Albert Ross Vail

Albert R. Vail
Born	June 27, 1880 Nebraska
Died	May 21, 1966
NSA member	Bahá’í Temple Unity 1915-1917, 1920-1921
Works •  Media

Albert Ross Vail (June 27, 1880 - May 21, 1966) was an American who served on the Bahá'í Temple Unity, the precursor to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, and served as head editor of the Bahá'í periodical Star of the West for a year. He was a Unitarian prior to his involvement with the Faith.

He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in his early twenties, and by 1907 he had gained a Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and was serving the growing Unitarian community in Urbana at the university. That year he hosted talks from a Bahá'í and a Hindu to his group, as well as study of the Qur'an.

In 1912 he met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Malden Mass during his tour of the United States, and began to openly promote the religion and attend various Bahá'í meetings. The exact process by which he came to officially and self identify as a Bahá'í is not known, but he officially left his Church for the Faith in 1918, although he continued to be referred to as "Rev" in newspaper articles about his talks. He worked at national levels of the religion and published two articles about the Faith in non-Bahá'í journals: The Harvard Theological Review and The Open Court, and also wrote a 6th grade "reader" for students and teachers that includes a chapter on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

In 1932 his paid services to the Faith were abruptly, and controversially, ended during the Great Depression, and by 1938 he had moved from Illinois to Michigan where he was often a guest or substitute pastor at a Congregationalist church and wrote World Book Encyclopedia articles. It is not known if he took specific steps to withdraw from the Faith, but later in his life some of his kin were known as Bahá'ís, and he used materials from the religion in some of his work promoting inter-faith religiosity. He died in 1966.

Early Life

Vail was born in Wisner, Nebraska, on June 27, 1880. His father was Irving Hamilton Vail, a Canadian who had moved to Wisner in 1869. His mother was Carrie D. Vail, born 1858 in New York. By June 1900 they were living on Ellis Avenue in Hyde Park in Chicago. Vail had blue eyes and brown hair as a child. He attended Morgan Park Academy in Chicago for four years, and in 1897 he graduated from Morgan Park Academy with a full scholarship for the University of Illinois and under a notice of having received a certificate of admission for the higher academy.

Academic Studies

By 1902 Vail was a senior at the University of Chicago in the College of Literature and that year he appeared in a university comedy play titled "The Case is Altered" playing the role of Finio. In June 1902 he was voted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society and was in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon. In 1903 he represented the university debate team at a "meet" against Michigan which was won allowing the team to advance and compete against Northwestern University in April. He finished a BA degree at the University of Illinois in Urbana in (probably Spring) 1903.

In May 1903 Albert toured Kansas speaking as "Director of the Young People's Religious Union" (the Unitarian equivalent of the YMCA more or less equivalent to the Unitarian Club on campus depending on whether the particular group was campus student based or of a wider community). In 1904 he served on the New England Alumni Club for the University of Illinois as secretary.

After completing his first degree Albert attended Harvard Divinity School, a center of Unitarian training, for 3 years. He studied with William James on pragmatist philosophy and wrote a paper critiquing his Varieties of Religious Experiences which was published in 1902. In 1905 he spoke under the Young People's Religion Union and explained the organization, methods and accomplishments of the Unitarian group. In his final year at the Divinity School he served as president of the group as well as the Harvard Divinity School Unitarian Club. He completed his doctor of divinity degree at Harvard in 1906. It is unknown if he was ever aware of Ali Kuli Khan's appearance at Harvard as a guest of William James in 1905.

Unitarian Pastor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Main article: Coverage of the Baha'i Faith in the Daily Illini

In 1906 Albert moved to Urbana, Il, arriving in September, where he served as pastor for a Unitarian congregation at Urbana-Champaign near the University of Illinois. At this time his mother was living in Chicago. During Albert's time in Illinois he was instrumental to a lot of Baha’i activity, with all the early mentions of the Faith in the Daily Illini student newspaper being due to meetings held by Vail's Unitarian Association which initially had 85 members. The first known instance Vail's group interacting with the Baha'i Faith was when it hosted a talk about the Faith by "Amir Ullah Fareed", who was listed as a student of the Medical College of the University, which was given on April 28, 1907 in the Commerce Building.

In May 1907 Vail organized a "Unity Club", the renamed "Association", which would go on to play a more specific role in the beginnings of the Faith in the area. Vail introduced diverse texts to the Unity Club including the Qur'an and Hindu texts. By the end of 1907 the Unitarian Association had grown to 120 members. In 1908 a Unitarian Church was constructed in Urbana due to Albert's efforts. Vail married Emily McClellan, the youngest sister of his close college friend John McClellan. She was from from Lexington Kentucky, in June 1909. By 1910 Vail's parents had moved to Omaha, Nebraska. In 1911 Vail traveled to some Unitarian conferences which he delivered talks at. In early 1912 he helped induct a new minister in Iowa.

