Albert Windust

Albert Windust
Born	March 28, 1874
Died	March 9, 1956 (aged 81)
Works •  Media

Albert Robert Windust (March 28, 1874 - March 9, 1956) was an early American Bahá’í who served on the first Bahá’í administrative body in Chicago and oversaw the first publications of Bahá’í material in America including the periodical Star of the West.

Biography

Windust was born on the west side of Chicago in 1874 to Thomas and Sarah Windust. His father worked as a printer and his mother was a schoolteacher and they were Episcopalians. Shortly after Windust was born the family moved to Woodlawn in Chicago where his mother founded the First Christ Church of Woodlawn, an Episcopalian church.

In 1888 Windust became an apprentice at his fathers printing firm and he established connections in printing but later studied at the Chicago Art Institute becoming an illustrator. He began investigating the Bahá’í Faith, learning of it from Thornton Chase, at some point while attending a Methodist Church and the minister of the Church gave a sermon denouncing following false God's as he had heard of Windust's investigation, prompting Windust to leave the Church.

In 1897 Windust formally became a Bahá’í and he was elected as a member of the Chicago House of Justice, an administrative body which evolved into the Local Spiritual Assembly of the city. He also served on a committee which wrote a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá requesting permission to construct a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in America after hearing of the construction of one in Ishqabad. Due to his connections in the printing trade he was able to see to the printing of booklets on the Bahá’í Faith and the initial editions of some of the religions scripture, including prayers and the Hidden Words, and in 1910 he founded Star of the West, a periodical on the religion which began to be distributed to the global Bahá’í community.

Windust served as editor of Star of the West alongside Gertrude Buikema up until 1923 when they turned over ownership and responsibility for the publication to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. From 1926 to 1934 he assisted with the compilation and publication of The Bahá’í World, a yearbook on current events in the religion. In 1931 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and met with Shoghi Effendi and he was given the responsibility of delivering copies of Tablets of the Báb to the Holy Land by Shoghi Effendi which were published in The Dawn-Breakers the following year.

Into his later years Windust continued serving the Faith by conducting deepenings on the Covenant and Bahá’í Administration. After his passing Shoghi Effendi conveyed the following message:

"Deeply grieved passing much loved greatly admired staunch ardent promoter Faith, Albert Windust, Herald Covenant, whose notable services Heroic Formative Ages Faith unforgettable. Assure friends relatives fervently supplicating progress soul Kingdom."