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1917

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Media: c:Category:1917 1917 (Events)

1917 was a common year of the Gregorian calendar and a common year of the Julian calendar, the 1917th year of the Common Era (CE), the 17th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1917, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. 1917 corresponds to the years 73–74 of the Bahá'í Era (BE) according to the Badi calendar.

1917 was the beginning of a period of increased cooperation, organization and systematization of activity in the American Bahá'í community; before this time, Bahá'í activities had been more sporadic, and had arisen primarily from individual initiatives, rather than from the cooperation of many individuals. A greater systematization of the teachings was also noticeable, including: the ever marked importance of the Covenant, the spreading standard of women serving on local spiritual assemblies and the adoption of by-laws, planned out travel teaching speakers, publishing and donation of materials to libraries.[1]

Events[edit]

January-March[edit]

  • Studio Hall, at (then) 1219 Connecticut Avenue, hosted many meetings in Washington DC in the first months of 1917.[4]
  • Mary Hanford Ford, a Bahá'í since 1901, had been on a teaching tour of many cities. In January she was back in Washington DC, in March through May she was in the New York/Boston area, in Minneapolis in June,[5] and by August she was in Topeka, Kansas.
  • February–March: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes the final six of the Tablets of the Divine Plan.
  • In February a statuette of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was on view in DC as part of a traveling exhibition made by Elizabeth F. Washington, grand-neice of George Washington, first president of the US.[6] It had also been seen at the 1915 San Francisco Exposition, (at which Bahá'ís had separately convened,)[7] Boston, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
  • Beatrice Irwin, a Bahá'í since she met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris across 1911-1913,[8] who had also had an exhibition at the Exposition,[9] was making news in 1917: her advances in color lighting made newspapers in January,[10] her "color-poem" with music a decade earlier was called "pioneering" in March,[11] and her work was received at the Illuminating Engineering Society convention in October in New York.[12] In 1931 she was being credited for updating the lighting of the Shrine of the Báb.[13]
  • Meetings in Chicago were held at the Masonic Temple,which[14] as well as elsewhere in the city.[15]
  • Minneapolis Minnesota was a center of activity spread through much of the year. In January two meetings were held,[16] followed by news of the regional convention to elect the delegate in April, (Albert Hall,)[17] and informal and formal meetings advertised in June.[18]
  • Many meetings in New York were held at St. Mark's-on-the-Bowerie in March to June,[19] and Bahá'ís participated in other meetings and efforts as well.[20]

April-June[edit]

  • In April Isabella Grinevskaya's play Báb was reprised at the Folk Theatre in Leningrad from its original production in St. Petersburg in 1903-4. (See ft note 4) The performance was suppressed after the Communist revolution and Grinevskaya's struggles brought her into contact with Bahá'ís. The tyrannical government eventually and progressively eviscerated the Russian Bahá'í community of the time.
  • Activity of Bahá'í noted in Philadelphia preparing for the convention including a talk by Mountford Mills,[21] and also of Martha L. Root.[22] In November an exhibition of drawings by Mason Remey about the House of Worship was shown.[23] The held an observance for the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh in November.[24] There was also a meeting was also noted in December at home of David J. Uhle over in Allentown.[25]
  • With the settlement of the Green Acre Bahá'í School after the death of Sarah Farmer, it becomes host to national conventions. Some 300 attended in April. It was orgnized by the Baha'i Temple Unity composed of Harlan F. Ober, William H. Randall, Edward Kinney, and Alfred E. Lunt. One of the days a meeting was held at Hotel Brunswick in Boston.[26]
  • A conference was held in Chicago in June at which some 200 attended, which Charles Greenleaf chaired, and among the talks presented were ones by A. H. Hall and W. H. Handall.[27]

July-September[edit]