Vail met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Malden Mass in August 1912 during the latter's travels in America. He would later mark this as a pivoting point for his life but he did not remark on it publicly at the time. As of October, 1912, Vail was serving on Unitarian committees of Publication and District Supervisors (for Middle and Southern States and Canada). In November he hosted a talk by the Indian polymath Rabindranath Tagore, who would soon be famous, at the Unity Club.

As early as January 1913 Vail was speaking on the Baha'i Faith at the Urbana Unitarian church. He also published an article in the The Unitarian Advance entitled "Abdul-Baha, and His Gospel of Unity" in which he said:

There sailed from New York a few weeks ago a man who incarnated in his daily living the open mind, good-will, and the unity of spirit which we liberals have made our central gospel for the past hundred years. Abdul Baha recalls the picture of our saints—our Emerson, James Freeman Clarke, Edward Everett Hale. The more we saw of him the deeper sank the impression of his pure spirituality.

In February, he was on the program for a university open house in the Department of Household Science hosted in the Congregational Church. Prominent Baha'i Lua Getsinger gave a followup presentation on the Faith at the Unity Club on March 9 that year. Vail gave a talk on the religion again on March 15 and 16. In September, 1913, Vail delivered a series of lectures at the Unitarian Church on different philosophers which included 'Abdu'l-Baha. Later in 1924 he would go on to speak on "Kurrutu'l-Ayn"(Tahirih) and Abdu'l-Baha. In October, 1913, he attended a Unitarian conference in New York. He was described as having "rare courage" and a "serenity of spirit" and taking part in "lively debates". In the November 1913 issue of The Unitarian Advance he was noted as having presented a talk on "Bahaism" and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He was listed as an associate editor for the September 1913 and January 1914 issues of The Unitarian Advance. In January 1914 Albert attended a Unitarian conference in Indiana.

In April, 1914, Vail attended the annual National Convention at which the Bahá’í Temple Unity, a precursor to the National Spiritual Assembly, was elected as the delegate for Urbana despite not being recognized as a Baha'i at the time. There was no formal procedure for becoming a Baha'i at this time, and it is possible that Albert considered himself a Baha'i at this time. At the Convention he reported on developments in the study of the Baha'i teachings in Urbana and was asked to write a review of the literature of the "Bahai movement" for the Star of the West. He reportedly spoke with an eloquence that moved and thrilled the audience. He was the final speaker at the Convention and it was reported that his "discourse was unique in penetrating power and beauty of utterance among all the eloquent addresses of the Convention" and that the chair had stopped reviewing the watch which limited speakers time. Reports lamented that the speech was not written down but one recorded that it traced the the proofs of Manifestation, noting the martyrdoms of Persia, the need of divine authority to solve human problems, and the lives of the Central Figures of the Faith. In May Vail attended the annual meeting of the American Unitarian Association in the Boston area.

Vail wrote a formal summary of the Baha'i Faith which was published in the July 1914 edition of The Harvard Theological Review, He consulted the following sources for information:

• Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh, Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago (undated)
• A Traveller's Narrative, credited as by Edward G. Browne, Cambridge, 1892.
• The Modern Social Religion, by Horace Holley; Sidgwick & Jackson, London and Toronto, 1913.
• untitled work by Sydney Sprague, Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago, (undated)
• A Year with the Bahais in India and Burmah; Priory Press, London, (undated)
• Abbas Eflendi, His Life and Teachings; Putnam's, 1902
• Bahai Martyrdoms in Persia, by Mirza Husain Ali; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago, 1904.
• Flowers from the Rose Garden of Acca; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago, (undated)
• Some Answered Questions; Kegan Paul, Trench, Tritbner, & Co., London, 1908.
• Paris Addresses of Abdul Baha (no publisher or date noted)
• Abbas Effendi, by Myron Phelps (undated)
• Tablet of the World, from Tarazat and other Tablets, by Bahá'u'lláh, p. 27; Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago, 1913.
• Star of the West, vol. Ill, no. 6, p. 8.
• Seven Valleys (uncredited)
• Tablets of Abdul Baha (uncredited)

In September Vail officiated a wedding. Glenn Shook, an officer in Vail's "Unity Club", officially became the first recognized Baha'i in Urbana in October 1914.

In March 1915 Vail gave a talk in Cincinnati at a Unitarian conference. He spoke on the Baha'i Faith at weekly evening meetings held on campus at the University of Illinois for most of April 1915. In May he visited Cincinnati again and gave several talks, including one which was explicitly on the Baha'i Faith.

