teachings will be established in the hearts
like the establishment of the Spirit in mankind; the people will
then stand firm in the Cause of your Lord the Merciful.

r
Again, the "prayers" that are to imbue the Mashriqu'l-Adh-
- -

kar with this power of attraction are saldt. The prayers which
are currently used in the Wilmette building are du 'a (Arabic;
mundjdt in Persian). Du 'a is the Islamic term for personal
prayers and for prayers that may be piously inserted into a
mosque service, the heart of which is saldt. In the Tablets spe­
cifically addressing the issue of the planned Mashriqu'l-Adh­
kar, 'Abdu'l-Baha did not mention du 'd, but only saldt. He
also mentioned other devotional practices which we may sim­
ply gloss here as using the Greatest Name. The Islamic
vocabulary he used, let alone its implications in a Baha'i con­
text, was even more beyond the ability of the translators to
convey than the distinction between saldt and du 'd. As the sig­
nificance of these further sug,gestions for Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
- -

practice was lost to the Western Baha'is, it is not relevant to
my current purpose to discuss them here. The early transla­
tors did try to distinguish du 'd to some extent by translating it
318 Part Three: The Practice

as "supplication. " However, they did not do so consistently
or adequately explain the distinction between this form of
prayer and saldt to the Western Baha'fs.
The 1905 Tablet quoted above continues after the discus­
sion of saldt to suggest that " if they chant supplications (com­
munes) together and in company in a good and effective voice
-this is very good. " Here " supplications" is mundjdt. The
two types of prayer are brought together in another Tablet
from 1903 .
When the Chicago House of Spirituality decided to inau­
gurate Sunday community devotional meetings (for which
they published Songs of Prayer �nd Praise) in early 1903, they
sent their proposed program to 'Abdu'l-Baha. His reply gave
specific instructions for conducting a Baha'f community devo­
tional meeting, but the specificity was lost in the translation.
The original terms are added here in brackets to the transla­
tion provided to the House in Apri1 1903:

. . . in a meeting for worship, first, prayer [mundjat] should be
.
chanted and supplication made until all gather; then communion
[ namaz] should be made: after praying [namdz], sacred readings
[mundjdt] with melodious voices should be read by all together. As
this is the commencement of holding meetings, this is sufficient.

What seems to have been suggested by 'Abdu'l-Baha is a
simple program with general prayers being chanted while all
gather; then those present perform saldt individually; and the
meeting is to finish with all j oining in general prayers.
When Mountfort Mills was on pilgrimage in the spring of
1909, 'Abdu'l-Baha spoke to him of the distinction between
meetings to teach the Faith and general community devotional
meetings. The current form of meeting, with its emphasis on
teaching, was a temporary form, but the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
was a permanent form. 6 'Abdu'l-Baha evidently felt that the
Scripture and Culture 319

matter discussed was of some importance since, in August
1 909, he repeated his comments in a Tablet to Mills. He ex­
plained in the Tablet ,that, as the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was yet
to be built, the current teaching meetings served a dual pur­
pose, but that when a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar was available, there
would be a distinction between meetings ' 'devoted especially
to teaching" and the "place of worship. "7
It would seem that just as 'Abdu'l-Baha used the relative
freedom of religious practice that surrounded the Baha'i com­
munity in the West to encourage the development of Baha'i
administrative organization there, to an extent beyond that
possible in the East, so he wished the Western community to
develop community worship beyond what had been achieved
in the Eastern community.
In both the East and the West, the dominant form of Baha'i
meeting was oriented toward teaching the Faith; whether this
be teaching non-Baha'i visitors or expanding the understand­
ing of community members. Such meetings included devo­
tional elements, but these were subsidiary to the main
purpose. In his specific instructions about the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar, 'Abdu'l-Baha was evidently trying to direct the
Western Baha'is toward purely devotional forms of meeting
with an explicitly Baha'i content. The practice of Baha'i saldt
distinguishes a Baha' i from a member of any other religion. If
the performance of saldt is restricted to absolute privacy, then
its distinguishing character is limited to the interior life of the
individual Baha'i. The public performance of saldt in Baha'i
devotional meetings and in a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar open to gen­
eral public observation would be a powerful expression of dis­
tinction between Baha' is and the adherents of other faiths.
We have seen how 'Abdu'l-Baha's intent was only imper­
fectly known to Western Baha'is, due to the limitations of
communication through translation. However, it is the case
that enough of that intent was known to have the requirement
320 Part Three: The Practice

of facilities for ablutions included in the original specifications
for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette. Currently, there is no
feeling of association between the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and ob­
ligatory prayers on the part of many Western Baha'is; quite
the opposite.
One Baha'i informs me that in recent years she had been
asked to leave the Wilmette building when caught saying her
obligatory prayer in the cornerstone room. Another Baha'i,
who had grown up in Tehran and had lived in the United
States as an adult, stated that she had first come to Wilmette
with the expectation of saying her obligatory prayer in the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar there on the basis of her understanding of
the original texts of the Baha'i ,writings. She was startled to
be told that it was not considered suitable to do so. When she
read the originals of the 1 903 Tablets discussed above, she
wept to discover she had been right all along, and that her
desire to perform saltit, "worship, " in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
was not a personal aberration or a life-long misunderstanding
on her part. In contrast to the experience of these Baha'is, it
is not unknown for Muslims to be courteously shown into a
quiet room if they ask if there is somewhere they can perform
their obligatory prayer at the prescribed time.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar has thus been divorced from the
most specifically Baha'i devotional observance. Indeed, the
distancing of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar from any specifically Ba­
ha'i devotional content, in the minds of many Baha' is who
would be supposed to be well informed about their faith, may
be represented by Hatcher and Martin's comments on the
institution:

At the present time, the houses of worship are not principally
used for Baha'i community services. Rather, they are opened as
places where individuals of all religious backgrounds (or those
professing no particular faith) meet in the worship of the one God.
Scripture and Culture 321

Services are nondenominational and consist of readings and
prayers from the scriptures of the world's faiths, with no sermons
or other attempts to cast these teachings in a mold of specifically
Baha'i interpretation. Selections are often set to music and sung
by trained a capella choirs. 8

This description, while a fair representation of the actual
experience, ignores the fact that the intent of those arranging
the services is certainly not ' 'nondenominational' ' or neutral
in how they wish those" attending to be affected in relation to
the Baha'f Faith.
We have seen that the categorical distinction between saldt
and du 'd was not adequately expressed "in translations of Ba­
ha'i writings and that the Western Baha'f community did not
absorb the full implications of the distinction. Another com­
plication was that the term "congregational" had different
meanings in Islamic and Christian devotio"nal contexts. In Is­
lamic practice saldt is congregational when led by an imam.
Individuals ' 'follow' ' the imam in a prescribed way, but their
aim is not to be in unison with the imam or the 9ther members
of the congregation, each of whom is independently following
the imam. The general popular concept of a congregational
devotional act in the West is that it is performed jn unison by
a group of equal participants; if any leads , it is for, the purpose
of assisting the unison effect, to keep everyone together.
The abrogation of congregational saldt (except for the
funerary prayer) in the Kitab-i Aqdas may be seen as one of
the many directives in that work that is aimed at removing
distinctions between clerical and lay roles in religious life.
The imam need not be a cleric as such, but the position is one
that confers religious merit beyond that acquired by the fol­
lowers in performing the saldt and which puts the imam in an
intermediary position between the worshiper and God. The
Baha'f Faith has no clergy and views each individual as able
to approach God without a human intermediary.
322 Part Three: The Practice

In the early years of the century, Western Baha'fs had no
qualms about congregational (unison) acts of devotion. Apart
from the obvious case of hymn singing, they used the
Greatest Name and the few prayers in the original that they
knew in unison, and they read translated passages and prayers
together. In 1906, the Chicago House of Spirituality exper­
imented with unison prayer to open their meetings and de­
cided to recommend the practice to others:

At a recent meeting of the House it was decided to open the meet­
ing by all the members arising, facing the East, and remain stand­
ing during the reciting aloud , or chanting in unison of the Opening
Commune, revealed by our -Lord-instead of the usual manner of
having only one member read it aloud while the others remained
silent with bowed heads.
Having found it a means of strength by so doing, we have had
copies printed and send a number to you, believing you will be in­
terested in knowing this and join with us in this means of strength
you have not already adopted this manner of procedure. We
have had dashes (-) inserted where commas (,) are placed in the
original to better assist the reading aloud and taking of breath­
which the pause suggests-thus keeping the voices in unison. 9

During the 1930s, the National Assembly asked Shoghi Ef­
fendi for clarification regarding congregational prayer: ' 'that
is, the reading of Baha'f prayers in unison by all believers
present at a meeting. " 10 Shoghi Effendi replied:

Regarding the practice of congregational prayer, the Guardian
wishes you to know that this form of prayer has been enjoined by
Baha'u'llah only for the dead. In all other circumstances there is
no obligation whatever imposed upon the believers. 11

This reply was printed in Baha 'i News, 12 but it did not an­
swer the question fully enough for the Chicago community,
who wrote to the National Assembly:
Scripture and Culture 323

Another question . . . is one on which there is considerable uncer­
tainty in the minds of the members of the Chicago Community. It
is on the subject of prayer in unison. The article appearing in a re­
cent issue of "Baha'f News" has not answered the question, and
they have asked for a definitive answer on whether or not prayer
in this form is permitted. Although there are statements by
'Abdu'l-Baha which indicate that with the exception of the obliga­
tory prayers the practice is commendable, Dr. Bagdadi informs us
that in Kitab-i-Aqdas prayer in unison, except for the dead, is
forbidden. 13

The National Spiritual Assembly replied:

Concerning the question about congregational prayers, or prayer
in unison. The National Assembly understands from the recent
statement written by the Guardian on this subject that congrega­
tional prayer is not a Baha'f teaching except in the special case of
prayers for the dead. Since congregational prayer is therefore in
all other cases not a Baha'f teaching, it would seem preferable for
local Assemblies and the believers generally not to promote the
practise of congregational prayer, since the Baha'f community is
committed to uphold what are the fundamental Baha'f teachings
and congregational prayer is surely usually brought about as the
result of some individual believer's personal desire. It seems clear
that increased knowledge shows us that we should not let our per­
sonal desires lead us to a practise which the Manifestation did not
reveal for the new Day. 14

Apart from the obvious ignoring of the question of 'Abdu'l­
Baha' s endorsement of unison prayer and the inherent ig­
norance of the distinction between salat and du 'd and the
difference between the Islamic and Western concepts of ' 'con­
gregational" , the most notable feature of this reply is its nar­
row interpretation of Baha'i possibilities; if something is not
required, it should not be done, as to do it was to give in to
' 'personal desires. ' ' The stress is against individual initiative
324 Part Three: The Practice

in developing Baha'f devotions but toward individuated ex­
perience of what is believed to be required. In a study course
on the Baha'f Faith that was probably prepared in the 1940s,
one of the essay questions to be addressed was, " Show how
the development of the individual has made congregational
prayer unnecessary today. " 15
There was also a strand of resistance through the years to
the concept of obligatory prayer as such. For many Wester­
ners, especially Protestants, there was something not quite
legitimate about Islamic daily prayers, and this view could be
reinforced in early Western Baha'fs by the opinions of their
Eastern coreligionists. Thus, in a talk on Islam given on Sun­
day, 24 June 1906, an Eastern Baha'f told an audience in Pon­
tiac, Illinois:

The Muhammedan's conception of prayer is that it is the render­
ing of worship or the paying of a debt of service to the creator. It
is a duty which the faithful are under obligation to perform. The
idea of confession, petition and intercession are not present in
their mind. The prescribed prayer is called the ' 'namaz . ' ' There is
also called the "dua , " which is more in accordance with true
prayer, it being an expression of their desire to God . 16

Despite this view that there was a difference between
prayer as an "obligation" and "true prayer, " early Western
Baha'fs do not seem to have had much difficulty in accepting
the idea of Baha'f saldt. However, by the mid-1930s there was
evidently more resistance to the idea. Shoghi Effendi wrote to
an active teacher of the Faith:

As to the attitude of resentment which the young believers are in­
clined to assume regarding certain precepts of the Cause such as
obligatory prayers; there can & should be no compromise what­
ever in such matters that are specifically en;joined,, by Baha'u'lhih.
We should neither have any feeling of shame when observing
Scripture and Culture 325

such laws & precepts, nor should we overestimate their value &
significance. Just as the friends have no difficulty in recognizing
the value of the specific prayers revealed by Bah;:l'u'llah, such as
the Tablets of Fasting & Healing, so also they should recognize
that the obligatory prayers are by their very nature of greater ef­
fectiveness & are endowed with a greater power than the non­
obligatory ones, & as such are essential. 17