  • Maverick Bahá'í Urbain Ledoux tried to establish a "Unity Hotel" in Portsmouth near Green Acre in July.[28]
  • That summer was the 24th season at Green Acre, the year after the death of Sarah Farmer, William Randal spoke on the mission of Green Acre. Others who spoke included Edward Getsinger, husband of Lua, Edward Kinney,[29] Horace Holley, Albert R. Vail, Louis G. Gregory, Eshteal Ebn Kalanter, Alfred Lunt, and Albert Hall [30]
  • Hyde Dunn was living in San Francisco, and had given a talk in Santa Cruz in April.[31] From July into August Bahá'ís held meetings in San Francisco at 165 Post St., rm 506 on Wednesday evenings.[32] There is notice of a Birth of Baha'u'llah observance in November.[33]

October-December[edit]

* An observance of the Birth Centenary was held by the Chicago House of Spirituality, a precursor to local assembly, at the Auditorium Hotel, ninth floor,[34] which included the first "Convention of Teaching," in which "leading Chicago Bahá'ís clearly hoped would lead to a teaching organization in the same way that the initial concern with building the Mashriqu'1-Adhkár at Chicago had resulted in the establishment of the Bahai Temple Unity."[1] The event was spied by the US Department of Justice which approved of the group and a quote was noted: "To refuse to assist the government on the ground that one does not believe in war would be like refusing to put out a fire because one does not believe in fires."[35] A film of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was shown the next day at the Castle Theatre followed by talks about Bahá'u'lláh.[36]
* The Bahá'ís of the Bay area of San Francisco and Oakland gathered at the home of Mrs. Edwin Goodall for an observance.[33]
* Bahá'ís of Pittsburgh gathered at the studio of Charlotte Mueller at 6200 Penn Ave for their observance.[24]
  • Portland Oregon was also a center of some activity. General meetings are advertised on a monthly basis happening on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons from January at 616 Eiler's Building,[37] and a book was donated to the library.[38] Notice of the Boston convention was noted in mid-April.[39] Starting July the meetings were only Friday evenings.[40] An additional week series by Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Isabella Brittingham including at the homes of Mrs. George Weister and Mrs. Ingham.[41] A meeting in September began with a different subject.[42] In November the community organized a observance for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as Center of the Covenant,[43] and held a public meeting in December.[44]

Unknown date[edit]

