Community Histories
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-20 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Hollinger, Community Histories, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1992, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Community Histories

Richard Hollinger, editor
published in Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í ReligionsVolume 6, 280 pages

Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1992

click for larger cover

Contents:

Introduction: Bahá'í Communities in the West, 1897-1992 vii
Richard Hollinger

A History of the Kenosha Bahá'í Community 1897-1980 1
Roger Dahl

The Bahá'í Faith in Kansas 1897-1947 67
Duane L. Herrmann

The Bahá'ís of Baltimore, 1898-1990 111
Deborah Clark

Development and Influence of the Bahá'í Administrative Order in Great Britain, 1914–1950 153
Phillip Smith

Development and Decline of an Early Bahá'í Community: Saint John, N.B., 1910-1925 217
Will. C. van den Hoonaard

A History of the Sacramento Bahá'í Community, 1912-1991 239
Peggy Caton

download complete PDF (15 MB)

About:

Years in the making!–this the much-anticipated volume of local Bahá’í histories provides new insight into the unfoldment of community life. The authors challenge many commonly held assumptions about Bahá’í history and demonstrate the diversity of Western Bahá’í communities.

Each essay carefully documents the internal dynamics of a particular community, from the early days of the Faith to the present, and includes six essays by different Bahá’í scholars on the history of the Bahá’í communities in: Kenosha, Wisconsin; Baltimore, Maryland; Sacramento, California; St. John, New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Kansas; and Great Britain.

Richard Hollinger’s introduction is a full additional essay on critical periods in the evolution of the national Bahá’í community of the United States. Also included are details of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits to Baltimore, Kenosha, and Sacramento.

This is the sixth volume in the scholarly series on the Babi and Bahá'í religions. Seven Bahá'í historians explore the histories of selected local Bahá'í communities in the United States, Britain, and Canada. Each author's research has uncovered aspects of Bahá'í history which have never before been discussed in print.

Richard Hollinger begins the volume with a sociological survey of major trends in the American Bahá'í community from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides the reader with a broad framework in which the history of local communities can be understood.

The next three authors turn their attention to some of the oldest Bahá'í communities in America. Roger Dahl recounts the long history of the Bahá'ís of Kenosha, Wisconsin, visited by Abdul-Baha in 1912. Duane Herrmann discusses Bahá'í communities in Kansas, with unique insight into their patterns of growth and inactivity. Deborah Clark traces the fascinating story of the Bahá'ís in the Baltimore area, who also hosted Abdul-Baha during his travels in America. All authors bring their histories up to the present.

Phillip Smith's essay on Britain focuses on the deep changes brought about in the Bahá'í community with the gradual establishment of the Administrative Order. He explains the necessary, and sometimes difficult, adjustment of attitudes and practices among the English Bahá'ís.

Next, Will. C. van den Hoonaard, a Canadian Bahá'í, explores the brief early history of the Saint John Bahá'ís. Established in 1910, the Bahá'í community struggled in the hostile environment of New Brunswick. In 1925, the community disappeared, to be reestablished only in recent times.

Finally, Peggy Caton writes about the Bahá'í community of Sacramento, California, including a detailed account of Abdul-Baha's visit there. She also discusses the rapid expansion of the community during the 1960s and 1970s.

This book is an impressive collection of historical information and interpretation. It is the first serious and scholarly attempt to delve into the histories of local Bahá'í Communities. The volume is an indispensable addition to the library of anyone interested in the study of Bahá'í history.

METADATA

Views4961 views since posted 2020-08-05; last edit 2025-02-13 17:40 UTC;

previous at archive.org.../hollinger_community_histories
ISBN
978-0933770768
Language
English
Permission
publisher
History
Scanned 2020 by Steven Kolins.
Share

Shortlink: bahai-library.com/5305
Citation: ris/5305

select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings

home

sitemap

series

chronology

search:
author

title

date

tags

adv. search
languages

inventory

bibliography

abbreviations

links

about

contact

RSS

new
-- Community Histories (Used by permission of the curator)