Duane L. Herrmann
Duane L. Herrmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 Topeka, Kansas |
| Declared | 1969 |
 | This article does not cite any sources; the information may not be accurate or reliable. |
Duane L. Herrmann is a native of Kansas (born 1951), he entered the Bahá’í community in 1969 at age 17. During his college years he pioneered to Hays, Kansas where a Spiritual Assembly was soon formed, then to Garden City, Kansas were he did his student teaching. Returning to Topeka, he became the youngest Chairman of that Spiritual Assembly. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Topeka Assembly, he provided a historical sketch to honor the original members of the Assembly, his centennial history of the Topeka Bahá’í community, By Thy Strengthening Grace, grew from that. The year after its publication, 2007, that book was awarded the Ferguson Kansas History Book Award for its contribution to Kansas history.
He married Susan Roth in 1974 and they had four children. In 1979 he was an original member of the Board of directors of Interfaith of Topeka, one of the earliest such organizations in the nation and twenty-some years later, the first Bahá’í to be its President. A few years later, he was asked to be a member of the Board of directors of the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice, then elected its President. While doing so, he was invited to be a member of a planning committee for Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative activities. In 2019, for an MLK event, he was asked by the local Imam to represent him and the local Islamic center.
He chose, as an extension teaching goal, the village of his great grandfather in Bavaria, Germany. In his halting German he has been able to acquaint a few members of his family and their friends with the Faith. On his fourth trip, he was able to proclaim the Faith while giving a public poetry reading there.
In 1997 he helped in the state-wide effort to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Faith in Kansas in the little town of Enterprise, Kansas, the site of the second Baha'i community in the Western hemisphere. This created a life-long friendship with the President of the bank there, a desendent of a family involived in that first Baha'i community in Kansas. He provided a weekly column in a local newspaper and frequently mentioned the Faith from that time till his death in 2020. Mention of this Baha'i connection to the town became a standard piece of information about the town in civic promotions.
The Summer 2022 issue of: Kansas History, a journal of the central plains, a publication of the Kansas State Historical Society and Kansas State University, features a biographical article on Barbara Ehrsam, of Enterprise, Kansas, who invited the first Baha'i teacher to her home in 1897 from which the first Baha'i community, the second west of Egypt, arose. This clearly establishes the role of the Baha'i Faith in the history of Kansas. Early news articles are mentioned, including the announcement, in 1920, of the design selected for the House of Worship in Wilmette. That featured a photograph of the model now on display in the basement of the House of Worship.
His history book: "By Thy Strengthening Grace - the first one hundred years of the Topeka Baha'i Community: 1906-2006 was published for the centennial of the Topeka Baha'i community, may be the first published history, in book form, of a local Baha'i community. In 2007 it was awarded the Ferguson Kansas History Book Award "for its contribution to Kansas history."
Herrmann began writing as a child. His first poems were published while he was in high school, and his first prose shortly after he entered university. In 1989 his poetry was awarded the Robert Hayden Poetry Felloswhip by Louhelen. By 2007 he was considered one of "the most recognized poets of Kansas" and included in a special issue of Midwest Quarterly. He is also featured on the State of Kansas poetry website and the Kansas Center for the Book site. By that date his poetry, histories and other work had been published in a dozen countries in four languages. In 2009 his poem, "Family Plowing," was selected for inclusion in the 'Kansas Poets Trail' in downtown Wichita, Kansas.
He has written several stories illustrating Baha'i history for a variety of publication projects for children.
In 2013 an entry for the Map of Kansas Literature, a project of the Center for Kansas Studies of Washburn University of Topeka, was added to recognize his literary accomplishments.
Further accomplishments include several collections of poetry (Ichnographical:173, Praise the King of Glory, Family Plowing and other prairie poems new and used, Remnants of a Life, No Known Address, and Zephyrs of the Heart). His science fiction novel: Escape from Earth: the Journal of a Planetary Pioneer, or Murder on Makana explores the possibilities of establishing human civilization on a distant planet, a hundred and some years in the future when people are fleeing Earth because of catastrophic climate change (How can they avoid recreating the problems on Earth?) This may be the first Baha'i-themed science fiction novel to be published by a general publisher.
An account of his acceptance of the Bahá’í Faith, his family's negative reaction, and his positive response, was published in Corners: Voices on Change, published by Jack Walker Press, a general interest publisher, may be unique in its publication history. "This is an important story that needs to be told," the publisher stated in his acceptance of the piece.
His short story, 'Proclaim the New Name,' included in Twisting Topeka, a community novel published by the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library, unequivocablly proclaims Baha'u'llah as the return of Christ. Several of his pieces of flash fiction, published in various editions of the Kansas Authors Club Yearbook, also incorporate mention of the Faith, as do several stories posted in the 'Featured Writing' pages of the Adirondack Center for Writing website. Two stories of historical fiction, published in The Wagon Magazine, also incorporate the Faith in their plots. The stories, 'I Found You,' (poetica.com) and 'Second Chance,' (spiritualstories.com) deal with the next world after this life through the lens of the Baha'i Sacred Texts. A collection of his stories can be found in: Institor Gleg: New and Collected Stories. A story about Ridvan and religious intolerance will be found in the anthology US/THEM.
Much of his work: fiction, poems, history, and other articles can be found at Baha'i Library Online.
His accomplishments are achieved despite a traumatic, abusive childhood embellished with dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, a form of mutism, an anxiety disorder, and (eventually) PTSD.
Publications[edit]
- 1989 - Whispers Shouting Glory
- 1990 - Fasting: A Baha'i Handbook
- 1990 - Voices From a Borrowed Garden (ed.)
- 1997 - Early Baha'is of Enterprise
- 2002 - 'Abdu'l-Baha Writes to Kansas City
- 2005 - Prairies of Possibilities: New and Selected Poems
- 2006 - By Thy Strengthening Grace - One Hundred Years of the Bahá’í Faith in Topeka, Kansas, 1906-2006
- 2011 - Sweet Scented Streams
- 2012 - Hidden Meanings in the Poetry of Robert Hayden
- 2014 - Blessings of Teaching: the Narrative of Dr. Izzatullah Safapour
- 2016 - Ichnographical:173
- 2017 - In Praise of Prairies
- 2017 - Praise the King of Glory: New and Selected Poems
- 2019 - Gedichte aus Prairies of Possibilities
- 2019 - Escape from Earth: the Journal of a Planetary Pioneer, or Murder on Makana
- 2019 - Family Plowing and other prairie poems new and used
- 2019 - Remnants of a Life
- 2020 - No Known Address
- 2020 - Wind and Will and Other Poems
- 2021 - Lunar Locus
- 2021 - Bayerisch Heimat and Bavarian Home
- 2022 - Zephyrs of the Heart
- 2023 - I Sing of Open Spaces
- 2024 - Into the Wind
- 2024 - Exaltation: Stories of Spiritual Adventure
- 2024 - Trees and Me