The undertow of resistance to the idea of ritual prayer re­
mained, however. The notes for a course given at Green Acre
Baha'f School in 1956 include the comment, "But there are
two kinds of prayer (1) real, sincere and simple, which is con­
versation with God and (2) formal, merely ritualistic prayer
�hich has no results. " 18 While this comment may be applied
to the attitude of the worshiper, whatever the type of prayer,
it is only too readily applicable to the distinction between ' 'ob­
ligation" and "true prayer" made in 1906 .
The lack of a clear concep�ion of the import of the distinc­
tion between saldt and du 'a arid the imposition of a Western,
Christian concept of "congregational" on the prohibition of
congregational salOl led to suspicion about congregational
(unison) devotional acts generally and to the idea that Baha'f
obligatory prayers must be performed in solitary privacy.
This divorced the concept of obligatory prayers from that of
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the dominant strains of Western
Baha'f thought and discouraged the utilization of unison devo­
tional forms in Baha' f life generally.
As so frequently in this work, we encounter in the issue of
obligatory prayer a considerable disjunction between the in­
tent at the beginning of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project in the
first decade of this century and its result in the second half of
the century. This particular disjunction is clearly rooted in a
clash between the culture which imbued the writings of the
Faith and the culture which surrounded the developing West­
ern Baha'f community. In the case of devotions, at least, we
326 Part Three: The Practice

may say that in the long run the Baha'i Faith was substantially
acculturated to the Western Baha'i community rather than
that Western Baha' is were acculturated to the Baha' i Faith.
Or, again at least, that this has been the position to date.
Another conceptual distinction that is inherent in the linguis­
tic context of Baha' i scripture, but that was not appreciated
by Western Baha'is and had implications for the development
of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar practice, was that between music and
the singing of devotional texts (whether scriptural or not).
Broadly speaking, Islamic cultures draw a sharp distinction
between music (musfqt) and those devotional forms of expres­
sion that a Westerner would term ' 'religious music. ' ' While
the latter are laudable, music per se is morally objectionable.
The Baha'i scriptures acknowledge that music may be used in
morally objectionable ways and contexts but assert that music
is equally capable of producing spiritual upliftment. Music in
itself is morally neutral; its use is reprehensible or laudable
according to intent and result.
However, despite the fact that music (musfqt) is approved of
and Baha'is are encouraged to study it and use it in acceptable
ways, there is still a fundamental distinction drawn in � the Ba­
ha'i writings between music and those devotional song forms
that are used in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. To be acceptable,
music should have the same spiritual intent as the devotional
forms, but it is still conceptually distinct from them. Music
has been rehabilitated in its own sphere, but the separate con­
ceptual sphere of devotional song remains. The Islamic di­
chotomy had opposed devotional song to secular music; the
Baha'i dichotomy sees them as parallel activities which should
be directed to compatible ends. In Western culture, the im­
portant dichotomy was not between music and devotional
song but between popular and elite forms of music, whether
in a devotional or secular context.
Scripture and Culture 327

The Eastern Baha' is drew upon Islamic forms of devotional
song and used them for their own purposes. The Western Ba­
ha'is drew on Christian forms to fulfill the needs of their devo­
tional life. The emphasis in relation to the Faith was different,
in that the tradition drawn on by the Eastern Baha'is provided
generally accepted ways of rendering sacred text in song so
that for Eastern Baha'is it was a simple matter to provide for
·"Cantillation of their sacred text; all they needed was ready at
hand. Devotional poetry among the Eastern Baha'is devel­
oped in a situation in which both it and sacred text had estab­
lished forms of sung devotional usage provided by the general
cultural background of those who became Baha'is.
In the West, few Baha'is came from church backgrounds
that had an established tradition of sung sacred text (I am ex­
cepting metricized psalms, etc. , as these forms are basically
hymnic). Among these few, fewer had the specialized back­
ground to be actively participant in that tradition. One who
was, as a church organist and choirmaster in Episcopal circles,
Edw:ard Kinney, did personally sing Baha'i prose sacred text
to his own piano accompaniment, and we may assume that his
church experience influenced how he did so. However, Kin­
ney's personal usage seems to have had almost no diffusion in
the community. For Kinney to perform was appreciated, but
others did not learn his technique (or even individual composi­
tions of his) or make use of it to any appreciable extent.
The tradition more widely drawn on in Western Baha'i de­
votional song was the popular one of hymnody. By the begin­
ning of this century, the role of the lay (even woman)
hymnodist was well validated in the Protestant churches , and
this role was ready for adoption by those Western Baha'is
who were drawn to express their religious devotion in song.
Equally, the general adoption by a religious community of
hymns produced by individuals was an established part of
328 Part Three: The Practice

Protestant church life. Thus, the model of devotional song
use and innovation most available in their previous church ex­
perience to those who became Baha'is was naturally the one
they followed in their Baha' f devotional life.
This left an imbalance in Western Baha'f devotional song.
Sung devotional poetry, the communally accepted manifesta­
tion of individual religious response, was well taken care of,
but there was a void in respect to sung sacred text. There
were some attempts at metricized versions and expansions of
Baha'i sacred text, but there was no generally available way
of rendering the unchanged prose text in song. When some
slight steps toward this were taken in the 1930s (and subse­
quently), they were based on a full-fledged choral model that
had no immediate general utility for individual Baha'is or the
general community.
The balance between sung sacred text and devotional po­
etry in comm�nity devotional life that was so readily achieved
and sustained by the Eastern Baha'i community was not
reached by the Western community. To have achieved it in
the West would have required a conscious process of develop­
ment a:"n d not simply the continuance of established cultural
forms.
The Western community also had to deal with the ideologi­
cal concepts regarding rri'usical creation in their culture. In
the Eastern community, Baha'is came from a background
which assumed that anyone who had some degree of educa­
tion would be able to use the song forms appropriate to both
sacred text and devotional poetry. Not everyone could do it
well, of course, but to be able to do it in a functionally ade­
quate way was regarded as a normal accomplishment.
In the West, of course, music was a specialized profession
whether it was applied to religious or secular use. As in any
situation where professionalization has taken place, there
were very definite status differences between the efforts of an
Scripture and Culture 329

accredited specialist and those of someone not ' 'qualified' ' in
the field. Even in those Western churches that had a tradition
of sung prose sacred text, the developed use of it and its crea­
tion were firmly in the hands of specialists. In the Eastern Ba­
ha'f community, functionally adequate transfer of the cultural
tradition of sung sacred text could take place through both
nonspecialists and religious professionals. In the West, such
an automatic transfer could only have taken place through
such religious specialists as clergy, choirmasters, and trained
singers. Even if many such individuals had become Baha'fs,
there would still have been the problem that in the West the
practice itself was associated with the roles they had held in
specific churches; they did not simply practice at the most de­
veloped level something widespread in the culture. That the
Baha'f Faith provided no parallel roles for such individuals to
take up would have in itself been sufficient to severely limit
their transferring their specialist ability to Baha' f use. Kin­
ney's "chant" was favorably received as the performance of
an individual member of the Baha'f community, but there was
:db role or channel that provided for the adoption and diffusion
of it.
In the case of hymns, creation by those who were not reli­
gious or musical specialists was perfectly legitimate in
Western culture, and diffusion required merely the circula­
tion of copies. If a community so desired, it could use any
hymn without further ado. The Western churches had desig­
nated hymn singing a nonspecialist activity; anyone could do
it. Equally, anyone could write a hymn, and for that hymn to
be used and reused required simply that it meet with a
reasonable level of general approbation. This was both the
strength and the weakness of Baha'f hymnody. As the use of
hymns rested upon general approbation, all that was required
to limit that use was to limit the approbation. The use rested
upon a feeling; cast doubt on the validity of the feeling and
330 Part Three: The Practice

the use could be made suspect. That is exactly what seems to
have happened.
The events that transferred the national power center of the
Baha'i community from the Midwest to the Eastern Seaboard
of the United States around the middle of the second decade
of the century meant also a transfer of power from thos�
whose background was rooted in the more populist religious
tradition to those with ' 'higher' ' religious roots; a transfer up­
ward in the social scale; and a transfer to those imbued with
the ethos of professionalism and specialism. In this changed
context, suitability became a concern in a different way. Not
general, but specialist approbation was the proper standard;
and the specialist standards to be adopted were largely those
of appropriately "qualified" members of the non-Baha'i peer
groups of those Baha'is participating in the power structures
of the Baha'i community. Baha'i hymnody (like populist Chris­
tian hymnody) was declasse; if there was to be Baha' i devo­
tional music (a big if), it should be "suitable, " it should come
up to the proper standards of metropolitan "high" churches in
being choral and specialist; and until those standards could be
met, it must be done without. It was never actually said quite
so bluntly, but those individuals and institutions with influence
acted upon such a basis, and Baha'i hymnody disappeared.
The position of hymnody probably also suffered from the
growth of the anti-congregational attitude . Although Western
Baha'is never conflated hymn singing with prayer in such a
fashion as to bring it directly under the ban on congregational
prayer that was developing in the 1930s, its indubitably con­
gtegational nature probably made it suspect on those grounds
also. As the model of Baha'i worship became increasingly i:t�­
dividuated, it would have been difficult to find a legitimate
place for congregational hymn singing. In 1958, the Temple
Worship Committee discussed:
Scripture and Culture 331

Letter . . . dated May 8th, 1958, suggesting that the Sunday af­
ternoon devotions be made a "two-way communication system. "
This to b e done with "two o r three prayers of responsive reading
& a couple of hymns or psalms to be sung by the worshippers. ' '
Recorded-That the secretary write M r. . . . thanking him for
his suggestions & explaining why this can not be done. That we
don't make the rules but only carry out what 'Abdu'l-Baha has
said using actual quotes. 19

Unfortunately, the committee's reply has not come to light.
It would be fascinating to see how they explained the
illegitimacy of hymn singing based on " actual quotes" from
'Abdu'l-Baha, let alone in the face of the numerous approving
statements by Shoghi Effendi. Indeed, the committee had
been informed in 1955 of a letter the National Spiritual As­
sembly had received from Amelia Collins in which she re­
corded that Shoghi Effendi approved of the occasional use of
Christian hymns in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. 20 As to the re­
sponsive reading, Shoghi Effendi had commented on the ef­
fectiveness of this devotional practice to an American Baha'i
in 1927, 2 1 and there is a body of devotional texts in respon­
sory forms by Baha'u'llah. The committee did "make the
rules, ' ' even though they believed they were only following
instructions.
In 1962, as part of its "sharing of the reaction to the ser­
vices which sometimes comes to us, " the National Assembly
sent to the Temple Worship Committee some comments from
a letter a Chicago columnist had written to a Baha'i. The
columnist remarked:

I have been at the forty-minute service both on balmy Sundays
and in the dead cold of November and had the feeling that this
service, similar to the readipg service in the Christian Science
Church, would go on if the Temple was filled to the last seat or if
332 Part Three: The Practice

only three persons were sitting there. Speakers follow one an­
other in reading excerpts with a dispassionate attitude and after­
ward you hear the unseen choir and you get up and leave with the
feeling that nobody really cared whether you came or not. Only the
most accepted [exceptional?] persons . . . can embrace a phi­
losophy so appealing to the intellect, with no need for personal
recognition. . . . 22

The Assembly suggested to the committee that "in view of
the fact that others have commented on what appears to be
overemphasis on the letter rather than the spirit of the read­
ings, we hope that the workshops [for readers] will call for
swifter reading but most of all interest in the subject by the
readers themselves who should be affected by it, inspired by
it and happy about it. " 23
In the same year, the National Spiritual Assembly ap­
pointed a study committee to look atthe whole question of the
House of Worship. Their report was mainly concerned with
teaching, but they did have some comment on the devotions:

The worship service itself is somehow above the heads of most of
the audience . Americans apparently cannot sit and listen to some­
one read, particularly something so metaphorical as most sacred
writings are. Our cultural expectations insist that we be enter­
tained visually more than auditorily. Neither Baha'is nor the pub­
lic really support the service. This is a problem which will take a
great deal more study. 24

In early 1964, the Assembly submitted a letter about in­
creasing " the teaching efficiency of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar"
to the Universal House of Justice . This letter-together with
a list of questions that had been attached, the reply, and a list
of references on the subject-was later duplicated in booklet
form for the study of those concerned with the building. In
the letter the Assembly stated:
Scripture and Culture 333

An expanded use of the auditorium of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is
being examined as our first step, in the hope that, for the Baha'is
of the national community and locally, as well as for the public
which we hope to reach by the millions, we can develop a wider
framework of activity and bring a higher luster to our ' 'Taj Mahal
of the West." For example, many Baha'is of great loyalty find the
worship services lacking in diversity and interest, boring and
tedious. We have in fact developed a rigidity of method all un­
suspecting. New approaches which will bring diversity and at­
tractiveness are probably essential.
It is our vision and dream that the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of
the West will become justly famous for its unique and beautiful
vocal music, its stimulation to the jaded and materialistic, and its
evocativeness to the true seekers who find their way through its
portals into the religion of today and tomorrow.25

In one of the appended questions we might take note of
here, the Assembly asked whether there might be "occa­
sional use of a 'voice choir, ' where several readers in unison
harmoniously and rhythmically bring out the music of certain
passages? Since the singing chorus is possible, may we as­
sume that the voice choir will be acceptable, if done with pro­
fessional skill after intense rehearsal?' ' The House of 1ustice
replied that "the use of several readers in unison" was per­
missible, provided it avoided theatricality. 26
Although this 1964 correspondence does show a greater
degree of concern on the part of the Assembly, with the
response of Baha'fs to the use of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar than
previously, their main concern is still with the "seeker. " In
the case of the voice choir, it does reintroduce the topic of uni­
son devotional activity, but only in the context of professional
skill being the criterion of suitability, as with the "singing
chorus. "
I n 1968, a former member and Secretary of the Assembly
sent a long memo on ' 'Towards the Full Development of the
334 Part Three: The Practice

Baha'f House of Worship" to the National Assembly. In it he
remarked about devotions:

We must be alert to the need for the steady improvement of our
services, our attitudes and our creativity as Baha'is who are de­
veloping an authentically new society. Our worship and Holy Day
services should continuously be improved. Our music and litera­
ture should be upgraded and made always more unique and dis­
tinctive. We should not be the epitome of conservatism and
traditionalism. We should be willing to consider, develop and ex­
periment with new approaches.
Recommendation: That we keel-haul the Sunday afternoon wor­
ship services in an effort to make them intelligible, meaningful,
and beautiful, in order better to express the Baha'f idea of Pro1.
gressive Revelation, presenting, as the services do, the Bibles of
the world.
Recommendation: That we take strenuous steps, utilizing musi­
cians of the Faith and others, to develop music which will be
proper and fitting for the Baha'f House of Worship and for the
Faith, using such innovations as voice choirs, voice music such as
the Swingle Singers, more Baha'f compositions procured by com­
missioning and by invitation, etc.

