Ithaca, New York

Ithaca
City in the United States
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History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1927 
How to contact:
 -  Email Contact form 
Official Website https://ithacabahais.org/
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Ithaca is a city in the U.S. State of New York. It serves as the county seat of Tompkins County and is the location of Cornell University.

History[edit]

Ithaca was among the earliest cities in the United States to have a Bahá’í community with Edward and Lua Getsinger moving to the city in 1897 and establishing a Bahá’í study class.[1] Ibrahim George Kheiralla visited to teach Bahá’í classes from January to February 1898 and six people converted to the religion during his time in the city.[2] George S. Hopper, his wife, Mary Helen, his son Guy, and his daughter Elizabeth, were some of the early Ithaca Bahá’ís and hosted regular meetings for the Bahá’í community in their home before moving to Washington, D.C.[3]

In 1900 Kheiralla attempted to form a sect within the Bahá’í Faith and proclaim himself a spiritual leader independent of the appointed successor of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and early that year Anton Haddad visited Ithaca to deepen the community on the Covenant.[4] In 1908 the Ithaca Bahá’í community established a committee to coordinate the efforts of Bahá’ís in the city to support the construction of a Bahá’í House of Worship in America,[5] and in 1910 the Bahá’í community established a weekly community meeting,[6] with Mason Remey visiting the city that year to assist with teaching efforts and deepening the Bahá’í community.[7]

In 1917 the Bahá’í Temple Unity, a body responsible for some national coordination of Bahá’í communities across the United States and Canada, passed a resolution requiring official registration of local Bahá’í communities who wished to participate in the National Bahá’í Convention for North America and the Ithaca Bahá’í community was among those which registered with the Unity.[8]

In 1921 Shoghi Effendi succeeded ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as Head of the Bahá’í Faith and soon began to take steps to formalize Bahá’í Administration writing a letter in 1923 addressed to several American Bahá’í communities, including Ithaca, which included the following:

I very eagerly await the news of the progress of the Movement in your cities and shall be grateful and delighted to hear that you have reinforced your numbers, extended your activities, established a centre and founded a Spiritual Assembly that shall direct and co-ordinate your efforts for the promotion of the Cause.[9]

In 1927 the Ithaca Bahá’ís formally established a Local Spiritual Assembly according to the procedure established by Shoghi Effendi.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Bahá’í Faith in America Volume 1: Origins 1892-1900. United States: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, United States. p. 34. ISBN 087743199X.
  2. ↑ Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Bahá’í Faith in America Volume 1: Origins 1892-1900. United States: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, United States. pp. -1. ISBN 087743199X.
  3. ↑ Star of the West, 1(15), p 9
  4. ↑ Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Bahá’í Faith in America Volume 1: Origins 1892-1900. United States: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, United States. p. 172. ISBN 087743199X.
  5. ↑ Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Bahá’í Faith in America Volume 1: Origins 1892-1900. United States: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, United States. p. 284. ISBN 087743199X.
  6. ↑ Star of the West, 1(13), p 13
  7. ↑ Star of the West, 1(10), p 10
  8. ↑ Star of the West, 9(4), p 45
  9. ↑ Star of the West, 14(2), p 48
  10. ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1927). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 16, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
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