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.

A Bahá’í community was established in Ithaca in 1897 and its members actively participated in the national Bahá’í community. A Local Spiritual Assembly was established in 1927, however in the 1930's the community shrank and the Assembly lapsed. The community continued to struggle throughout the 1940's and by 1954 there were no Bahá’ís living in the city.

Teaching efforts successfully re-established a community with the Local Spiritual Assembly reforming by the 1970's and the community remains active to the present day, now having around sixty members.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5] 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,[6] and in 1910 the Bahá’í community established a weekly community meeting,[7] with Mason Remey visiting the city that year to assist with teaching efforts and deepening the Bahá’í community.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

In 1927 the Ithaca Bahá’ís formally established a Local Spiritual Assembly according to the procedure established by Shoghi Effendi,[11] and later the same year Howard and Mabel Ives assisted the community in holding its first Nineteen Day Feast.[12] In 1930 an inter-community picnic for Bahá’ís across the West of New York was held in Ithaca.[13]

At some point in the 1930's the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ithaca lapsed. Teaching efforts recommenced late in the decade with Harlan Ober visiting Ithaca in 1938 during a travel teaching tour,[14] and that year the Local Spiritual Assembly of Binghamton began supporting teaching efforts in Ithaca.[15][16] As of 1939 there was an organized Bahá’í Group in Ithaca.[17]

In 1953 the Ten Year Crusade was launched and one of many goals set for the American Bahá’í community was re-establishing the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ithaca,[18] and Marjorie Stee pioneered to the city by early 1954 to assist with teaching efforts.[19] Despite teaching efforts the community of Ithaca ceased to exist and there were no Bahá’ís living in the city by September, 1954,[20] although pioneers were able to resettle the city in 1955.[21]

The Local Spiritual Assembly of Ithaca was successfully re-established at some point but was in danger of lapsing again in 1974.[22] The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States held a meeting in Ithaca in January, 1975, and launched a State Teaching Plan for New York at a Conference at Cornell University attended by over five hundred Bahá’ís,[23][24] and in June the same year the Local Spiritual Assembly hosted a youth conference at Cornell University.[25] In 1977 the Local Spiritual Assembly sponsored a Powwow-Council Fire, a gathering for Native Americans which was attended by members of eleven tribes,[26] and in 1978 the Assembly held a Recognition Ceremony for Native Americans.[27]

In 1979 a Teaching Institute was held in Ithaca,[28] however as of that year the Local Spiritual Assembly was in danger of lapsing,[29] and in 1981 the Assembly launchedd a summer teaching campaign to help preserve the Assembly.[30] A Laoitian Bahá’í who was introduced to the Faith in America through a mass teaching project settled in Ithaca in the 1980's and he assisted two of his wives cousins in moving to the United States with their families and by 1990 there were twenty-three Laotian Bahá’ís in Ithaca.[31]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ https://ithacabahais.org/about/
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Star of the West, 1(15), p 9
  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. 172. ISBN 087743199X.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Star of the West, 1(13), p 13
  8. ↑ Star of the West, 1(10), p 10
  9. ↑ Star of the West, 9(4), p 45
  10. ↑ Star of the West, 14(2), p 48
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1927). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 19, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Baha'i News (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 46, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 114, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 120, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ Baha'i News (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 122, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ Baha'i News (July, 1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 127, Pg(s) 9. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 272, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 276, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 286, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ Baha'i News (1955). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 293, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1974). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 5, Issue 2, pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1975). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 6, Issue 1, pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1974). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 5, Issue 12, pg(s) 9. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1975). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 6, Issue 4, pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1977). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 8, Issue 9, pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1978). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 9, Issue 7, pg(s) 16. View as PDF.
  28. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 10, Issue 10, pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1980). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 11, Issue 1, pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  30. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1981). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 12, Issue 7, pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  31. ↑ The American Bahá’í (1990). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Volume 21, Issue 2, pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
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