At the end of August, 1915, Vail visited Sioux City, Iowa, and while there he picked up on a play's question on "The Next Religion" suggesting it may be the Baha'i Faith He attended a Unitarian conference on the West coast later that month at which he gave talks and helped organize activities. When he returned to the University of Illinois he continued speaking on the Faith. In August he visited Boston and gave an inter-church service and taught a class at Baha'i school and conference center Green Acre during which he spoke on Tolstoy's work. In late August he gave a church service in Oakland, California. Upon returning to Illinois he began speaking on the Baha'i Faith again in October 1916. In 1915 Vail was elected to the Bahá’í Temple Unity.

In 1916 Vail wrote a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. At the time this was the closest equivalent to a modern declaration to become a Baha'i. A reply from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was sent on Dec 27, 1916, but due to WWI it was returned and had to be re-sent and did not arrive until Oct 9, 1918. It was published in the Nov 23rd 1918 edition of Star of the West. In the Tablet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá affirms the news that the "light of Islam" is being spread in the West, (perhaps referring to news of Vail's use of the Qur'an in various settings) and that the achievement of radiant unity at Green Acre (possibly referring to the August meeting above) was very laudable, and to convey various messages from Him to various people including Harry Randall, Juliet Thompson, Martha Root, Roy Wilhelm and "Eshte'al Ebn Kalanter", and praises Corinne True.

In early February, 1917, Vail was in Schenectady NY where he gave a series of talks on the Faith. He returned again at the end of April that year and received positive feedback in the press. Vail and his wife Emily McClellan Vail published a two volume set of books for sixth grade curriculums with student and teacher editions in 1917 which was titled Heroic Lives. Both volumes included chapters about the Baha'i Faith.

Vail was not re-elected to the Bahá’í Temple Unity in 1917 ending his first term on the body. He attended the National Convention in 1918 at which he was named to the committee to make a compilation on the Most Great Peace.

Embracing the Baha'i Faith

1918

On May 1, 1918, Vail submitted his resignation from the Unitarian Church due to opposition he had faced to his teaching of the Baha'i Faith, an excerpt:

"Six years ago I met a servant of God named Abdul Baha, so universal in mind, brilliant in utterance, so pure, so radiant with universal love, so majestic in the power of his holy spirit that I became convinced he and his equally perfect and glorious father, Baha o'llah, were God's own messengers of light and salvation to our modern world…. Therefore, I dedicated my life to making know this great discovery. I taught it little by little in the church services, in its fullness in our Friday evening meetings. But some of the older members of the church whom I deeply loved objected. Therefore I have resigned lest my teaching cause division in our beloved church."

Later he formally resigned to the Urbana Congregation. A newspaper report described him as having "finally found in the writings and lives of two great Persian teachers the principles of a universal religion which desires to embrace men of all nations and religions in one great brotherhood." Two thirds of the Church congregation signed a statement which said that while they did not accept his teaching of the Baha'i Faith they recognized his right to do so and did not want him to resign however Albert declined to call a vote on the subject, and his resignation was accepted and finalized by May 6th. Despite his resignation he was able to speak the Baha'i Faith as a sermon on May 11. He moved from Urbana to Chicago after his resignation.

Vail was officially recognized to have become a Baha'i in 1918 and a small amount of the Urbana Unitarian congregation also converted. The Unitarian Association Vail had founded rejected joining the Christian-Creed following Universalist organization that same year, and continued without an assigned minister relying on lay leadership except for a few months until at least 1920 and perhaps until 1928. Vail registered for the draft in September 1918.

Several works by Vail were published in the November 1918 edition of the Star of the West. An editorial by him was headed with a note from the editors which reported that he had resigned his pastorship, and moved to Chicago. His editorial was titled "The Dawn of the Most Great Peace". Another work published was a compilation by Vail titled "Teach the Cause of God - The Most Important Work". In December Star of the West included an editorial by Vail titled "Let us build the Temple".

In December 1918 Vail taught the Faith in Omaha and Kansas City.

1919

Vail was an active member of the Chicago Baha'i community after moving to the city and during February 1919 he gave presentations on the Faith at Baha'i meetings in Chicago. In late May he spoke at a Baha'i meeting in Chicago alongside several other well known Baha'is including Harlan Ober, Zia Bagdadi, Ahmad Sohrab and others. In late June he remained in Chicago and continued to deliver talks.

Although he had moved to Chicago Albert continued to support the Urbana community by returning several times during 1919 to deliver talks. In February he spoke on the Faith at the University of Illinois Commerce Building giving six lectures apparently to a large audience. This presentation was reviewed in an article in the Daily Illini which highlighted the call for an international league of countries to settle international disputes. It also noted that he had been traveling the country to present the religion, for example in Kansas. He gave another talk on the campus in March which was about the Baha'i views on science and religion. In April he gave a talk at the university which a review summarized with the following quote

"A league of religions is the only foundation for the League of Nations" as it would depend on a sense of universal brotherhood, and universal brotherhood depends on religious teaching "to change men's hearts", and therefore a league of religions is needed.