The author of these remarks was prip.cipally concerned
about the use of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as "our greatest
teaching instrument, ' ' but he did also show sensitivity toward
the effect of the institution on Baha'fs. In particular, he was
concerned that for new Baha'fs visiting the building for the
first time it was too easy "to find us just old cool Calvinists
with a Baha'f veneer. ' ' The reference to the Swingle Singers
in the comments specifically on the development of music for
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar may be regarded as an epitome of the
general attitude toward the development of such a music.
The author supplied a footnote in which he expanded on the
subject:
Scripture and Culture 335

The Swingle Singers are well known as extraordinary innovators
in vocal music. Their human voice renditions of orchestral music
are phenomenal. Perhaps it is one of the Baha'f answers to the re­
quired use of the human voice only in our houses of worship.

That there had never been a grasp by Western Baha'Is of
the distinction between music and devotional song inherent in
the Baha'I writings (and their cultural background) has led to
the prohibition on the use of instruments in the Mashriqu'l­
Adhkar being seen as a handicap to the development of Baha'I
devotional music that must be overcome . It is seen as a limita­
tion in technical possibilities rather than a different orienta­
tion. Indeed, it is not unusual for settings of Baha'f texts by
Baha'is to include parts without meaningful text where the
use of vocables substitutes for instrumental accompaniment.
In the Kitab-i Aqdas, Baha'u'llah uses the terms for
Qur' anic recitation, tartil and tildwdt, in reference to deliver­
ing sacred text in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Tartil is the term
usually used by 'Abdu'l-Baha. The implication of these terms
is that the text is rendered in a slow and distinct manner with
absolute attention to accuracy of pronunciation. The point is
that the manner of delivery should enhance both the reader's
and the listener's comprehension of the text. Obviously, this
is not the aim of Western musical setting of textual material.
There the emphasis is on musical values and structure, and
the basis of those derives largely from historical instrumental
practice. 27
A common complaint of those attending devotions in the
Wilmette building over the last three decades has been that
the words of the singers are unintelligible. Indeed, in even
moderately elaborate music, which language they are singing
in is not always certain. I sat through one piece on a Sunday
afternoon unable to determine whether the choir was singing
the original German text or an English translation. This
336 Part Three: The Practice

problem is not simply the fault of the vocal production of the
singers, as the acoustics of the building have an inordinately
long reverberation time and succeeding notes often overlap.
T�is not only destroys what little chance there is of textual in­
telligibility in four-part settings, but can also make the choir
sound horrendously off-key.
I have attempted here to briefly point out the differences
between the devotional environment of the languages that are
used in Baha'f scripture and the concepts brought to the un­
derstanding of that scripture by Western Baha'fs . From this
discussion, and that of the preceding chapters, I think it is
evident that contemporary North American Baha'f devotional
practice as centered on the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 1Wilmette is
rooted much more firmly in the socio-cultural background of
the North American Baha'f community and the dynamics of
that community's history than it is in an elaborated theologi­
cal understanding of Baha'f scripture. Thus, insofar as West­
ern society and culture may be characterized as, in a general
sense, "Christian, " North American Baha' f devotional prac­
tice may also be characterized as "Christian, " and we might
expect to understand its development better by consider­
ing the development of Christian devotional practice in North
America.
In the decades that preceded the introduction of the Baha' f
Faith to North America, there was a n upsurge o f organized
Christian activity across the continent. A succinct account
of the implications of this for communal devotional practice
may be excerpted from White' s excellent study of Protestant
worship:

. . . it was ma$s evangelism of the revivalistic type which changed
America from a nation with a Christian minority to a nation in
which most of the population belongs to a Church . . . .
The keynote of revivalism was that of producing a conversion
Scripture and Culture 337

. . . . Beside such an earnest concern for producing converts, wor­
ship as an offering to God seemed to be only a side issue . . . . It is
not strange that in such a situation worship became a means to an
end-producing conversions-rather than an end in itself. Wor­
ship was utilized primarily for inducing conversion experiences
rather than the offering of a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
by God's people . . . .
The consequences are quite dear. One stresses all means avail­
able for bringing the individual to conversion . . . . The approach
to the worshipper is emotional, subjective, and individualistic . . . .
The congregation was increasingly a passive audience for whom
worship was something done for them and to them by experts.
The mood-setting beauties of the building and the music condi­
tioned the congr:egation for worship but they did less and less as
active participants . . . .
It was not long, of course, before churches were built specifi­
cally under the influence of the revival system. They are often
referred to, even today, as the "auditorium" and the term is ex­
pressive . . . they are largely used as a place where the congrega­
tion hears worship.28

As well as revivalism, the other main strand in the develop­
ment of Protestant worship in North America in the last cen­
tury was the adoption of the cathedral service, in which the
active roles were taken by the clergy and choir. In its original
context, the cathedral service had been both choral and con­
gregational, as on most occasions the active participants had
also formed the congregation in and of themselves as the mem­
bers of the religious community associated with a cathedral.
With the introduction of the cathedral model into ordinary
churches, "the choir often monopolize[ d] worship almost as
much as it would were no other congregation present. ' ' 29
The revival and cathedral service trends had rather differ­
ent class associations. According to Stevenson, as early as
1850, "the American denominations had already so drawn
338 Part Three: The Practice

their social lines that some ministered to the wealthy and elite
in big cities while others served the. common folk on farms
and frontiers. ' '30 A major symptom of this split was a prefer­
ence for the use of " elevated" music and a cathedral service
model in the elite churches. By the latter part of the nine­
teenth century, most churches with any social pretensions
made use of a paid " mixed quartette" of soloists as the mini­
mum necessary to elevate their services. The split was not
just between elite and populist churches, however. There was
virtually as much distinction between the devotional practice
of the high churches (in both a liturgical and social sense) of
the urban elite and those of the merely comfortable and salar­
ied middle class as there was between the churches of the
·middle class and those of the ' 'common folk. ' '31
It can be seen that both of these trends in North American
·Protestant worship, however dissimilar the views and social
positions of their supporters in other ways, tended toward
a passive experience in which the worshiper was, at best,
acted upon and, at worst, an irrelevant observer. The rna-
. jority of North American Baha' is from the turn to the middle
of the century came from a mainstream Protestant back­
ground.32 The distinction, as discussed previously, being that
the power structure of the community came from a compara­
tively "higher" church background after the mid-teens.
It seems likely that a vital factor in the development of Ba­
ha'i devotipnal practice for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette
was an underlying tension between the "revivalist" conver­
sion ideology that surrounded the use of the building and the
"high-church, " "cathedral" sensibility of those in control.
The unrestrained use of whatever would produce a conver­
sion, however emotional or "vulgar" (in the strict sense of
being associated with the common people), was not an accept­
able possibility to those concerned first and foremost with
suitably " elevated" music and devotional practices. The
Scripture and Culture 339

Western cult!lral dichotomy between popular and elite, with
its associated value connotations, entered fully into the con­
ceptualization of Baha' i devotions in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
As a result, there was a feeling of alienation from the practice
on the part of the ordinary person, Baha'i or non-Baha'f.
Woodward remarks, ' 'The twilight zone that lies between
living memory and written history is one of the favorite breed­
ing places of mythology. ' '33 The beginnings of the Mash­
riqu'l-Adhkar project in North America are only now passing
completely out of the realm · of living memory. But that the
American Baha'i community constantly brought in new mem­
bers and expanded its membership considerably from the
1930s on, and even more considerably from the 1960s to date,
has diluted the depths of its communal memory. Even Horace
Holley, who played a key role in the development of the com­
munity from the 1920s through the 1950s, was not a par­
ticipant in the North American Baha'i community before 1914
when the center of vigor and power was already shifting to
the East Coast, which resulted in a vitally important foreshor­
tening of that memory at the institutional level.
The constant infusion of acculturated North American Pro­
testants (whether or not they were active church members)
into the Baha'i community over the decades without any ac­
tive process of reacculturation to concepts of community
devotional life derived from the Baha'i writings led to the de­
velopment of a devotional practice for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
on a largely, if selective, Christian basis. What was seen as
Christian from an elite standpoint, the popular forms of devo­
tional expression, was rooted out. What derived from the elite
strata of Christian devotional expression, and was not ruled
out by the anti-congregational stance, was defined as "non­
sectarian' ' and constituted the standard by which any further
attempt at developing Baha' i devotional expression or forms
was to be judged.
340 Part Three: The Practice

It has been the experience of many Baha' is that the Baha'i
Faith in the West is perceived by cnon-Baha'is as a middle­
class movement. This seems also to be the impression of
those non-Baha'is who have written about it. In actuality,
there have been Baha'is of all social strata from the early days
of the Faith in the West. However, in the case of North
American Baha'i devotional practice, there has been · an evi­
dent adoption of an upper-middle.;.class ideological framework
for its development. Investigation may show there to have
been other areas in which unconscious ideological carryover
from the backgrounds of those Baha'is who have constituted
the power elite of the community has influenced develop­
ments in the socio-cultural expression of Baha'i adherence "in
the West. It is perhaps the recognition of such carry overs
that suggests to observers that the Baha'i Faith is particulqrly
cohesive with a middle-class identity.
In the case of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar devotions, it may be that
the adopted ideological framework that has structured re­
sponse to the Baha'i writings in their development is now out­
dated. We have seen that there has been no substantial
change in ideology or practice since 1953 . However, it would
seem unlikely that one could substantiate a case that there
has been no change in North American middle- to upper­
middle-class cultural expectations and preferences since
1953, let alone since the 1930s, when the basis of the current
practice was crystalizing. Indeed, I have found dissatisfaction
with the use of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to be as common
among evidently middle-class Baha'is as among Baha'is of
other social backgrounds.
The problem that has been created is that what are now
dated North American socio-cultural values have been concep­
tualized as "Baha' f" values legitimated by Baha'f scriptural
authority. To change the practice, whether on the basis of di­
rect derivation from Baha'f writings or of the substitution of a
Scripture and Culture 341

more up-to-date set of North American socio-cultural values,
there has first to be a recognition of the primacy of socio-his­
torical rather than scriptural considerations behind the estab­
lishment of the current practice. Whether such a recognition
will occur, either on the part of the institutional structure of
the Faith or in the consciousness of the general membership
of the Baha'i community, remains to be seen. Whatever the
case may be, the development of Baha' i devotional practice
for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Wilmette will continue to be a
fascinating contact node for the acculturation of the Baha'i
Faith to the West and of Westerners to the Baha'i Faith.
MUSICAL EXAMPLES
"Sobanhaka ya Hu"

Original text and tune:

So · ban • ha ka ya Hu, So ban • ha • ka ya Hu. Ya man Ho - va Hu,

Ya man haz A - ha · don El • la Hu.

Original translation :

Glory b e unto Thee, 0 Thou, 0 He !
0 thou who art He.
0 Thou who art Incomparable, 0 He!

Transliteration in the currently used system:

Subl:J.3.naka ya hu.
Ya man huva hu,
Ya man laysa, al:Jadun illa-hu.

EXAMPLE ONE
Original in the archives of the Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Chicago.
C'H A N T
I I b t b •
I
- · JwL ..r .
� y , :l •• :::101 1,.;:;,� :�. .. ..!lttiL _)
.... 1 - - 1 _)
I..: V - I ... -
-- .
�
- · _)
.,
• .. .

H•l min mu-fi!-nJ
"

% ghlr AI- Jolt f
1 1 I ,
·� · � � ·:t- :t f',;.• J . 0 • .. . 0. •
]
I � • ·J J;;;.;� w.-
/ ·- I ,
• .J • - ...-..L ;;J . .. . .., I
,
. .,
I I
II I
-

I _]
� ""'

I
'II
� I " I ""' l j
' ..,.
� _l
.-. ..... ..al • _l
'""
- -
!" It [ ( L.:JI •
� A -'iii . _]
.. M
-
• _I,L ... .... _.... _]
' ..._... .... -

H"'l 5Uh-holf Rl IIIJ, - hu - Ill- lo h I Ku/.
,.,
� • • • �• rJ . • • � ::l� .
_]
•. ._ • _j
� .... ..... ,
- -
....
-
_... _I. • � _J
Jil l""'
--
r r .J
1.1 I<" � ' t I ..

,.. 1 l' h I _h
IL l _]
, ... .-./. - --J .� � _]
1 1"' 1' .,..., , , . _. "": ... • :;;;;; ·- • ...... _o • .J _..
\,. � r .-, - • _.,..., _. _a � .J
., 'i

un 'a -
batl- Ia - ti J W4 It�/-
,. ,
�� .:!:: :l!: •
�J v I � • II_
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•· rr .� .... .. • I I: .:J .. .:1 ]
/ . ..
-
I .......
-
ioo.. _j
.. ..ll
-
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� l-J

" t � I II,.. ""' I � ..1
• I il ...L ll
� ... ""' J � -· ..1. • II
,... ḥ IC. ,
-
• • � L • ... ...... _!. ... ..Jtl.l
If L .... ., -
_. ... � · :.1.1
.. .. - - -

un ba _ ,·, - ra - h / ha - 'a m · un . (9)
� • • • � • • t"") •
,..,. ..u
,. ., . - ;L •
.., .. .l.. - L
- -
IL •..U
Jl r-- ..u
, I' ....