  • Russian Bahá'í communities sought out Wellesley Tudor Pole, serving in the Palestine theatre of WWI, about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's safety.[45]
  • A Baha'i magazine, Khurshid-i Khavar, is initiated in 'Ishqabad, with Sayyid Mahdi Gulpaygani as editor.
  • Marion Jack and Rhoda Nichols undertake a teaching trip to the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
  • Marion Jack and Kate Ives undertake a teaching trip to Newfoundland.
  • Hyde and Clara Dunn are married.
  • Albert and Emily McClellan Vail publish a two volume set of books each with a chapter about the Baha'i Faith: "Heroic lives" for sixth grade curriculums with student and teacher notebooks.[46] The next year they joined the religion officially.
  • Ragna Linné, a Bahá'í since 1903, the first Bahá'í of Norwegian/Swedish descent, the first Bahá'í to travel there, and a retired operatic singer, was a voice teacher in Chicago and contributing to various artists associations.
  • Agnes Alexander had been in France in 1914 with the break out of WWI and was able to embark on one of the few tickets left,[47] and at some point in 1917 she was in Japan and wrote "A letter to the blind women of Japan" which became the first Japanese Bahá'í publication.[48] During the same year she returned abruptly to Hawaii and was also on the US mainland.
  • Curtis Kelsey[49] and Richard St. Barbe Baker,[50] were or would become Bahá'ís, served in France during the First World War. Edna M. True, a Bahá'í since 1903 and daughter of (later named Hand of the Cause) Corinne True, was a member of the Smith College Relief Unit serving in France ministering to the needs of U.S. servicemen.[51]
  • By 1917 George Hackney, a British-Irish snipper in WWI, had returned, injured, home after having also taken pictures in the front lines that were newsworthy a century later such that the BBC did a documentary on him, his pictures, and noted he became a Bahá'í in the 1960s.[52][53]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Smith, Peter (1982). "The American Bahá'í Community, 1894–1917: A Preliminary Survey". In Momen, Moojan (ed.). Studies in Babi and Baha'i History. Vol. I. Kalimat Press. pp. 85–224 (see 99, 114, 130, 133, 135, 141–2, 149, 158–9, 189…). ISBN 978-1-890688-45-5. Retrieved 28 March 2013. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  2. ↑ Stephen Lambden (1999). "Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium:Some aspects of the Bábí-Bahá'í exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism". Bahá'í Studies Review. London, UK: Association for Baha'i Studies English-Speaking Europe. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  3. ↑ Roderic Maude and Derwent Maude (1997). The Servant, the General, and Armageddon. George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-424-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  4. ↑ * "Speaks on 'religious unity'". The Washington Times. Washington, DC. 6 Jan 1917. p. 5. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford…, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 29 Jun 1917, p. 6
  6. ↑ Minieature on exhibition, The Washington Times (Washington, DC), 21 Feb 1917, p. 3
  7. ↑ * Persian collection for Fair, The Washington Post (Washington, DC), 08 Mar 1914, p. 21
  8. ↑ * Stockman, R. Baha'i Faith in America, The: Early Expansion, 1900–1912 Volume 2. Wilmette, Ill.: George Ronald. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-87743-282-1.
  9. ↑ Lotta Day…, Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 9 Nov 1915, p. 13
  10. ↑ * Color used to treat diseasse; woman has worked out a scale, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 7 Jan 1917, p. 44
  11. ↑ The Haskin Letter' Color-Music, by Frederick J. Haskin, Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls, Montana), 4 Mar 1917, p. 14
  12. ↑ * "Plans for illuminating Engineering Society Correspondence Convention; Tentative program of papers to be published and disccussed by correspondence". Electrical Review. Chicago, Illinois. 71 (5): 190. Aug 4, 1917. Retrieved Jul 15, 2017.
    • "Societies and Associations". American Gas Engineering Journal. New York, NY. 107 (15): 72. July 21, 1017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
    • C. E. Ferree and G. Grand, Beatrice Irwin, M. Luckiesh, Irwin G. Priest, H. C. Richards, Leonard Thompson Troland (February 11, 1918). "A color symposium in six parts". Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society, Part 2 - papers. 8 (1): 1, 14–19, 64–68. Retrieved July 15, 2017.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) ("A series of papers prepared for the 1916-17 Correspondence Convention of the Illuminating Engineering Society, and circulated among members of the Society and others who were thought to be interested. This series was also presented before the New York Section October 11, 1917. …"
  13. ↑ * Hugh Ross Williamson, ed. (January 1931). "The Bookman's Table; The Gates of Light". The Bookman. Vol. 79, no. 472. London, UK. p. 280. ISSN 2043-1503. {{cite magazine}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |editor= (help)
    • "Naw Ruz rites to be observed", San Diego Union (San Diego, California), March 19, 1954, p. 36
    • "Miss Irwin, lecturer, author, dies", San Diego Union (San Diego, California), March 22, 1956, p. 27
  14. ↑ * Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi…, The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois), 10 Mar 1917, p. 32
  15. ↑ * Chicago Bahai assembly…, The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois), 21 Mar 1917, p. 32
  16. ↑ * Bahai Assembly to meet, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 5 Jan 1917, p. 10
  17. ↑ Bahai assembly names delegate to convention, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 21 Apr 1917, p. 20