In later April 1919 two members of the University of Illinois staff - Cora E Gray of the Department of Home Economics, and Beatrice Owens, editorial assistant of the University Press - went to the Baha'i National Convention in New York, at which the Tablets of the Divine Plan would have been officially presented to the community. Vail spoke at the Convention. His talk was published in Star of the West in April 1920, somewhat about his impression on meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and also the call of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the world torn by strife. After the Convention he returned to Chicago where he gave talks to the Baha'is. In September he returned Urbana for the final time that year to give a talk at the University of Illinois Commerce Building again.

In May Vail was scheduled to give lectures at the University of Illinois Commerce Building, however this talk was cancelled due to Vail being ill, but Vail was able to deliver a talk at the home of Mrs. H. A. Harding in Urbana which was about facing problems "introduced by the promoters of the Bahai movement" according to the wording of the newspaper. In June Albert returned to Urbana and gave some talks at the University of Illinois Commerce building, replacing those he had cancelled in May, and also spoke Mrs. H. A. Harding's again. His talk at the Hardings was titled "How to know a Universal Educator when he comes".

During 1919 Vail had the fortune to be both the recipient and subject of correspondence from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. On March 21, a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to both Albert and his wife Emily was published in Star of the West. In it ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expresses approval of gatherings on Sundays for discussion of "Pure and Sanctified Living", "Universal Brotherhood" and "Philosophy of Universal Religion." In May Albert received a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which was in reply to a letter he had sent on December 19, 1918. The Tablet notes the importance of divine light over any other light and that souls, once they make the effort to see, become illumined instantly, and repeatedly refers to "thy revered wife". An October issue of Star of the West published a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá for Corinne True which mentioned that Vail "is prepared and has capacity for great services". Another Tablet, to Mother Beecher, published in November listed Vail among those who participated in a summer school at Green Acre and conveyed that the endeavor should be to perpetuate these achievements. In August 1919 a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá co-signed by many Baha'is including Albert and his wife Emily was printed in the Star of the West.

Another field in which Vail was extremely active in during 1919 was writing. A March Star of the West issue included an article by Vail, "The Teaching Campaign", which summarized teaching events, including his December 1918 tour of Omaha and Kansas City and an upcoming tour through Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, in March and April, 1919. On May 10 an article by Vail was published in The Progressive Think which was later echoed in an article published in Star of the West in March 1920. As of July Vail was contributing coverage of the Central States for Star of the West with Carl Scheffler. This was as a result of developments at the "Second Baha'i Teaching Convention of the Central States" which was held in Chicago, from May 23rd to 25th, 1919, which aimed to carry out ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's instructions for teaching the Faith within America in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. Vail wrote a report on the Chicago conference for the Star of the West. His report records the group ratifying the work of the New York Convention arising from the newly arrived Tablets of the Divine Plan. It also noted the various talks given at the convention including Vail's own "How Baha'o'llah, 50 years ago, laid the Foundation for the League of Nations".

In late 1919 Vail aimed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He applied for a passport in September, received it via William H. Randall and set sail on the SS Patria, arriving in Haifa in October, 1919. His pilgrim group in Haifa and Acca was lead by Shoghi Effendi and included Saichiro Fujita. In November, during his pilgrimage, John Esslemont asked Vail for assistance in expanding some chapters for Baha'u'llah and the New Era with an attempt at a review of the world wide progress of the religion, asking Vail for a summary of the American Baha'i community. While Vail's personal knowledge was probably lacking he may have been able to provide the well known details of the early phases of the Faith in the country. Vail returned to America from pilgrimage in December, with a letter written by George Latimer on December 19, 1919 aboard the S.S. Canopic, notinh Vail's presence among those returning from pilgrimage.

1920

In 1920 Vail spent much of his time in Urbana. In January he spoke at the University of Illinois about his pilgrimage. A report described his talk saying that it reviewed his experience in Palestine, as it was then called, which would be gone into detail over a further series of talks. It also noted he had been a minister at the Unitarian Church for 12 years which would place him there, before his resignation, at about 1902. He gave another talk on campus about two weeks later in late January, wherein he spoke on the gathering of Christians, Jews, Moslems, and Buddhists at the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. A second meeting was again scheduled at the home of Mrs. Harding.

Vail's next talk in Urbana was in late March in the University Commerce Building and was on the development of peace. As usual a second talk was held at Mrs. Hardings which was about the Baha'i interpretation of Christian prophecy of the times. In April Albert gave a talk the Baha'i teaching on the unity of science and religion at the Commerce Building. After this Vail undertook a teaching trip to the east coast where he gave talks in various cities. This was the start of an extended tour during which Albert often often associated with Louis Gregory.