EXAMPLE TWO
The Remover of Difficulties (a prayer of the Bah).
The Greatest Name
Words & Music
by L R WAI T E
J f. jj I ' }

tJ .. •• • • • ..
w� ..

j
joy • ful hearts we do pro - claim, The
Great Name that is a shin • i g lif:ht To
I J J I .h J _. {IL

l

tJ jj I

;;•
tJ I .. . ..
J� � la p r g : jl
�
p ow - er of the at- t me; T • d y r v - er •
lead us on - ward through the-night; D i - spel - ling dark - ness
(II. - I .J. I �
I r I I r I .

I tJ .ii I

"' tr• • ft� ......._ .., ... '1!1""--"f!t
more the same :
AL - LAH·HO An - - UA .
by i t� might:

.. • .--.. til- .. .. n I
I
-
I v I I
r .......__.,
3 6
Let nations rise from shore to shore, Great Name we love mo re every day,
And sing it over o � r and o� r; To say it over i s to pray,
Then wars shall ceasfit forevermore : And angels listen and obey:
ALL AHO A BUAI ALLAHO ABBA!
" 1
Great Name of joy; of peace,and rest; Its rhythm swings from pole .t o pole;
That fills with harmony each breast; Its music soon shall fill each soul;
It� glory shines from east t o west : And heavens scroll shall backward roll:
AL�AHO A B HA ! , ALLAHO A B HAI
Repeat it,and it reaches far; AL L AHO ABH.AI Let it ring
From world .to world and star to star; Up to the throne of Go d,our King ;
Naught can. its glorious radiance mar: Let men and angels joyous sing :
ALLAHO ABBA! ALLAHO A BHA!

EXAMPLE THREE
Alleluia Song .
Words & Music by L . R . WAI TE.
ere II

to my fold. Glftd&l't� Wi:! Who \mowuur�h..-jda�t·•L
or His word. Ht� "ill if&· tb�:�J• ev · 'ry natio'l.

paths or my- ster. y .
tl<:ho�:�s loud - ly ring. Al • ll:l - lu • ia! AI · ll:l - lu - ia! Al · le · l u - j ,d
i�:� in h�:�av'n a-bovt�.

EXAMPLE FOUR
·S oftly His Voice is Calling.
Espressi:vo . Words & :\fusie by L R WAITE..
.I fJ

.., �tTl •
Soft - ly His voice is call - ing J:w call - ing to you and·
'
Soft - ly His voice is call - ing now call - ing to ev - ry

... "' · .. ,. .,. I!. . . . ... .. . ..

' r v v l v

J t, I .

.., -.-.
�
me Hark to those tones so sweet and low
heart Come lit - tie chil - dren un - to me

.;,::-.,.-- .,. b. .,. ./1- ...,. k. . ..

'

) fJ

itr- ........__. - it �" •
0 - ver !
t e dis - t nt
'
f sea Chil - dren of mine a -
and from me ne· r de - part Oh be ye ten - der

� .. • .. .. .. - � - .. .. ..
:

' ,.....__... , "' v , I f

..) n I L I I

-.1 I ,. 'I' ""-"'
bide in love e - ver he · seems to say
kind and true e - ver he seems · to

. .. . ... � .. .,. IJ. .,...:-..._
.

" ,. ,. r I ,..

j fJ
l--filll
-.1 ., .. .. .. .,
y I "'--1
A b - dul Ba- h a we turn to thee Thou art the per-fect way.
Ab - dul B a- h a we turn to thee Thou art the per-fect way.

j) ), j) .J il J ,t, .J. b . - • ..,. .. �

' I r

EXAMPLE FIVE
His gloriou� Sun has Risen .
Words & �lusic
b y.. L . R
· r . WAITE. .
fJ � I

t) • ...

His g l o • rious Sun baa ris en , to set for us no
Go tell the joy · OUB tid . ings : His K i n g . dom now hath
He !came and dwellt a. lmong us , with all lib won- drou�>

.. ... .,. .,. .,. - .. ... .... ... .. fL

' I I r I I I I f

fJ I I . l

4tJ I .,

more The ech 0 of His prais - !low· r i n g·s l't·om Shore to

comel 'Vhtore i n a l l pain and nor row, anJ ev ' r•y rluubt liU('
'
pow rs ; Hi�:� Lovto cmbraoed all ua. tun;� tht! lJil'd l:! , t htl tl't!l:lS, t he

.. .. . .. .,. ... .,. .. .,. .,. ... .fL. fL
· =-�
I r I

ll I I I I I I

t) I • • 4
.. . . .. I
shore; He came to han · ish dark· ness, to show t he per - feet
l>O - ev
' ,,nd er
cumb ; Es - tabl ish d here on earth it is , '' who
'
flow rs;Kins of a Roy - al King -dom , we praist� Thy Ho ly

fl.• .. .. .. .. .,. .. tt• t!t tt f!;.

' . T r ·r ' T r

EXAMPLE SIX
Great Day of God.
Words & Music by R. WAITE.
ec-o·
L.
J " II. I I

eJ l ... .. I I I I I
G hat day of God,long �ooked for, Thy dawn we do pro -
Great day of Might and Pow - er, Of Know-ledgeand of
I I I • I& .fll. • .. J. .. f! I&

. I

Light, No

fa I I I I I I I ,...---...

tJ I I I I ,_, l
day of re - sur - rec - tion, Of ' - 1r - ty and
un love, Soon
Day, whenGod,the Fa - ther, Is known �r all the earth, And

.. r. • .. .. . . -= � c-t.. ..
I I

bright in all its splen -dor Thy Sun ahall ahine a -
to His whole ere - a - tion Hath a new

Great Day of th e un,·eiling Great D ay of God,All glorious;
Of Truth� D e ep .mysteries, Great Day of Peace,so blest;
When every hidden secret The thought of Thee b ri.Dgs gladness,
Of earth and sky and seas, And dilatee every breast.
ln all their wondrous beaut�; Great Day of one religion,
To man shall b e revealed; When all are understood;
Nor can an act or motive One faith ill Life Eternal,
By man now be concealed. One God, one Brotherhood.

EXAMPLE SEVEN
Awake Ye Nations All.
Words &. MW!ie
by L. R . WAI TE.

A-wake ye n a - tious all Let cru- e l war now cease,Thill is the day for
He calls i " mighty tones A:� wake and hearHis voice , He b ids us all as
A-wake ye n a - tibna all A- wake and. see the light,\Vhich shineth o'el' the

.u • ui • ty The day for love and peace, Spend no more time i n strife But

brothers oneWitb heartsth&tdo re - joice , To gath-er round His bo&l'd And
moun,tain t9ps Dis- pell - intr dis-cords ni�rht , A - wake and sing a - loud Your

hear that cla • rion call;\Vhi<·h eometb forth from God a· bove The fa-ther o t' us

of the feast par - t ake,Drink deeply o f the \l.ine of LoveThe bread of Peace now
prais-es now in- crease,Tbe kno9.·ledg'8 of our God as One Brings u - ni - ver-sal

all , Which com-eth forth from God a. - bove the fa. · ther of us all .
break, Drink deep ·ly of the \l.in e of Love The brea.d of Pea.ee now br�:�a.k.

Peace, The knowledge of wr God a..s One Brings u - ni • v�:�r • sal Peace .

EXAMPLE EIGHT
The Day of Certainty.
Words & Music
by L . R . WAITE.
J 11 Joj I I I I I I

tJ - ... .. ..
le - joice, re -joice b e - l i e - vers,The night of doubt is
Re - j oice, re -joice b e - l i e - vers,As chil- dren of the
Re - joice, re -jo ice b e - lie - vers,For ;Knowledge,Faith and
Re - joice, re -joice be - l ie - vers,With ban - ners white u n -
I . .(1. ,. p.. fl. ,_

..... I I
I I I

11 Joj I l I

tJ u.,__.,• ..
j ft • • .. .. ..
I
oer The Sun of t ru t h has ri - s - en It"
King Give forth His Pro - c l am a - tion Let
'
Love Falls oer God� whole ere - a - tion Like
furled Where - on sweet Peace is writ - ten . Yea
,...-..
. • • •

' I r I

.J t1 �

tJ ... .. •
;11 �...._,
: .r , r P ' r
rays reach ev - ry shore. Doubts sha - dows now with
ev - ry na - tion s ing. Doubts sha - dows now with
sweet dews from a - bove. Doubts sha - dows now with
p eace to all the world. Doubts sha - dows now with
• - I I " I I

I I r I I .......,

I t1 � l I I I I I

tJ .. - .. -
night must flee, This
J
tS the day of C E R-TAIN-TY.
night must flee This is the day of C F: R -TAlN -TY.
night must flee This is the day of C E R·TAI!'f · TY.
night must flee This is the day of C ER -TAI� · TV.

• .. • .. fA ,. n.
I I
I r \:1

EXAMPLE NINE
Tell the Wondrous Story
Words & Music by L R WAITE
II .. .

tJ .. .. ... .. ... .
Tell the won - drous sto - ry, Tell it near and far
He has come a s pro - mised He the Prince of Peace
.. . • • ... ... . • .. .. .. ...

I I I I I

Tell it e - ver

(j I I I - I. � I
I

iJ ,... ....._., ...

tell it That all men may Know Now has come Gods King o m J
glo - ry Dark ness now must flee Fa - ther of all na-tions
� .,.. f& .,.. .fl. .fl. .p.#_ ... ... .. ..

I I I ' I T

J !J I I I I i I I

iJ -
.......,.

far or the lov - ing Fa - ther Of - BA H.A
'
UL
,
�
'If/(""".,. .. .. . .. � .... .. . .....-

I I I I I I I I I I I

EXAMPLE TEN
At Eventide.
LOUISE R. WAITE.

e • ven - t ide, when hearts areworn ana weary,

At eventide when darkness fall s At eventide when life s short day
around u s is ended
Earth's sorrows d im and burdens And deaths glad t irl ings fa ll upon
fall away our ear
As we w i t h dear ones, meet in As into realms of b l i ss and joy
sweet communion and rapt u re
Lovf>s holy presence doth all Thy h a n d wi l l g u i d e us. Thou
fea r a llay w i l t sti l l be near
Abdul Baha Abd u l B ah a
We t u rn our hea r ts to Thee We t u rn our hea r t s t o Thee
F'or Thou a r t lOl-e devine Fot Thou a r t love divine
Eternally. Etern a l ly.

EXAMPLE ELEVEN
Benediction
"f:ing this melody in all gatherings of Love and
Harmony of the beloved of Goo:' LOUISE R. W:A.ITE.
p
Ahdul-Ba/w, Abbas. (Skahna!II)

May God$ love now hov. er outrstrechOO. Vling'!l

a tempo

-

peace that flows a. - rolind us To each h�:�art �>weet comfort hrit1g'l'l

I
t'tl · C'dve His

in Love a • hid· ing In tht! realms of

EXAMPLE TWELVE
INTERNATIONAL A N T H E M
"Let n o t a m an glory i n this, that h e loves his country;
l et h i m rat her g l ory in this, t ha t he loves his kind!'
BABA V' LLAB

SAFFA K I NNEY

r �
east and Bro. t h1-rs <'Omt' forth ! From out

� J ��

ye are i n fact Be Bro.thers i n d e t- d s .

; l b.J

2. 4.
O n e l ovi n g Father, .Lord of t h i s e a r t h . E a r t h's s u rgi n g a rm i e s fi ght i n t h r "fi e l d.

�
B re a t h ed forth the breath of l i fe : Arm\' of H eave n _
Gttve u s our b i r t h . 'Ti s •l ov 's sword we wi11l d !
H i " c a l l goes o u t , C o m e j o i n our rank s .
H i s m an dat e's d e c reed ! Com e , s o w H e :tn· n ly Hn·d .
Why w i l l ye l i s t e n n o t B ro t h e r s )'f' are i n fa c t
O h , y e o f o n e st-e d ! B e Bro t h e rs ind,. ., d !

3 .. .

Th e s e laws are m a n m ad e , t h e s e ye obry: G o d of our fat h e r s . Gocl of t o d ay
E s 11e n c e of c ru el ty_ Grant u s t h e pow'r to S t' t' ­

0 do n o t d e l ay. The r i g h t way to p ray!

�·b i l e 't i s d ay
Vi'ri t e on ,·our forel! r a d s ­ Then will our s o n g
Wri t e B e well u n d e rs t o od :
Ye, wh o a r e s o n s of Go d O n e common Fat h e r, G o d !
Wri t e "Bro t h e rs alway." A n d on E Brotherh ood .

EXAMPLE THIRTEEN
Respectfully Dedicated to t h e President of t h e United States,
His lh:oellenoy'WIJOdrowWilson

NAT I ON A L A N T HE M
Words and Musi c
Composed March-AprilJ 1917
by SAFF A KIN:NEY

2. 4.
As they have bled and died , L ive t o maintain the
M ay we with lofty pride, Jus t i c e in place of
D o all they dared t o do, So, t h a t a s brothers,
And move b e s i d e . Stand hand i n hand.
They gave u s l i b e rty; And if the n e e d b e real,
Forth flung Demo c racy; Face death with ardent zeal,
Shall we not with them stand Die fo r the great Ideal ,
What e'er betide? For Freedom's land!

8. 1) .

