Greenwich, Connecticut

Greenwich
City in the United States
Local Spiritual Assembly of Greenwich, 1954.
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History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1948 
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Greenwich is a town in the U.S. State of Connecticut located in Fairfield County.

The Bahá’í Faith was present in Greenwich in the late 1930s and a community was established in the mid 1940s. It was one of the more stable and active Bahá’í communities of Connecticut throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

History[edit]

As of 1937 Bahá’í Nellie Hope Lloyd was living in Greenwich,[1] and she remained the only Bahá’í in the town until at least 1940.[2] More Bahá’ís settled in the mid-1940's and in 1946 an organized Bahá’í Group for Greenwich was established,[3] which organized a public meeting at which Borrah Kavelin and Harry Ford spoke on the Faith at the end of the year.[4]

By 1947 there were five Bahá’ís in Greenwich.[5] The community continued actively taught the Faith throughout the year,[6] with the town being identified as a focus area of a National Bahá’í Teaching Program which aimed to establish Local Spiritual Assemblies late in the year.[7] In 1948 Robert and Katherine McLaughlin pioneered to Greenwich to assist in the successful establishment of the towns Local Spiritual Assembly that year.[8] In 1948 the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States Visual Education Committee held an informal conference in Greenwich on teaching needs that could be met using visual aids with W. Kenneth Christian moderating the consultation and C. L. Welsh and David Ruhe speaking on behalf of the committee.[9]

In 1951 the Greenwich Bahá’ís began holding religious education classes for children which were open to the wider community,[10] which received interest from the public resulting in a concurrent discussion group for parents from the wider community being held alongside the children's classes.[11] In 1954 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Greenwich was incorporated.[12] In 1956 the Bahá’í United Nations Committee sponsored a meeting in Greenwich at which notable journalist Norman Cousins delivered a talk on the importance of world unity.[13]

A statewide Bahá’í Week teaching campaign was held in Connecticut in 1966 with the Greenwich Bahá’ís holding public meetings to support the campaign.[14] In 1968 the Greenwich Bahá’ís sponsored an essay contest for high-school students in the town tasking them with writing essays on human rights.[15]

As of 1980 Greenwich was one of seven Local Spiritual Assemblies in Connecticut and that year it adopted the teaching goal of opening Port Chester to the Faith.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 7 (1936-1938), Pg(s) 568. View as PDF.
  2. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1942). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 8 (1938-1940), Pg(s) 704. View as PDF.
  3. ↑ Baha'i News (1946). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 185, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 194, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 197, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 198, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 199, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News (1948). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 209, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ Baha'i News (1949). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 223, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (1951). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 243, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1952). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 252, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1955). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 287, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 302, Pg(s) 14. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1966). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 425, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1968). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 444, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1980). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 11, Issue 10, pg(s) 31. View as PDF.
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