Vail served as the delegate for Urbana, and also simultaneously as one of the delegates for Chicago, to the 1920 National Convention in April. Vail received 18 votes in the election of the Bahá’í Temple Unity, with the least votes for someone elected was 25, however due to some of the elected requesting to be exempt from serving on the body successive rounds of balloting took place and Vail was ultimately re-elected to the body for the first time since 1916. Vail spoke at the observation of Ridvan at the Convention, beginning with a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and then expanding on the theme of the divine springtime changing the world. At a session of the Convention he gave a talk in which he alternated between quoting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and speaking on the subject of international peace needing divine guidance to be achieved.

In May a "Teaching Convention" for the Central States was held at which Vail and Annie Parmerton reported details from the national convention. In August Vail began delivering a new series of talks centred around "The Bahai Teachings on Immortality", which were initially held in Corinne True's home or his own. Additionally it is reported he traveled to St Louis and Urbana. A Tablet to Mr. and Mrs. Deuth arrives speaking of the praise of Vail for praising them.

Vail continued to write for Star of the West. In early June 1920 a summary of events in Green Acre by Vail was published.

Paid traveling teacher

1921

Vail presented at the 1921 national convention. He addressed the convention with a talk on the confirmation of the Holy Spirit being more effective than the hopes of philosophers. He was not re-elected to the Temple Unity or teaching committee.

In May Vail attended the first major Race Amity Convention in Washington DC. He gave a talk "The Radiant Century of the Passing of Prejudice" one day and presided over a session on the next day which included a violin performance by a grandson of Frederick D Douglas. ALso in May Vail's wife attended a Pen League meeting with Martha Root at which Ahmad Shorab read Hafiz and there were also other performances.

A major event for the Baha'i community came when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away November 1921, news of this was sent by telegram by Bahíyyih Khánum, sister of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He was succeeded by His grandson Shoghi Effendi, who He had appointed in His Will and Testament as leader of the Faith.

1922

Vail gave talks to several groups in the Washington DC area throughout January and early February, and then in New York City in middle February Vail had spoken to several groups and then one in Philadelphia before reaching Chicago Feb 12. He wrote a brief report on the 1922 national convention for Star of the West. He also spoke at the convention.

Editorship of Star of the West

Since the national convention of 1921 Vail was serving on the supervising committee of the Star of the West. In the May 17th 1922 issue the editorial staff of Star of the West, Albert Windust and Gertrude Buikema, report that the Special Board appointed by the (newly named) National Spiritual Assembly had appointed Albert and Emily Vail as the key editorial staff for the coming issues.

• No issues were published for later May, June and July.
• The next issue, August, the Vails, Emily and Albert, are noted as "Acting Editors" of Star of the West, and Vail contributed a biography of Genevieve Coy.
• The September issue included photographs of the construction of the Baha'i Temple and several stories otherwise uncredited (that is to say sourced like from Shorab's diary but not who selected and transcribed them), as well as a couple articles by Vail: "First meeting in the Bahai Temple", and "The coming of the Promised One".
• Several issues had some incompletely credited articles, compilations, or selections from Tablets that someone had to transcribe, and some of these contain the early correspondence of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian and from Bahiyyih Khanum - October, November,, December, January 1923, February, and March.
• The last issue of the 1923-24 Star of the West, April, notes that Vail resigned as editor to focus on the teaching work "in accordance with the wishes of Shoghi Effendi" and that this had missed publishing the issues in 1922. The July issue debuted with Stanwood Cobb as editor.

Around editing the Star

While serving as editor Vail continued his teaching work, for example by giving a talk at a Baha'i meeting in downtown Chicago on May 28 1922 and another in August.

1923

In April 1923 Vail attended the national convention and gave a talk in which he noted the overriding importance of the universal expressions of spirit and more particularly of the Temple, which is more important than great insight that few can understand or appreciate and that it takes a united spirit to bring it about to raise up such beauty. In October 1923 Vail is noted speaking in Milwaukee.

The idea of paid teachers of the religion was controversial in some quarters of the Baha'i Faith. Some wrote to the head of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, about the matter in 1923 but he refused to step into national policy. However sometimes there was an apparent conflict in the minds of others between being a paid employee as a traveling teacher of the religion and a member as in the case of Gregory. And this 1923 issue might have been a followup to that in 1922. In the 1922 national election there had been rumors circulated of unfair support for Gregory - there was indeed legal if unfair support for Gregory though it was clarified Gregory had no part in what happened and those responsible censured and the electoral process adjusted to prevent similar incidents - but it was an unhealthy sense of Gregory's importance that led people astray from keeping to the spirit of Baha'i elections and this sense of pressure "for the right reason" would come up again.