T h i s fair Un i t e d S t a t e s Lord o f t h e l an d and sea,
From E ast t o Golden Gates, Father o f l i b e rty,
From Gulf to Northernland May this n a t i on's path
Now c almly wai t s : Wi t h shine.
.Waits for a noble band o u r trust,
Drawn forth from every land, Do Thou our cause make just,
Who'll live or die for t h e e God of the nat i o n s , make
Beloved land ! This n a t i o n Thi n e !

Copyright 1 9 1 7 b y ltrlward B.lliru>tf

EXAMPLE FOURTEEN
'
THO '\VE HAVE WA NDER' D FAR

SAFFA KINNEY

2 3
A l l d own t h e a gt-s pa R t H ow in t h i s glad n e w d ay,

Great m e s se n ge r s han� come ­ Tht:' Vo i c e rin gs out aga i n ,
How m i ghty wa!> t h e t rumpet call T h e C e n t re o f G o d 's C o v e n a n t
To wa rn m e n . I s t e a c h i ng,
To d raw m e n . B e s e e ch i n g ,

T o c a l l G o d 's c h o s e n p e o p l e h o m e . A n d mak i n g all t h e Pathway p l a i n .

0 s a d and l o n ely h e a r t ,
Ca n'st t h o u n o t h ear t he call?
Awake e'er t h ou h a s t gone thy 'Wil)·,
To h e ar H i m ,
T o heed H i m ,
To Jo"e H i m who would save us a l l .

EXAMPLE FIFTEEN
NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1 . Yinger, The Scientific Study of Religion, p. 10.
2. Jones, "Paradigm Shifts, " pp. 72-73.
3. Yinger, The Scientific Study of Religion, p. 10.
4 . Turner, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors, pp. 13-14.
5. Cohen, "Symbolic Action, " pp. 120- 1 2 1 .
6. This passage is not intended as a full discussion of the vari­
ous meanings of the term mashriqu 'l-adhkdr to be found in the
Baha' f scriptures, which is beyond the scope of this study. But the
reader should be alert to the fact that only one such meaning is
treated in this book. For references to the various ways the term is
used, see: Tablets of A bdul-Baha (Chicago: Bahai Publishing Soci­
ety, 1909-16), especially volume one; and three recent compilations
by the Universal House of Justice titled "Baha'f Meetings/The
Nineteen-Day Feast, " "Baha'f Writings on Music , " and "The Im­
portance of Prayer, Meditation, and the Devotional Attitude. "
7 . National Spiritual Assembly, The Baha'i Temple, p. 15.
8. Hogden, Anthropology, History, and Cultural Change, p. 19.
9. The term "papers" always denotes materials that belonged
to an individual, and "records" materials associated with an ad­
ministrative or other institutional body.
10. Note that this example indicates a different source from
(Music Committee: NSA to Committee, 18 February 1931), which
would indicate the Committee's records and not a sub-series of the
National Assembly's records.

362 Notes to pages 6-13

PART ONE: The Devotional Heritage

Chapter 1 : From the East
1 . Gifford, "The Prehistory of Homo Sapiens, " p. 83 .
2. I:Iaydar-'Alf, Stories from the Delight of Hearts, p. 4 .
3 . Ibid. , p. 43.
4. Remey, Observations, p. 74.
5. Browne, Materia{s for Study, p. 352 .
6. See Browne, "The Babis of Persia," A Traveller's Narratt've,
Materials for Study; Cheyne, The Reconciliation of Races; Curzon,
Persia and the Persian Question; Gobineau, Les Religions; and Young­
husband, The Gleam.
7. Browne, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 309.
8. Browne, Materials for Study, p. 347.
9. Browne, A Traveller's Narrative, pp. 3 14-315.
1 0. Browne, Materials for Study, pp. 343-347.
1 1 . Browne, "The Babis of Persia, " p. 934.
12. Ibid. , 935-936.
13. Root, Tahirih.
14. Ibid . , 86-87.
15. Ibid. , 93-94.
16. Ibid. , 94.
17. For a recent discussion of Tahirih's poetry, see Sandler,
' 'The Poetic Artistry of Qurratu'l-Ayn. ' '
1 8 . Browne, "The Babis o f Persia, " 981 .
1 9 . See Kazemzadeh, "Varqa and Rtihu'llah."
20. Balyuzi, The Bdb, p. 235.
2 1 . Recordings of poems by Tahirih, Na'im, and 'Andalfb in the
original have recently been made available to the Western Baha'i
community on Davis, In Memory of the Martyrs. Such recordings
have long been available to and distributed among Persian-speaking
Baha'is.
22. Momen, "Early Relations, " p. 74.
23. Goodall Papers: Menshadi to Unidentified, n.d.
24. Remey, Observations, pp. 85-86.
25. Ibid. , pp. 100- 1 0 1 .
26. Moody, News Itemscof 1 91 4-1915, p. 3 .
Notes to pages 14-24 363

27. This account is based primarily on Lee , "The Rise of the Ba-
ha'i Community, " except as otherwise cited.
28. Chicago Records.
29. The Bahai Bulletin, vol. I, no. 6, pp. 6-8.
30. Remey, Observations.
3 1 . Remey, Mashrak-El-Azkar.
32. Dreyfus, ' 'Une Institution Behaie, ' ' p. 526.
33. Remey, Observations, p. 6 1 .
34. This book was written either by the cantor mentioned above
or by his uncle, who had the same name and was a well-known
Baha'i teacher. It was translated into English in 192 1 by Edith
Sanderson.
35. Alkany [Qa'inf], Lessons, p. 3 1 .
3 6 . Ibid. , p. 32.
37. Ibid . , p. 40 .
38. See, for example, Chapter two of this book.
39. This figure derives from a list of names in National Spiritual
Assembly, The Bahd '£ Centenary, pp. 141-142. I have omitted the
names of one non-Baha'i, one non-North American, and five chil­
dren from the count. Of these 101 people, 70 were women and 3 1
were men.
40. Cooper Papers: Anonymous pilgrim notes.
4 1 . Maxwell, An Early Pilgrimage, p. 37.
42. Lucas, A Brief Account, pp. 14-15.
43. Ibid . , pp. 10, 16, 31.
44. Chicago Records: Allen to Chicago community, 28 May 1907.
45. Waite Papers: Diary, 1909.
46. Sometimes translations were made in the Holy Land or
Egypt, where some early translation was made into French.
4 7. Chase Papers: Chase to Bryant, 17 May 1906.
48. Ibid. : Chase to Bryant, 24 May 1906.
49. Cooper Papers.
50. Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Chicago.
5 1 . On Law\1-i-Naqus, see Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahd'­
u 'ltah, pp. 1 8ff.
52. See Musical Example One for this chant.
53. See Musical Example One.
364 Notes to pages 24-41

54. Windust Papers.
55. Chase Papers: P. Hannen to five Chicago women, March
1910.
56. Ibid. : Moody to Russell, 27 November 1909.
57. Robarts Papers: Jones to Robarts, 6 February 1920 .
5 8. Ibid. , Harrison to Robarts, 1 2 August 1922 .
59. Convention Transcript, 1929, p. 333.
60. Kinney's personal papers are currently not available for re­
search, being in the possession of his son and others, and their exact
nature is undetermined . It is possible that materials related to his
chants may be among them.
61. Chapter Seven.

Chapter 2: Early Devotions and the Music of Louise Waite
1. Chicago Records: Minutes, 28 May 190 1 .
2 . Chase Papers: Assad'Ullah t o "Brothers and Sisters in
Spirit, " 16 January 1902.
3. Chicago Records: House to 'Abdu'l-Baha, 5 July 1902 .
4. Ibid. : Minutes, 17 November, 24 November, 1 December
190 1 .
5 . Ibid.: Minutes, 8 December 190 1 .
6. Chase Papers: Chase t o Isabella Brittingham, 14 September
1902 .
7. Chicago Records: Minutes, 17 January, 28 February 1903 .
8. Ibid. : House to 'Abdu'l-Baha, October 1904.
9. Ibid . : Minutes, 20 April, 4 May 1907.
10. Ibid. : Minutes, 11 January 1908.
1 1 . Ibid . : Schmidt to House, 8 August 1908.
12. Ibid. : House to New York Board of Counsel, 19 February
1909.
13. Ibid. : Minutes, 19 October 1909 .
14. Ibid. : Waite to House, 6 December 1909.
15. See Chapter Seven.
16. The following account of the life of Waite is based on
materials in the Chicago Records, National Spiritual Assembly
Records, Parsons Papers, Robarts Papers, Waite Papers, and Win­
dust Papers.
Notes to pages 42-65 365

17. See Chapter Seven.
18. Cowan Papers.
19. Windust Papers: Waite to Windust, 16 June, 12 July, 29 Au-
gust 1927.
20. Ibid . : Waite to Windust, 16 June 1927.
2 1 . Mary Lesch Papers: Publishing Society Account Book.
22. Waite Papers.
23. Chase Papers: Chase to Herrigel, 2 March 1911.
24. Ibid. : Chase to Waite, July 191 1 .
2 5 . Parsons Papers: Waite t o Haney, 5 February 1915.
26. Knobloch Family Papers: Waite to Hannen, 18 April 1916 .
. 27. We may also note that the amounts paid into the Temple
Fund from hymn book sales in 1910 and 1911 are divisible by 10 but
not by 20, suggesting that the price was also 1 0¢ . This might reflect
the lower production cost of a second edition that was mainly
printed from plates that had already been paid for, a reduced price
to clear the first edition� or a combination of both.
28. Unity, 22 September 1910, pp. 5 1-52.
29. True Papers: Compilation of Extracts About Music.
30. Chase Papers.
3 1 . Waite, Bahai Hymns and Poems, p. 27.
32. Ibid. : pp. 30-31.
33. Chase Papers.
34. Brewer, Sacred Songs and Hymns, p. 8 .
3 5 . Cooper Papers: Chase's copy o f Brewer's Edition of Sacred
Songs and Hymns with his handwritten emendations.
36. Waite Papers: Waite to Brittingham, 5 April 1909.
37. Ammer, Unsung, p. 96.

Chapter 3: Baha'i Hymnody in Community Life
1 . Chase Papers: Funeral Exercises, Mrs. Goodale, 15 Febru-
ary 1905.
2. Cooper Papers.
3. Chase Papers.
4. Spokane Minute Book, 1907-1910.
5. Ibid.
6. Kenosha Records: Minutes, 28 July . 1908.
366 Notes to pages 65- 74

7. Portland Minute Book, 1906-1911 .
8 . "History o f the Cause o f God i n Honolulu, " c. 1912.
9 . Star of the West.
10. See Chapter Four and Chapter Seven.
1 1 . Jersey City Minute Book, 1908-1942 .
12. Wagner, The Bahd 'z Hymns and Music, p. 2: Sohrab to
Waite, 4 February 1910.
13. Baltimore Minute Book.
14. Waite Papers: Waite to Thompson, 17 March 1910.
15. Mary Lesch Papers: "Rough Estimate of Books on Hand,
May 16, 1923 . "
1 6 . Robarts Papers: Yahn to Robarts, 17 May 1920.
17. Ibid. : Cadwallader to Robarts, n.d.
18. Ibid.: Mae Nelson to Robarts, 26 March 1921 .
1 9 . Ibid. : Mae Nelson t o Robarts, 30 November 192 1 ; 29 March
1922 .
20. Ibid. : Hazel Tomlinson to Robarts, 10 January 192 2 .
2 1 . Ibid . : Hazel Tomlinson to Robarts, 23 March 1922.
22. Ibid. : Hazel Tomlinson to Robarts, c. 1923 .
23. Ibid. : Collins to Robarts, 15 December 192 2 ; c. early January
1923.
24. World Fellowship, vol. I, nos. 9/10, August 1924, p. 3.
25. Robarts Papers: "Report of the Bahai Children's Festival at
Esslingen, March 27, 192 1 . "
2 6 . Bahd'z News, vol. 48, February 1931, p p . 6-7.
27. Convention Transcript, 1926, p. 223.
28. Chicago Records: Benah to Chicago, translated by Ahmad
Esphahani (Sohrab), 30 January 1907.
29. Cooper Papers: Moody to Cooper, 7 June 1916.
30. Wagner, The Bahd'z Hymns and Music, p. 2 : excerpt from
Root to Waite, 1920.
31. Bahd 'z News, vol. 126, June 1939, p. 8, quoted from Bahd 'z
Newsletter of the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma,
March 1939. After a lecture-recital of Waite's work in Wilmette in
1 985, a Baha'i who had grown up in the Indian community during
the 1940s and 1950s told me that he had known "Softly His Voice Is
Calling" since childhood but he had had no idea that it was written
by an American until that evening.
Notes to pages 74-86 367