  18. ↑ * There wil be…, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 13 Jun 1917, p. 6
  19. ↑ * The friends of Abdu'l Baha, The New York Times (New York, New York), 3 Mar 1917, p. 16
  20. ↑ * Esperanto to bind nations, The Sun (New York, New York), 28 May 1917, p. 4
  21. ↑ * Explains Bahai (sic) cult, The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 16 Apr 1917, p. 5
  22. ↑ Miss Martha L. Root…, The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 13 May 1917, p. 32
  23. ↑ An exhibition…, Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 2 Nov 1917, p. 7
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Birth of Baha'o'llah will be observed here, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 11 Nov 1917, p. 10
  25. ↑ A Bahai (sic) meeting, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)08 Dec 1917, Sat • Page 5
  26. ↑ Bahaists meet Sunday in Boston, The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 25 Apr 1917, p. 2
  27. ↑ Bahais meet; declare they will save world, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 18 Jun 1917, p. 17
  28. ↑ * Unity Hotel to be located on Middle street, The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 13 Jun 1917, p. 8
  29. ↑ Opening of 24th season at Green Acre, The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), 7 Jul 1917, p. 8
  30. ↑ "Program for Green Acre Conferences". The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 6 Aug 1917. p. 4. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  31. ↑ Hyde Dunn of San Francisco…, Santa Cruz Evening News (Santa Cruz, California), 16 Apr 1917, p. 1
  32. ↑ * San Francisco Bahai assembly, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California)01 Jul 1917, Sun • Page 1
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Baha'o'llah to be honored by followers, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 11 Nov 1917, p. 10
    • [ttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/12382308/birth_of_bahaullah_observance_at_home/ Bahai fete day], Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 9 Nov 1917, p. 18
  34. ↑ Centennial Anniversary…, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 10 Nov 1917, p. 14
  35. ↑ Bahaists (sic), clan of peace, vote war on Kaiser, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 10 Nov 1917, p 5
  36. ↑ The Bahai assembly of Chicago…, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 11 Nov 1917, p. 10
  37. ↑ * "Bahai (sic) society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), January 7, 1917, p. 74
    • "Bahai Society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), February 11, 1917, p.75
    • "Bahai society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), March 18, 1917, p. 76
    • "Bahai society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), April 1, 1917, p. 79
    • "Bahai society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), April 29, 1917, p. 80
    • "Bahai society", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), May 6, 1917, p. 79
    • "Bahai meeting is Friday", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), May 17, 1917, p. 13
  38. ↑ `Abd al-Baha ibn Baha Allah…, The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), 13 Jan 1917, p. 5
  39. ↑ "Local adherents…", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), April 22, 1917, p. 74
  40. ↑ * "Bahai assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), July 8, 1917, p. 70
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), July 29, 1917, p. 61
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), August 19, 1917, p. 71
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), September 2, 1917, p. 69
  41. ↑ Bahaian leader coming, The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), 3 Jul 1917, p. 5
  42. ↑ * "Bahai assembly subject out", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), September 7, 1917, p. 11
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), September 16, 1917, p. 71
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), September 30, 1917, p. 81
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), October 12, 1917, p. 13
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), November 18, 1917, p. 76
    • "Bahai Assembly", Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), December 30, 1917, p. 63
  43. ↑ Abdul Baha to be honored as leader, The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), 24 Nov 1917, p. 14
  44. ↑ Bahai assembly…, The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), 8 Dec 1917, p. 14
  45. ↑ Notes on the Babi and Bahá'í Religions in Russia and its territories, by Graham Hassall, published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 5:3, 1993, Ottawa: Association for Baha'i Studies English-Speaking Europe, pages 41-80
  46. ↑ * Heroic lives, (Student notebook) by Albert R. Vail and Emily McClellan Vail, Pub - Boston, Beacon Press, 1917
    • Heroic lives, (Teacher notebook) by Albert R. Vail and Emily McClellan Vail, Pub - Boston, Beacon Press, 1917
  47. ↑ Agnes Alexander: 70 years of service, Baha'i News, October, 1983, p. 10
  48. ↑ 'Spiritual victories' in Japan, Korea, Baha'i News, November, 1983, pp. 2-3
  49. ↑ "CABLEGRAM RECEIVED FROM HAIFA, ISRAEL". Bahá'í News. No. 469. April 1970. p. 12.
  50. ↑ "Richard St. Barbe Baker: 1889–1982". Bahá'í News. No. 469. October 1982. p. 7.
  51. ↑ "Edna M. True: 1888–1988". Bahá'í News. No. 94. January 1988. pp. 2–3. ISSN 0195-9212.
  52. ↑ George Hackney, Brian Henry Martin (2016). "The Man Who Shot the Great War" (Documentary video). BBC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  53. ↑ ""The Man Who Shot the Great War"". BBC. November 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
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