1924-25

In 1924 Vail address the national convention on the topic of reconciling religion and science, and to put away superstition and reveal the true spirit which frees and unites humanity. Later in Oct he participated in the fourth Amity Convention, this one being held in Philadelphia. Vail was the last speaker of the first session, drawing lessons of where prejudice obscures achievement while the natural and divine qualities show we are one and the Central Figures of the Faith drew people of all types to the truth.

From late 1924 to early 1925 he is noted in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and into Virginia but the major work was a repeated circle of trips in three circuits: Milwaukee and Madison Wisconsin; Peoria, Springfield, Urbana, Chicago, Evanston and Winnetka, Illinois; and Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland Ohio and Pittsburgh Penn. One of these made the Daily Illini in March. Again it is in the Commerce Building this time noting how science without religion was disrupting the world and other aspects of the Baha'i Faith to promulgate peace. At 17th national convention held in early July 1925, at Green Acre, Vail gives an address on the role of the Manifestation to unveil ever newer more divine ways of education. Vail next presents on the religion in October 1925 and then in November - and for the first time an couple paragraphs portrait of the religion is printed in the newspaper albeit as an advertisement.

1926-1927

In the next years events unfolded quickly enough that the end of 1926 goes right into 1927. In January 1926 he gave a talk at Lincoln Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In May he delivered three talks - May 2nd he is at the eighteenth annual Baha'i national convention that year held in San Francisco that year and delivered the address for the public session with a broad review of the religion and history. On May 7th he is at the Pasadena Browning Society in Florida on the occasion of the annual celebration of the birth of Robert Browning. His talk was later published in Star of the West. The talk addresses the line "the variance now, the eventual unity" from Browning's poem and speaks of examples of Baha'is gathering diversity into unity from his experience on pilgrimage. On May 21 he is cited in the Berkeley Daily Gazette that there were "Untried Paths to Universal Peace" speaking to the City Commons Club. In July he again was in the news with a portrayal of the religion in print for his talk having returned from a trip around the Western US promoting the religion. In October Vail gives another talk after another tour of the Western US and anticipates a tour of the East that coming Winter. Around November or December Vail is leading classes on the religion in for inquirers after the Baha'is hosted some "World Unity Conferences" in Cleveland and co-hosted by Vail and Gregory in January in Dayton OH.

At the next Amity Convention, held in January 1927, Vail was the principle speaker and his topic was "Scientific Proofs of the Oneness of Humanity" paralleling scientific and religious observations of our common humanity.

Another set of amity conventions were held in April and Vail was among those who spoke to groups of inquirers afterwards. Another account of the conference noted he was the first speaker, on "New Proofs of the Oneness of Humanity" and his sincerity and idealism and truth was given highest review, "never-to-be-forgotten". Indeed he so busy that in January 1927 it isn't Vail that speaks on campus at University of Illinois but Fanny Knobloch, in February it is Louis Gregory, and in early March it is Johanna Schubarth mentioned in the Daily Illini who speaks near campus. Vail makes his return appearance in late March on campus, though he is followed at the very end of March by Corinne True.

Come early June 1927 Vail returns for a talk on campus at Urbana-Champaign. He noted at the time there were 69 organized communities of Baha'is in the US and Canada at the time. Vail returned to campus at the end of June. Vail next appears in July 1927 at Green Acre on "New Vision of Human Oneness" for an amity conference. Then in September at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and then another couple talks in October before heading east in November. While he is away, Mrs. George Busey talks at a meeting off campus. In November Vail is cooperating in another Race Amity Convention again which Alain Locke noted Vail's contributed talk "How all mankind are One" positively.

1928

In 1928 he is noted giving a large series of activities. In January he presided at a Amity Convention in Chicago of 1928. In February he spoke to several comparative religion classes in Chicago at least one of which continued as study class just on the Baha'i Faith into May. Later Vail gave a pair of talks in March at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after returning from a tour of Eastern cities, but this would prove to be his last talk in the Urbana/University of Illinois area for quite some time. In May he addressed a Western Conference of (probably) Unitarians and spoke at the Baha'i Temple Foundation Hall to other groups of comparative religion classes of Chicago where three students joined the religion, one of them from China and returning there. He was formally invited to several comparative religion classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Meanwhile Gregory got elected to the National Assembly in April 1928 while Vail's work was one of two who gave "great and unusual services". The Green Acre staff and the Teaching Committee of the National Assembly planned to develop a program to be held on the porch of the Fellowship House at Green Acre - Vail is among those listed to work on it. In July Zia Bagdadi names Vail among the converts won by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the States. Then in August Vail is one of the select presenters at the Foundation Hall of the Baha'i Temple split between himself and Corinne True and the Baha'i Publishing Committee notes his "The Baha'i Movement: Its Spiritual Dynamic" on their list of booklets for sale. In Nov, Gregory notes an "impressive tribute" paid by Vail to Archbishop Barrow and of the black race in general and ultimately the image of the Baha'i Temple, shifting into a talk "The Temple of God: Its Light of Unity".