32. Robarts Papers: extract from Isabel Fraser to Juliet Thomp­
son, 19 September 1913.
33. Wagner, The Baha'i Hymns and Music, p. 2: Sohrab to
Waite, July 1915.
34. Ibid. , p. 1 : excerpts from E . C. Getsinger to a believer in
Chicago, n.d.
35. Waite Papers: Lua Getsinger to Waite, 26 September 1915.
'
36. Waite Papers: Rouhani to Waite, 14 June 1925.
37. Lunt Papers: copy of Fazel to Waite, 12 August 1920.
38. Waite Papers: Blomfield to Waite, 9 June 1913.
39. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Temple .Committee:
Wilkins to Holley, 27 Apri1 1926.
40. Waite Papers: Ransom Kehler to Waite, 24 September 193 1 .
4 1 . Ibid. : Finch t o Waite, 16 August 1920.
42. Ibid. : Alexander to Waite, 27 October 1920.
43. Finch Papers: Mashida to Finch, 7 October 192 1 .
44. Waite Papers: Brittingham to Waite, 1 0 June 1909.
45. Ibid. : MacNutt to Waite, 8 May 1909.
46. Wagner, The Baha 'i Hymns and Music, p. 5: Mears to Star of
the West, n.d.
4 7. Windust Papers: copy to Sitkin to Waite, forwarded to Win-
dust, 12 September 1913.
48. Star of the West, vol. XIV, no. 9 , December 1923, p. 278.
49. Waite Papers: Rogers to Waite, 23 August 1929.
50. Windust Papers: Waite to Windust, 25 February 1930.
51. Baha'i World, vol. XIV, pp. 341-342; Baha'f Historical
Record Cards.
52. Baha'i World, vol. IX, pp. 943-944.
53. Goodall Papers: Gillen to Goodall, n.d.
54. Tablets, trans: Hannen to Green, 8 February 1914.
55. Racine Records.
56. Chicago Records: Minutes, 15 July 1905.
57. Racine Records: Olsen to Nelson, 15 December 1907.
58. Star of the West, vol. II, no. 4, pp. 4-5 .
59. Ibid. , vol. III, no. 4, p. 3 .
6 0 . Lesch and Lundberg Papers.
6 1 . Parsons Papers.
62. Star of the West, vol. III, no. 5, p. 2.
368 Notes to pages 88-106

63. Fox, English Hymns, p. 17.
64. Chase Papers: Chase to Hoagg, 13 November 1907.

Chapter 4: Opposition to the Use of Hymns
1 . Chase Papers: C. E. Sprague to Chase, 30 April 1904.
2. Ibid. : Waite to Officers of Woman's Assembly and House of
Spirituality, n.d. (early 1905).
3. Chicago Records: Minutes, 18 February 1905.
4. Wagner, The Baha'i Hymns and Music, pp. 2-3.
5 . Waite Papers: Waite to Coles, 8 June 1924.
6. Win dust Papers: Waite, "My visits with, and instructions
from Abdul Baha while He was in Chicago from April 30th to May
6th, 1912 . "
7. Waite Papers: Waite t o Coles, 8 June 1924.
8. Parsons Papers: Waite to Parsons, 25 May 1915.
9. Bahai Temple Unity Records: Minutes, 17 August 1916.
10. Knobloch Family Papers: Waite to "Bahai brother" (Han­
nen?), 10 June 1916.
11. Lunt Papers: Root to Bahai Temple Unity Board, 17 July
192 1 .
12. Robarts Papers: Waite to Robarts, 10 July 192 1 .
1 3 . Windust Papers: MacNutt t o True, 9 December 1920.
14. Ibid . : MacNutt to Scheffler, 14 January 192 1 .
1 5 . Convention Transcript, 1929, pp. 329.:..3 30.
16. Ibid. , pp. 331-332.
17. Ibid. , pp. 332-333.
18. Scheffler Papers: Scheffler to Florence Morton, 3 July 1926.
19. National Spiritual Assembly Records: Scheffler to Holley, 12
July 1926.
20. Chicago Baha 'i News, January 1936, 'p. 7.
21. Los Angeles Archives: Waite to Spiritual Assembly, 28 Oc-
tober 1935.
22. Ibid. : Assembly to Waite, 13 November 1935.
23. Baha 'i News, Los Angeles, December 1935, p. 38.
24. National Spiritual Assembly Records: San" Francisco Assem­
bly to National Assembly, 17 January l 938. ;
Notes to pages 1 06-1 1 6 369

25. Ibid . : National Assembly to San Francisco Assembly, 28
January 1938.
26. Schopflocher, Sunburst, pp. 13, 16-17.
27. Ibid.
28. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Publishing Commit­
tee: National Assembly to Committee, 25 February 1936.
29. Ibid. : National Assembly to Committee, 15 Janua,ry 1937; 12
November 1937; 3 January 1938; 1 1 ·March 1 938; Committee to Na­
tional Assembly, 28 December 1936; 7 December 1937.
30. National Spiritual Assembly Records , Reviewing Commit­
tee: Committee to National Assembly, 17 July 1935.
31. Ibid. : National Assembly to Committee, 8 August 1935.
32. National Spiritual Assembly Records: National Assembly to
Shoghi Effendi, 6 January 1938.
33. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to National Assembly, 30
January 1938.
34. Postscript to letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Waite, 22
December 1930.
35. Postscript to letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Waite, 22
July 193 1 .
3 6 . Letter o n behalf o f Shoghi Effendi t o Waite, 5 January 1932.
37. Baha'i News, vol. 59, February 1932, p. 6.
38. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Waite, 15 November
1932.
39. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Waite, 17 March 1935.
40. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Koch, 7 April 1935.
41. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Waite, 21 January
1938.
42. May Brown Recollections, p. 7 .
43. Ibid. , p. 17.
44. Africa Teaching Committee Records.
45. Convention Transcript, 1957, pp. 483-484.
46. Ibid. , p. 485.
47. National Spiritual Assembly Records: National Assembly to
Shoghi Effendi, 13 May 1957.
48. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Assembly,
2 1 September 1957.
370 Notes to pages 121-134

PART Two: The Building

Chapter 5: The Choice of a Site and the Development of
National Organization
1 . Except as otherWise cited, this chapter is based on Chicago
Records: Minutes and Correspondence.
2. Star of the West, 13 July 1 9 1 5, p. 56.
3 . Congress Transcript, 1920, p. 20.
4. Chase Papers: "The Bahai Feast of the Master, " 26 Novem-
ber 1902.
5. See, for example, ibid. : Chase to Bryant, 9 February 1903.
6 . Ibid. : Assad'Ullah to Windust, 19 February 1903.
7. Ibid . : House to 'Abdu'l-Baha, c. March 1903 .
8. Ibid . : Assad'Ullah to House, 4 May 1903 .
9. Ibid. : Circular letter from House, 1 January 1905.
10. For a more detailed discussion of the issue of gender-seg­
regated and integrated institutions in the early North American
Baha'I community, see Armstrong-Ingram, "Recovering a Lost
Horizon. "
1 1 . Chase Papers: Chase to Waite, 2 3 October 1905.
12. Chicago Records: Windust to Remey, 28 November 1906.
13. Ibid . : True to Windust, 26 November 1 906.
14. Ibid. : House to Kenosha Board, 3 1 December 1906.
15. Chase Papers: House to 'Abdu'l�Baha, 26 January 1907.
16. Windust Papers: "An outline of the proceedings of the House
. . . during the Summer of 1907 . . concerning the �rection of a
.

Temple, " 26 November 1907.
1 7. Chicago Records: True to Agnew, 25 October 1907.
18. It was a regular practice for True to offer to host community
meetings that were called to discuss specific issues. Often those
who disagreed with her and thus might not have been on the best
personal terms with her felt disinclined to attend. The outcome of a
number of important meetings over the years was skewed by this.
That the House, although aware of the effects, seems to have felt
unable to refuse True's public offers to host meetings is in itself an
interesting indication of her position in the community.
Notes to pages 134-1 55 371

19. At the time, the present town of Evanston consisted of three
separate towns: South Evanston, Evanston, and North Evanston.
20. Hill Street is now called Maple Avenue. The site suggested
by those gathered on 26 November 1907 is now part of the campus
of the National College of Education.
2 1 . Eventually, $34,500 was paid for the site, not including in­
terest. It should be noted that there was a falling land market be­
tween 1908 and 1909, when the final price was settled. There is a
discrepancy in the site descriptions as the plat shows it to have been
divided into sixteen lots but True's 1915 report of the early history
of the project mentions only fourteen lots: the two purchased in
1908 and "twelve" negotiated for in 1909. True may have been con­
fused and subtracted the first two lots bought from the total number
twice.
22. Chicago Records: Chase to Windust; 22 May 1908.
23. Chase Papers: Chase to Harris, 27 November 1908.
24. Chicago Records: House to New York Board, 25 November
1908.
25. Chase Papers: Chase to Bryant, 2 October 1908.
26. Ibid. : Chase to 'Abdu'l-Baha, 5 November 1908.
27. Chicago Records: Carmichael to House, 9 July 1908.
28. Ibid. : Watson to House, 8 August 1908.
29. Chase Papers: Chase to Harris, 27 November 1908.
30. Ibid . : Chase to Ober, 13 December 1908.
3 1 . Chicago Records: True to House, n.d. (late December 1908).
32 . Convention Transcript, 1913: "Open Meeting . . . Sun. Apr.
27. "
33. Chicago Records: House to Kenosha Board, 3 1 December
1906.
34. Ibid . : MacNutt to Codwise, 29 July 1907.
35. Ibid. : MacNutt to House, 28 July 1907.
36. Ibid . : Getsinger to House, 15 April, 27 Apri1 1908.
37. Ibid . : True to House, 23 July 1907.
38. Ibid. : House to True, 29 July 1907.
39. Ibid. : House to New York Board, 26 November 1908.
40. Ibid. : True to House, 18 August 1908.
372 Notes to pages 155-1 76

4 1 . At the time of that meeting True may have been out of town
at her summer home in Michigan.
42 . Chicago Records: House to New York Board, 25 November
1 908.
43 . Chase Papers: Chase to Assad'Ullah, 1 December 1908.
44. Ibid. : Harris to Chase, 12 December 1908.
45. For an account of the devotional meeting of 21 March, see
Chapter Seven.
46. Chase Papers: Chase to Remey, 19 January 1910.
47. Ibid . : Remey to Chase, 25 February 1910.
48. Chicago Records: Ober to Chase, 27 November 1908.
49. As he was supposedly a proxy for Wilhelm, a case could be
made that Mills' appointment to the Board should really have been
taken up by Wilhelm.
50. Bahai Temple Unity Records : Minutes, 23 March 1909.
5 1 . It goes far beyond the scope of this discussion to evaluate the
role that Corinne True played in the development of the American
Baha'i community. The interested reader is referred to the minutes
of the Chicago House of Spirituality for further information con­
cerning her tensions with that body. On gender tensions, see
Armstrong-Ingram, ' 'Recovering a Lost Horizon . ' '
52. Chicago Records: Woman's Assembly t o House, 2 2 May
1909 .
53. See Armstrong-Ingram, "Recovering a Lost Horizon."
54. We might note that True's religious search, which ended
with her discovery of the Baha'i Faith, was first occasioned through
grief at the loss of her eldest daughter while still a child and rein­
forced by the later loss of a son. Shortly after becoming a Baha'i,
she lost another son. The deaths of these three children, coupled
with the use of mother imagery that surrounded discussion of the
implications of the building of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in North
America (the building would be the "mother" of many subsequent
ones throughout the continent), may underlie her tenacious commit­
ment to the building although she did not have any developed func­
tional concept of the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Notes to pages 1 77-197 373

Chapter 6: The Bourgeois Design
1. Convention Transcript, !920, p. 89.
2. Remey, Mashrak-El-Azkar (1916); Remey, Mashrak-El-Azkar
.
(1917).
3. Convention transcript, 1920, p. 2 17.
4. Pemberton, A Modern Pilgrimage, pp. 78-79.
5. Marie Watson Papers: Bourgeois to Watson, 9 August 1906.
From the rest of this letter, and from other letters of around this
date, it is probable that by "workers" Bourgeois is referring to
those engaged in some form of mystical activity, rather than to the
working class.
6. Architecture, vol. XIV, no. 1, 13 July 1906.
7. Bourgeois Papers: undated manuscript.
8. Convention Transcript, 1920, p. 69.
9. Chicago Records: Minutes, 8 February 1908.
10. Bahd 'f News, vol. I, no. 4, 17 May 1910, p. 12.
1 1 . Wilhelm Papers.
12. It may be noted here that Remey produced the Byzantine de­
sign that he submitted in 1909 in 1906, and that Woodward pro­
duced his 1909 submission around 1908, both before the architect's
circular or, indeed, the establishing of the Bahai Temple Unity.
13. Convention Transcript, 1920, pp. 67-71 .
14. Bourgeois Papers: undated manuscript, pp. 1-5, 10-12.
15. McDaniel, The Spell of the Temple, pp. 22-26 .
16. Ibid. , p. 24.
17. Pemberton, A Modern Pilgrimage, p. 78.
18. Remey, Architectural Exh ibition.
19. McDaniel, The Building of the Temple, p. 27.
20. Star of the West, vol. VII, no. 7, 13 July 1916.
21. Interestingly, both Gebhard, "One Hundred Years of Ar­
chitecture, " p. 58, and Apostol, "The Painters and Sculptors, " p.
34, describe the design for this house as being popularly attributed
to de Longpre himself. As his daughter eloped with Bourgeois in
190 1 , it would not be surprising if he did not later give due credit for
Bourgeois' contribution to the design, whatever may have been the
actual ratio of each man's input to the final product.
22. Convention Transcript, 1920, p. 125.
374 Notes to pages 1 98-210

