Allen B. McDaniel
Allen B. McDaniel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 5, 1879 Exeter, New Hampshire |
| Died | December 18, 1965 Lemon Cove, California |
| NSA member | US & Canada 1925 - 1946 |
Allen Boyer McDaniel (September 5, 1879 - December 18, 1965)[1] was an American Bahá'í who served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States & Canada as Chairman for most of its existence. He also assisted greatly with the construction of the United States House of Worship, serving as supervising engineer.[2] In his career he was an engineer, and he wrote some technical texts.
Biography[edit]
McDaniel was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1879. His father was a Unitarian minister. He studied civil engineering and completed a degree in Architectural Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1901. As of 1910 he was a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of South Dakota.[3] He served as an expediting engineer for the U.S. Army during WWI.[4]
Allen came into contact with the Bahá'í community of Urbana while serving on the faculty of Engineering Department at the University of Illinois in the 1910's and he became a Bahá'í in 1915. In 1920 he became involved in the construction of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, being invited to consult on the elevation of the main floor of the structure, and in 1921 he was appointed to a material committee which was to determine the materials, particularly exterior materials, to be used in the construction of the House of Worship.[5]
In 1925 Allen was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, having been elected as a delegate to that years Bahá'í Convention at Green Acre. By 1927 he was Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly and that year he was appointed as one of three Trustees of the National Spiritual Assembly, who were to hold the material assets of the Bahá'í communities of the United States and Canada excluding the Fund, which included the Temple site, the assets of the Bahá'í Publishing Committee, Bahá'í magazine and Star of the West, and the properties of Green Acre.[6] He also became Chairman of the National Teaching Program Committee in 1927.[7] As of 1928 he was Chairman of the Bahá'í Legal Committee and a member of the Temple Committee.[8]
Allen became increasingly involved in the construction of the House of Worship throughout the 1920's, and in January 1929 the National Assembly authorized him to produce a report after conducting a full investigation of the architectural and engineering plans and consulting with experts on building materials relating to its construction. Later in the year he used his expertise as an engineer to take steps towards protecting the shoreland of the House of Worship site from rising water and storms, consulting with the Director of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey before preparing a bulkhead design.[9][10][11] He was appointed as supervising engineer of the House of Worship construction in 1929 and served in the role until 1943.[12] Allen conducted a complete survey of the Green Acre property from which surveyor's maps were produced, following the property fully coming under the jurisdiction of the Bahá'í community in 1929.[13]
Allen and his firm were appointed to supervise the erection of the superstructure of the House of Worship in 1930. He was also appointed to the Green Acre Program Committee in 1930, and as Chairman of a newly established Publicity Committee.[14][15] In late 1934 he gave talks on the Faith, and on the construction of the House of Worship, in Philadelphia, with 130 people including architects, engineers, sculptors, and lawyers attending his talk on the House of Worship.[16] In 1938 Allen presented a model of the House of Worship, giving a lecture, at Cornell University.[17]
In 1943 George O. Latimer was elected as Chairman of the National Assembly, with Allen being elected as Vice-Chairman, ending his long service as Chair.[18] He finished his service on the National Spiritual Assembly in 1946, and in 1947 he was appointed as a member of the Technical Advisory Board of the House of Worship by its Trustees, and he served in the role until 1952. In 1953 he wrote a book, The Spell of the Temple, which was published by Vantage Press.[19] It detailed the construction of the House of Worship.[20]
Allen lived in Waterford, Virginia, later in life, and after several years struggling with illness he moved to Lemon Cove, California, where he passed in 1965 in his 80's. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after his passing:
GRIEVED LEARN PASSING DEVOTED GREATLY LOVED SERVANT FAITH ALLEN MCDANIEL STOP TIRELESS ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED MOST DIFFICULT PERIOD CONSTRUCTION MOTHER TEMPLE WEST MANIFOLD SERVICES MEMBER NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPANNING NEARLY QUARTER CENTURY UNFORGETTABLE STOP PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL ABUNDANT BLESSINGS ABHA KINGDOM[21]
Publications[22][edit]
- 1910 - Drainage of Farm Lands
- 1911 - The Problem of Sewage Disposal with Reference to the Conditions in South Dakota
- 1913 - Excavating Machinery
- 1915 - Influence of Temperature on the Strength of Concrete
- 1919 - Excavation: Machinery, Methods and Costs
- 1953 - The Spell of the Temple
References[edit]
- Obituary published in Bahá'í World, Vol. 14, pp 364-365
- ↑ Baha'i News (1966). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 419, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 12 (1950-1954), Pg(s) 29. View as PDF.
- ↑ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t6tx3tw4v;view=1up;seq=3
- ↑ Baha'i News (1966). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 419, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Bahá'í World, Vol 1, p 77
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1927). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 17, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1927). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 18, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1928). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 26, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1929). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 30, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1929). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 34, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 37, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 196, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1929). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 34, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 42, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 43, Pg(s) 3-4. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1935). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 89, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 117, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1944). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 170, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1974). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 524, Pg(s) 15. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 266, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
- ↑ Bahá'í World, Vol. 14, pp 365
- ↑ http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=McDaniel%2C%20Allen%20Boyer%2C%201879-