1929

January 1929 Vail was presenting regularly at the Foundation Hall of the Baha'i Temple. A report of the Green Acre Committee in July 1929 notes his membership and teaching classes on uniting themes from sciences and the Baha'i teachings, how to present the synthesis of these subjects, and how to attain to a radiant life, there in the summer school most of August, 3 days a week, following Gregory's work in July. His membership on the Green Acre Committee continued into 1930, (where he served with Glenn Shook who had declared as a Baha'i from Vail's Unity Club at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.)

Together, Vail and Gregory earned $5760 in 1929-30, ($82k in 2014 dollars) for supporting themselves, their travels, and their wives though neither family had children, (note that in that period even if wives wanted to work it was socially often proscribed and married women were excluded from jobs.) That some who devoted their time to promoting the religion were paid and others not, seemed to some to suppress other's options, and was seen as a problem particularly in the American West. In a 1935 Leroy Ioas wrote a letter noting a reason to promote firesides as a primary teaching method to overcome the Baha'i community's relative introversion that he believed came from thinking that only special Bahá’ís could "teach".

1930

Dorothy Beecher Baker, another who would, like Louis Gregory, be appointed a Hand of the Cause, remembered a sense of spiritual challenge to render a great service to the religion from Vail circa 1930. In July he is at Green Acre teaching classes. In August he participates in a Green Acre based Race Amity Convention.

1931

In January 1931 he addressed a Chicago book cluband in July he wrote for The Open Court about the Temple at Wilmette and the teachings of the religion. He was also noted on the staff editing the Baha'i News in 1931.

Distancing from the religion

In February Vail was at a conference of Unitarians in Iowa. On April 4, shortly before the national convention, Vail is set to speak at several meetings in Indianapolis.

When his and Louis Gregory's employment as a traveling teacher was terminated in 1932 (announced to them in April 1932, after the national convention, paid through January 1933) by the National Spiritual Assembly, Vail, a minister beginning circa 1903, was without a paid job and about 30 years experience as a ministering promulgator of religion during a period of the greatest economic distress in the country - the Great Depression between 1929 and 1941. However there was a crisis inside the Faith as well: in the midst of the Depression the National Baha'i Fund had severely suffered and the funds to continue the work of building the Baha'i Temple were in question. Indeed priorities for beginning construction to finish by the goal date of June 1 1933 were noted July 1932, reiterated in October, substantiated in January 1933, with steps taking into the end of the summer.

Such issues were complicated by various tensions - on the one hand the propriety of paid teachers, bubbling along since 1923, and on the other of an unhealthy enthusiasm for these very successful paid teachers. In 1931 the national teaching committee circulated a letter that, in their view, the teaching work and demands on time suggested to them, in a statement contrary to Baha'i spirit of the electoral process, the paid traveling teachers should not be elected to other positions (such as Gregory had been with the National Assembly.) This may have been significant enough, despite the censure of the national assembly before convention, to change the pattern of voting and change in the makeup of the next national assembly and the resulting decision to end their service in the face of the economic crisis. Vail and Gregory were informed of the discussion in April 1932. Gregory and Alfred Lunt are known to have spoken out about the way they were informed, and Holley has been noted elsewhere as being limited in the warmth of his communications and instead to seem authoritarian. In June Gregory wrote a six page appeal for the National Assembly wondering at various influences that could have affected the soundness of the decision. Gregory in particular noted:

"The report that he [Vail] is now looking for a church has deep pathos. Think of him seeking shelter in the church which he abandoned to serve the Cause of God! Would an Oriental teacher be forced to ask a Mosque for aid? Will such knowledge if spread help this glorious cause? When the entire clergy of America were asleep, Albert was awake and went and put himself at the feet of the Master. Since then he left his church. Since then he has refused a salary of $7500 from another church because of his loyalty to this cause(sic) Do you think that the one at whose feet he [knelt] is absent or out of the picture or will forget? I swear by the Greatest Name, upon which my hope depends for time and eternity, that if Albert Vail is now pierced by the sword of rancor (which God forbid!) I would far rather be he than the wielder of that sword."

Alfred Lunt, until 1932 the secretary of the national assembly, was deeply troubled at the changed administration practices in other respects and the arguments drew the attention of Shoghi Effendi who directed that public discussions were to be ended instantly, defended both sides from any implications and indeed Lunt and Holley worked cordially in years to come. While Gregory overcame resentments and gained peace and cooperation, Vail indeed left, though the national assembly and Guardian sought to encourage his individual efforts, and though he demonstrably kept the ideals all his life. Gregory, however, was observed to be the greater for overcoming the situations. Vail's father died in April, 1933 and was burried in Mt. View Cemetery in Pasadena, California, where they had lived since about 1920. Never the less, Vail is one of three representatives chosen by the national assembly to go to the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition with Mary Hanford Ford and Allen McDaniel in later 1933.