23. National Properties Committee Records: Gilfillen to Commit-
tee, 10 December, 29 December 1 973.
24. Convention Transcript, 1925, p. 96.
25. Bourgeois Papers: Bourgeois to Shoghi Effendi, c. 1928.
26. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual
Assembly of the United States, 1 1 April 1949.
27. Convention Transcript, 1930, p. 363.
28. Ibid . , p. 385.
29. Baha 'f World, vol. IV, 1 930-1932, p. 521 .
30. Bourgeois Papers.
3 1 . Ibid. : "This Is the Great Day of God , " c. 1919.
32. The Bahai Temple, p. 13.
33. Boswell in New York American, 23 May 1920; Reid in The
Architectural Record, June 1920.
34. National Spiritual Assembly Records: McDaniel to National
Assembly, 23 April 1934.
35. Bahd 'f News, January 1935, p. 10.
36. National Spiritual Assembly Records: Wilhelm to National
Assembly, 13 February 1950. It may be noted here that this contra­
dicts a frequently repeated opinion that Wilhelm initiated Bour­
geois' interest in attempting a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar design.
37. National Teaching Committee Bulletin, 19 July 1920, p. 9.
38. San Francisco Chronicle, 8 August 1920.
39. The Outlook, 1 December 1920.
40. Everywoman, October 1915, p. 10.
41. Scheffler Papers: Scheffler to Morton and Collins, 8 April
1925.
42. Engineering services were taken over by Research Ser­
vices, Inc., of Washington, D.C. , in 1930 and supervision was there­
after principally by Allen McDaniel, who had been among those
who wished to see building plans on the basis of the Bourgeois de­
sign abandoned in the early 1920s but who had later undergone a
' 'conversion . ' '
43. Lunt Papers: True t o Lunt, 18 December 1921 .
44. Scheffler Papers: Scheffler to Shoghi Effendi, 31 March
1929.
45. Convention Transcript, 1925, p. 108.
Notes to pages 240-250 375

PART THREE: The Practice

Chapter 7: Choral Song and Sermonizing in Wilmette

1 . Chicago Records: Minutes and attached copy of letter.
2 . Ibid . : Jacobsen to House, 28 August 1908. The songs they
wished to learn probably were those in Louise Waite's Bahai Hymns
of Peace and Praise, published earlier that year.
3. Ibid. : Minutes, 26 January 1909.
4. The Bahai Bulletin, vol. I, no. 6, 1909.
5. Tablets of Abdu 'l-Bahd, pp. 38-40.
6. The Bahai Bulletin, vol. I , no. 6, 1909.
7. Ibid.
8. Kenosha Records: Minutes , 15 June 1909.
9. Waite Papers: "The Magic Wand" ; Pilgrim Notes. For a
more detailed discussion of the trip and Waite's songs, see Chapters
Two and Three.
10. Buikema Papers.
1 1 . Bahai News, 21 March 1 9 10, p. 14.
12. Ibid. , 1 7 May 1910, pp. 2-3.
13. Ibid. , 17 May 1910, p. 4.
14. Star of the West, 1 7 May 191 1 , p. 4.
15. Ibid. , 1 7 May 191 1 , pp. 3-5.
16. Robarts Papers: Diary notes, 1912.
17. Star of the West, 17 May 1912, pp. 3-5.
18. Ibid. , 17 May 1912, p. 32. The account of the Vahid Choral
Society is adapted from Armstrong-Ingram, Singers to the King.
19. National Teaching Committee Bulletin, 1 August 1922, pp.
3-4.
20. Robarts Papers: True to Robarts, 9 August 1 922.
2 1 . Ibid.
22. Ibid. : Olsen to Robarts, 20 November 1922.
23. Chicago Records: Vail to House of Spirituality, 25 May
1918.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid. : Vail to House of Spirituality, 2 June 1918.
26. Ibid. : Minutes, 30 May 1918.
376 Notes to p(lges 250-260

27. Ibid. : House of Spirituality to Vail, 31 May 1918.
28. Ibid . : Minutes, 2 1 September 1920.
29. Ibid. : Minutes, 28 September 1920; 24 May 192 1 ; 7 June
192 1 ; 1 October 192 1 .
3 0 . Vail, The Bahai Movement, n.p.
31. M. Lesch Papers: Notes on 1 7 May 1925 meeting.
32. Robarts Papers: Olsen to Robarts, 13 July 1923.
33. Osenbaugh Papers.
34. Convention Transcript, 1925, p. 32.
35. Ibid . , 1926, p. 42.
36. Osenbaugh Papers.
37. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Music Committee: Na-
tional Assembly to Committee, 18 February 193 1 .
3 8 . Ibid.
39. Ibid. : Committee Report, n.d. (1931).
40. Ibid.
4 1 . Ibid . : National Assembly to Committee, 17 June 193 1 .
42. Letter o n behalf o f Shoghi Effendi t o the National Spiritual
Assembly, 2 April 193 1 .
43 . Baha'i News, May 1932, p. 1 6 .
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Music Committee: Na­
tional Assembly to Committee, 22 June 1932.
47. National Spiritual Assembly Records: National Spiritual As­
sembly to Shoghi Effendi, 4 April 1930.
48. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Temple Program
Committee: National Assembly to Committee , 6 December 1933.
49. Ibid. : Committee to National Assembly, 13 December 1933.
50. Ibid. : National Assembly to Committee , 6 December 1933.
5 1 . Ibid . : National Assembly to Committee, 22 December 1933.
52. Ibid.
53. Temple Program Committee Records: Minutes, 6 May 1934.
54. Ibid. : Minutes, 2 June 1934.
55. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual
Assembly, 15 June 1935.
Notes to pages 260-276 377

56. Temple Program Committee Records: Minutes, 11 August
1935.
57. Baha 'i News, February 1932, p. 6.
58. Baha 'i World, vols. IV, V, and VI.
59. This discussion of St. Mark's is based on Holley Papers: St.
Mark's Records, except as otherwise cited.
60. Farmer Papers: Green Acre Programs.
61. Petersen Papers: Bahai brothers and sisters of St. Mark's to
Bahai Friends, 27 February 1914.
62. Invitation card reproduced in Star of the West, vol. V, no. 2, 9
April 1914, p. 25.
63. Travelling Fellowship, 1 August 1919, n.p.
64. Gaudreaux Papers: Committee of Nine to Baha'i Assemblies
of the North Eastern States, 20 September 1919.
65. National Spiritual Assembly Records: New York Programs
for Baha'f Holy Days.
66. Ibid. : Guthrie to Ali Kuli Khan, 21 February 1928.
67. Ibid. : Programs.
68. Ibid . : Programs.
69. Bergen Evening Record, 27 June 1 927; Interboro Review, 1
July 1927.
70. Racine Records.
71. Chicago Records.
72. National Teaching Committee Bulletin, 15 January 1923, p. 5.
73. Convention Transcript, 1927, pp. 20ff.
74. Ibid. , p. 68.
75. National Spiritual Assembly Records: Coy to National As­
sembly, 24 July 1930.
76. Wright Papers.
77. "History of the Philadelphia Baha'f Community, " 1934-1939.

Chapter 8: The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Use
1. Baha 'i News, vol. 52, May 193 1 , p. 2.
2 . Annual Baha 'i Reports, 1942-1943, p . 37.
3 . Ibid. , p. 38.
378 Notes to pages 277-290

4. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual
Assembly, 28 March 1943.
5 . Bahd 'f News, vol. 170, September 1944, pp. 9 , 15-16.
6 . National Spiritual Assembly Records.
7. Ibid. : Secretary to Shoghi Effendi, 13 January 1942 .
8. Bahd'f News, vol. 2 17, March 1944, p. 1 1 .
9 . Ibid. , vol. 228, February 1950, pp. 7-8.
10. Bahd'f World, vol. XI, pp. 46-50.
1 1 . Temple Guides Committee, 1 942, p. 17; 1947, p. 16.
12. Bahd 'f Annual Reports, 1952-1953, p. 16.
13. Holley Papers: Holley to Temple Dedication Committee, 5
March 1952.
14. National Spiritual Assembly Records, Temple Dedication
Committee: National Assembly to Committee, 5 September 1952;
Holley Papers: Notes, House of Worship Dedication.
15. Ibid. : "Summary of Consultation . . . Dec. 13., 1952. "
1 6 . National Spiritual Assembly Records, Temple Dedication
Committee: Mussulman to Holley, 3 1 December 1952. On the mul­
tiplicity of services, see below.
17. Ibid . : Braun to Holley, 14 January 1953.
18. Holley Papers: Holley to Committee, 19 March 1953.
19. National Spiritual Assembly Records: Secretary to Shoghi
Effendi, 19 March 1953.
20. Holley Papers: "Summary of Consultation . . . Dec. 13,
1952 . "
2 1 . Letter o n behalf o f Shoghi Effendi to National Assembly, 6
March 1953; 6 April 1953.
22. Ibid.
23. Bahd'f News, vol. 266, April 1953, p. 5.
24. National Spiritual Assembly, Jubilee Celebration, pp. 10-15.
25. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to National Assembly, 6
Apri1 1953.
26. Bahd 'f News, vol. 268, June 1953, p. 1 1 .
2 7 . Except a s otherwise cited, this discussion draws o n the
minutes and correspondence in the Temple Worship Committee
Records. Gaps in the documentation have been filled from copies of
Notes to pages 298-322 379

this committee's records in the Somerhalder Papers. As this discus­
sion covers events that occurred so recently, I have refrained from
mentioning most of the names of the individuals involved. To main­
tain this anonymity, it is necessary to omit the detail given in cita­
tions elsewhere in this work and to rely on this general citation of
the committee's records.
28. All Baha'i holy days are now commemorated at the House of
Worship, the devotions for them being in the same vein as the Sun­
day afternoon ones, although those held at times when there is not
likely to be a public presence are less elaborate in program.
29. Bahti 'f Annual Reports, 1967-1968, p. 23.
30. Report on Temple Activities, 1962, p. 4.

Chapter 9: Scripture and Culture in the Development of
Western Baha'i Devotional Practice
As well as the sources cited, the discussion of the Kitab-i Aqdas in
this chapter is based on A Synopsis and Codification of the Kittib-i­
Aqdas, 1973 (Baha'i World Center), typescript translations in En­
glish and French; and reference to the original Arabic with the kind
assistance of Ghazzal Towfiq.
1 . Berger, From Sect to Church, p. 139.
2. Inter-America Committee Records: Convention Agendas,
1951.
3. Momen, An Introduction to Shi 'i Islam, p. 181.
4. On Islamic salat generally, see Quasem , Salvation of the Soul,
pp. 85-176.
5. Bahai Temple Unity Records.
6. True Papers: Notebook, copy by True of Mills' pilgrim
notes, 1909.
7. Ibid . : 'Abdu'l-Baha to Mills, 12 August 1909.
8. Hatcher and Martin, The Baha 'i Faith, p. 1 70 .
9. Chicago Records: House t o Kenosha Board, 13 August 1906;
note states copy sent to Union, New Jersey, 19 August 1906.
10. National Spiritual Assembly Records: National Assembly to
Shoghi Effendi, 25 July 1933.
380 Notes to pages 322-339

1 1 . Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to National Assembly, 6
September 1933.
12. Baha 'i News, vol. 79, November 1933.
13. National Spiritual Assembly Records: Spiritual Assembly of
Chicago to National Assembly, 23 February 1934.
14. Ibid. : National Assembly to Spiritual Assembly of Chicago, .
14 March 1934.
15. Robarts Papers: Untitled study course, c. 1940s.
16. Chase Papers: S. M. Raffi, "Islam. "
17. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Loulie Mathews, 4
January 1936 .
18. Champ Papers: George Spendlove, "Prayer and Medita­
tion, " 1956.
19. Temple Worship Committee Records: Minutes, 17 May
1958.
20. Somerhalder Papers: National Assembly to Committee, 1 1
January 1955.
21. Robarts Papers: Ruth Moffett Pilgrim Notes, 1927.
22. Temple Worship Committee Records: National Assembly to
Committee, 16 March 1962.
23. Ibid.
24. Report on Temple Activities, 14 June 1962, p. 13.
25. National Assembly to Universal House of Justice, 23 Janu­
ary 1964.
26. Universal House of Justice to National Assembly, 13 March
1964.
27. For an extended discussion of the implications of these
points, see Armstrong-Ingram, Considerations.
28. White, Protestant Worship, pp. 121-122, 124-126.
29. Ibid. , pp. 135-136.
30. Stevenson, 1974, p. 684.
3 1 . Ibid. , pp. 684-686.
32. Berger, From Sect to Church, pp. 132-134; Hampson,
The Growth and Spread of the Baha'i Faith, pp. 338 ff; Smith, The
American Baha'i Community, pp. 1 19-120.
33. Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, Preface.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(I) Archival Sources
(A) National Baha'i Archives
(i) Papers
Bourgeois, Louis and Alice Bourgeois Pemberton, Papers
Buikema, Gertrude, Papers
Champ, Dorothy, Papers
Chase, Thornton, Papers
Cooper, Ella Goodall, Papers
Cowan, Aline, Papers
Farmer, Sarah, Papers
Finch, Ida, Papers
Gaudreaux, Maud, Papers
Goodall, Helen S . , Papers
Holley, Horace, Papers
Knobloch Family Papers
Lesch, Fanny and Effie Lundberg, Papers
Lesch, Mary, Papers
Lunt, Alfred E . , Papers
Osenbaugh, John, Papers
Parsons, Agnes S., Papers
Peterson, Nels and Christine, Papers
Robarts, Ella, Papers
Scheffler, Carl, Papers
Somerhalder, Beatrice, Papers
True, Corinne, Papers
Waite, Louise R. (Shahnaz), Papers
Watson, Marie A. , Papers
Wilhelm, Roy, Papers
382 Bibliography

Windust, Albert, Papers
Wright, Louise Drake, Papers

(ii) Records
Africa Teaching Committee Records
Bahai Temple Unity Records
Chicago House of Spirituality Records
Congress Transcripts, Baha'f
Convention Transcipts, Baha'f National
Inter-America Committee Records
Kenosha, Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'fs of, Records
National Properties Committee Records
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'fs of the United
States (and CaQada) Records
Racine, Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'fs of, Records
Temple Program Committee Records
Temple Worship Committee Records

(iii) Other Materials
Original Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha (microfilm).
Translations of Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha (microfilm).
Original Letters from Shoghi Effendi (microfilm).