In 1934 he officiates at the funeral of Mrs. George Busey in Urbana. The article doesn't mention her religion but above you can see she talked for the Faith.

In Spring 1935 a column "A Better Way" quotes him and is echoed in several newspapers. In June he performs a wedding.

In 1937 he succeeded in beginning to write articles on religions for the World Book Encyclopedia and continued to 1947, then totaling 23 articles.

Vail maintained his residence in the area until about 1938 when he moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, and they "didn't even have a phone."

Michigan

Several newspaper stories cover his activity in the Benton Harbor area of south-west Michigan starting from 1939, almost always at Congregationalist churches in the neighborhood of St. Joseph where they lived. But the activity is low - the next mention is in 1943, more than a decade after his talks in 1931. In 1943 he officiated at the funeral of Bahá'í Agnes Kahlke.

Thereafter the list of engagements varies by year but with an increasing visibility - a single talk in 1945and 1947, five in 1948 between one church in one town, and some in another. Again six talks or sermons occur between them in 1949, along with appearing on local radio WHFB. 1950 marks another increase in talks and sermons amidst the death of his mother in early May, and popularity in one of the towns, Watervliet, including a wedding, while he substituted for an absent pastor but there were no talks known in 1951 and only some five mentions in 1952. Similarly in 1953, and 1954 though then he is at a Methodist Church during the absence of a minister at first and then back at a Congregationalist church again substituting there. In 1955 he officiates at a funeral among two series of guest sermons. In 1956 he officiates at a wedding, gives talks at social events sometimes with Mrs. Vail visible, and sometimes guest or substitute sermons. In 1957 he is only mentioned once. There are no mentions of him in 1958 and 1959. In 1960 he is only mentioned twice - as a visitor to the Congregational church 75th anniversary events, and second as officiate at a funeral . In 1961 he co-officiates at a wedding, and a funeral, where for the first time he is called "retired". He also gives a couple talks.

His wife, Emily McClellan Vail, died May 20, 1962 aged 83. He credits her as his editor of the works they wrote, condensing his work voluminous words often "by 1/3rd".

Following his wife's death, starting with the remainder of 1962 and into 63 he becomes very active again. Starting in June and into July 1962 he does a few services, then three in 1963. But he is far more active outside of giving sermons. It is noted in the Fall of 1963 in a couple major articles on Vail that in 1962 and '63 he taught a YMCA adult class "Great Thinkers of the East and West" (emphasizing the East) based on a curriculum developed by Robert Hutchinson at the University of Chicago. Mrs. Hutchinson, at least, was a visible Baha'i from 1945. The materials for the class included: (there are several misspellings in the news article - ) Plato, The Bible, St. Augustine, Aristotle, The "Koran", Dante, Tagore, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, "Blutarch", "Confucious", the "Budda", and Mohammed. The class had eight sessions starting later in October. Mention is also made that he speaks at small meetings often - teacher's institutes, classrooms, PTAs and so on. The YMCA class had "doctors, lawyers, executives, an engineer, housewives, teachers, a janitor, a high school principal, a nursing supervisor, a farmer's wife and a secretary" in addition to high school and college students. While the article is generous in covering Vail's life it mentions the Baha'i Faith not at all save obliquely that Vail "extensive travels through the world lecturing and researching on the world's religions" and that "In 1921 Dr. Vail was instrumental in bringing the first interracial meeting in Washington DC, when the first of many Amity Conventions was held."

Vail died May 21, 1966 and the funeral officiated by a Congregationalist pastor. He is buried in Riverview Cemetery, Saint Joseph.

Posthumously, the last book he and his wife had been working on, Albert Ross Vail; Emily McClellan Vail (1970). Transforming light: the living heritage of world religions. Harper & Row. was published. A chapter of which has been placed online at bahai-library.com.

At least two of his then surviving kin were Baha'is - Margaret Jensen and Samuel McClellan.

Benton Harbor natives and Baha'is Edward and Betty Filstrup presented about the Baha'i Faith to the "Stella Nova" group of the First Congregational Church February 1969 shortly before pioneering to Pakistan. After a couple years they returned to the States and then in 1971 again moved to Pakistan where Edward built a private school.

See also

Bahai.works has a related page: Author:Albert R. Vail

• Travelers and Scholars on the Bábí/Baha'i Faiths
• Category:Mention of Baha'is in College newspapers
• Howard Colby Ives, another Unitarian convert to the Faith