Brown, May, Recollections.
Historical Records Cards, Baha'f, 1935-1936.
"History of the Cause of God in Honolulu. "
"History of the Philadelphia Baha'f Community. "

(B) Other Archives (Items marked with a n asterisk are available
on microfilm at the National Baha'f Archives.)
Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Baltimore: Minute Book
1909 . *
Archives o f the Spiritual Assembly o f Chicago: Music.
Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Jersey City: Minute Book
1908-1942. *
Bibliography 383

Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles: Correspon­
dence with Louise Waite.
Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Portland, Oregon: Minute
Book 1906-191 1 . *
Archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Spokane: Minute Book
1907-1910. *
Chicago Historical Society: Earl H . Reed Papers.

(II) Other Sources
(A) Books and Articles
There are numerous editions by various publishers of the best
known works of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha as well as of the
works of Shoghi Effendi. The one case where I have referred to a
specific edition here is Hidden Words, Words of Wisdom and Com­
munes, 1905, Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society. The page refer­
ences to various works of Baha'u'llah on page 288 Qf this work are
as given in the source description of the program for the dedica­
tion in 1953 and presumably refer to the then current United
States editions.

Alkany [Qa'inf], Mohammed Ali (trans. Edith Rouhie Sanderson),
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waka, IN: Aubade.
-- , 1987. Recovering a Lost Horizon: Women's Contributions
to North American Baha'i History. In Caton, Peggy L. (ed.),
Equal Circles. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press.
-- , In Progress. Considerations in the Setting of Sacred Text for
Mashriqu 'l-Adhkdr Use.
384 Bibliography

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request of Louis J. Bourgeois.
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The Bahd'i World. XIII ff. 1970-date. Haifa: Universal House of
Justice.
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ha'i Publishing Committee.
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ford: George Ronald.
Berger, Peter Ludwig, 1954. From Sect to Church: A Sociological In­
terpretation of the Baha 'i Movement. Ph.D. thesis. New School for
Social Research, New York.
Brewer, Orville (ed.), 1905. Brewer's Edition of Sacred Songs and
Hymns. Chicago: Orville Brewe_r Publishing.
Browne, Edward Granville, 1889. The Babis of Persia I. Sketch of
Their History and Personal Experiences Amongst them. II. Their
Literature and Doctrines. In The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soci­
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-- (trans.), 189 1 . A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the
Episode of the Bab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-- , 1918. Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion. Cam­
bridge: Cambridge University Press.
-- , 1930. A Literary History of Persia IV Modern Times 1500-
1924. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bush-Brown, Albert, 1960. Louis Sullivan. New York: George
Braziller.
Cheyne, Thomas Kelley, 1914. The Reconciliation of Races and
Religions. London: A. & C. Black.
Cohen, Abner, 1977. Symbolic Action and the Structure of the Self.
In Lewis, loan (ed.), Symbols and Sentiments. London: Academic
Press.
Connely, Willard, 1960. Louis SulUvan as He Lived: The Shaping of
American Architecture. New York: Horizon PFess.
Curzon, Rt. Hon. George, The Earl, 1892. Persia and the Persian
Question. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
Dealy, Paul K. , 1902. The Dawn of Knowledge and the Most Great
Peace. Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society.
Bibliography 385

Dreyfus, Hippolyte, 1942 (1909). Une Institution Behaie: Le
Machreqou'l-Azkar D'Achqabad. Reprinted in The Baha'i World.
VIII. 1942. Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Committee.
Fischer, Michael M. J . , 1978. On Changing the Concept and Posi­
tion of Persian Women. In Beck, Lois and Nikki Keddie (eds),
Women in the Muslim World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer­
sity Press.
Fox, Adam, 1947. English Hymns and Hymn Writing. London:
Collins.
Gebhard, David, 1968. One Hundred Years of Architecture in
California. In Gebhard, David and Harriette Von Breton (eds) Ar­
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California.
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Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, Comte de, 1865-1 866. Les Religions et les
Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale. Paris.
Hampson, Arthur, 1980. The Growth and Spread of the Bah6'{ Faith.
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawaii.
Hatcher, William and Douglas Martin, 1984. The Bahd '{ Faith: The
Emerging Global Religion. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
l;:laydar-'Ali, l;:lajf Mirza (trans. and abridged A. Q. Faizi), 1980. Sto­
ries from the Delight of Hearts: The Memoirs of lfaj{ Mirza lfaydar­
'Alf. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press.
Hogden, Margaret T. , 1974. Anthropology, History, and Cultural
Change. Tucson: Tucson University Press.
Jones, R. Kenneth, 1978. Paradigm Shifts and Identity Theory Al­
teration as a Form of Identity Management. In Mol, Hans (ed.),
Identity and Religion: International, Cross-Cultural Approaches.
London: Sage Publications.
Kazemzadeh, Kazem, 1974. Varqa and Ruhu'llah: Deathless in
Martyrdom. In World Order, IX, 2, Winter 1974-1975. Wilmette:
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'fs of the United States.
Lee, A. A., 1979. The Rise of the Baha'f Community of 'Ishqabad.
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Lucas, Mary, 1905. A Brief Account of My Visit to Acca. Chicago:
Bahai Publishing Society.
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typescript.
-- , 1953. The Spell of the Temple. New York: Vantage Press.
Maxwell, May, 1970 (1917). An Early Pilgrimage. London: George
Ronald.
Momen, Moojan, 1982 . Early Relations Between Christian Mission­
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(ed.), Studies in Bdb£ and Bahd'£ History. Los Angeles: Kalimat
Press.
--- . 1985. An Introduction to Shi 'i Islam: The History and Doc­
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Mottahedeh, Roy P. , 1967. "Na'im: A Baha'i Poet. " In World
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of the Baha'is of the United States.
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Dawn-Breakers: Nabtl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahd '£
Revelation. New York: Baha'i Publishing Committee.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and
Canada, 1942. The Bahd '£ Temple: House of Worship of a World
Faith. Wilmette: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
-- , 1944. The Bahd '£ Centenary 1844-1944. Wilmette: Baha'i
Publishing Committee.
--, 1953. Jubilee Celebration: Bahd 'fs of the. United States April
29-May 6, 1953. Wilmette: National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States.
News Items of 1914-15 Devoted to the Interests of Mashrek El Azkar
Work and Workers (probably compiled and published by Isabel
Fraser).
Pemberton, L. B., 1925. A Modern Pilgrimage to Palestine. Philadel­
phia: Dorrance and Company.
Quasem, Muhammad Abul, 198 1 . Salvation of the Soul and Islamic
Devotions. London: Kegan Paul International.
Record of the Bahai Temple Convention held March 22 and 23, 1909,
at Chicago, Illinois. 1909. Chicago: Bahai Temple Unity.
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Remey, Charles Mason, 1914 (1909). Observations of a Bahai Trav­
eller 1908. Washington, D.C. : C. M . Remey.
-- , 1916. Mashrak-El-Azkar: Five Preliminary Sketches.
Washington, D.C. : C. M. Remey.
-- , 1917. Mashrak-El-Azkar: Descriptive of the Bahai Temple
and illustrative of an exhibition of preliminary designs for the first
Mashrak-El-Azkar to be built in America, showing nine varying
treatments in different styles of architecture. Washington, D.C. : C.
M. Remey.
-- , 1920. Mashrak-El-Azkar: Illustrated Description of a Design
in the Persian-Indian Style ofArchitecturefor the First Mashrak-El­
Azkar (Bahai Temple) to be Erected in America, Washington, D.C. :
C. M. Remey.
-- , n.d. Architectural Exhibition of a Series of Preliminary De­
signs by Charles Mason Remey for The Mashrak-El-Azkar (Bahai
Temple). Washington, D.C. : C. M. Remey.
Report on Temple Activities, 1962 . unpublished typescript.
Richardson, John (revised and improved by Charles Wilkins, new
'
edition enlarged by Francis Johnson), 1829. A Dictionary, Persian,
Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Litera­
ture, and Manners of Eastern Nations. London: J. L. Cox.
Root, Martha L., 1938. Tahirih, The Pure: Iran 's Greatest Woman.
Karachi: Civil and Military Press .
Sandler, Rivanne, 1980. Poetic Artistry of Qurratu'l-Ayn: (Tahirih)
A Babi Heroine. In Baha 'i Studies Notebook. December 1980. Ot­
tawa: Canadian Association for Studies on the Baha'i Faith.
Schopflocher, Lorol, 1937. Sunburst. London : Rider & Co.
Shoghi Effendi, 1944. God Passes By. Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing
Committee.
Smith, Peter, 1982. The American Baha'i Community, 1894-1917:
A Preliminary Survey. In Moman, Moojan (ed.), Studies in Babi
and Baha'i History 1 Los Angeles: Kalimat Press.
Songs of Prayer and Praise, 1903. Chicago: Bahai Publishing
Society.
Songs of Prayer and Praise, 1912. Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society.
Sprague, Sydney, 1908. A Year with the Bahais of India and Burma.
London: The Priory Press (Los Angeles, Kalimat Press, 1986).
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Stevenson, Robert, 1974. Protestant Music in America. In Blume,
Friedrich in collaboration with Ludwig Finscher, Georg Feder,
Adam Adria, Walter Blankenburg, Toeber Schousboe, Robert
Stevenson, and Watkins Shaw (eds.), Protestant Church Music: A
History. New York: W. W. Norton.
A Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. 1973. Haifa: Baha'f
World Centre.
Szarkowski, John, 1956. The Idea of Louis Sullivan. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press.
Taherzadeh, Adib, 1977. The Revelation of Baha'u 'lldh, II Kidling­
ton: George Ronald.
Temples Guides Committee, 1942. Information About the Baha 'i
House of Worship for the Use of Temple Model Exhibitors. Wil­
mette: Baha'f Publishing Committee.
-- , 1947. Information for Guides of the Baha'i House of Worship
Wilmette, Illinois. Wilmette: Baha'f Publishing Committee.
Turner, Victor, 1974. Dramas, Fields, And Metaphors: Symbolic Ac­
tion in Human Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Universal Principles of the Bahai Movement: Social, Economic, Govern­
mental, 1912. Washington, D.C. : The Persian-American Bulletin.
Vail, Albert R. , 1914. The Bahai Movement-Its Spiritual Dynamic.
Reprint of Bahaism-A Study of a Contemporary Movement. In
The Harvard Theological Review, VII, July 1914.
Wagner, Henriette C., 1928. The Baha 'i Hymns and Music, unpub­
lished typescript.
Waite, Louise Spencer, 1904. Bahai Hymns and Poems. Chicago:
Bahai Publishing Society.
Waite, Louise R. , 1910 Hymns of Peace and Praise. Chicago: L. R.
Waite.
--, 1927. Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise. Chicago: L. R.
Waite.
White, James F. 1964. Protestant Worship and Church Architecture:
Theological and Historical Considerations. New York: Oxford
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Woodward, C. Vann, 1955. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Bibliography 389

Yinger, J. Milton, 1 970. The Scientific Study of Religion. New York:
Macmillan.
Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward, 1923. The Gleam. London:
John Murray.

(B) Periodicals
As in some cases only clippings from the periodicals cited were
available, some of these citations are less complete than others.

The American Bahd'{, 1970-date. Wilmette: National Spiritual As­
sembly of the Baha'fs of the United States .
The Architectural Record, June 1920. The Architectural Record
Company.
Architecture, XIV, 1, 13 July 1906.
The Bahai Bulletin, 1908-1909. New York.
Bahai News (later Star of the West.), 1910. Chicago: Bahai News
Service.
Bahd'{ News, 1930-date. New York (later Wilmette): National Spiri­
tual Assembly of the Baha'fs of the United States (and Canada).
Bahd '{ News: U.S. Supplement, 1958-1968. Wilmette: National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'Is of the United States.
Baha'i News (Los Angeles), December 1935 . Los Angeles: Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'Is of Los Angeles.
Ba.hd '{ Newsletter (later BaM/{ News.), 1924-1930. New York: Na­
tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'Is of the United States and
Canada.
Bergen Evening Record, 27 June 1927. New Jersey.
Chicago Bahd '{ News, January 1936. Chicago: Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of Chicago.
Everywoman, October 1915. San Francisco: Everywoman Company.
lnterboro Review, 1 July 1927. New Jersey.
The Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom, 1919-1924. Boston:
Ella M. Robarts.
National Bahd'{ Review, 1968-date. Wilmette: National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'Is of the United States.
390 Bibliography

National Teaching Committee Bulletin, 1920-1924. Washington,
D .C . : National Teaching Committee.
New York American, 23 May 1920. New York.
The Outlook, 1 December 1920.
San Francisco Chronicle, 8 August 1920. San Francisco.
Star of the West, 191 1-1935. Chicago: Bahai News Service. (Later
Washington, D .C.: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
the United States and Canada.)
Travelling Fellowship, 1 August 1919. New York: Travelling Fel-
lowship Press.
Unity, 22 September 1910. Chicago.
World Fellowship, mid-1920s. Montclair, NJ: Victoria Bedikian.
World Order, 1935-1949, 1966-date. New York (later Wilmette):
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
(and Canada).

(III) Sound Recordings
Davis, Shokouh Rezai, 198 1 . In Memory of lhe Martyrs (tape cas­
sette). Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust.
Waite, Louise R. (piano), Ragna Linne (sop.) and Carl Hatch (vio­
lin), n.d. [1923]. Bahai Benediction (disc). Los Angeles: The
Golden Record Company.