Juneau, Alaska

Juneau
City in the United States
First Local Spiritual Assembly of Juneau, 1957.
Location of Juneau
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1957
Official Website		https://www.facebook.com/juneauakbahai/
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Juneau is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska.

History

Establishment of the Community

Juneau was the first city in Alaska to have a Bahá’í pioneer with librarian Margaret Duncan Green living in the city from June 1915 to June 1918 during which she worked at a public library donating several Bahá’í books to its collection and actively teaching. In mid 1919 Emogene Hoagg and Marion Jack visited Juneau during a teaching tour of Alaska, with Jack staying in the city for an extended period while Hoagg visited other nearby towns.

In 1922 Orcella Rexford pioneered to Alaska and briefly stayed in Juneau and during her residence she had tea with the governor and was able to host several firesides at the studio of notable artist Sidney Laurence but she ultimately moved to Anchorage. In 1938 Harry Seymour spent his summer holidays in Juneau, and in 1939 Honor Kempton pioneered to Alaska initially settling in Juneau in April but she moved to Anchorage at the end of May. In late July 1939 Betty Becker pioneered to Juneau, and after a short time she established a fireside with five regular attendees who requested she form a weekly study group. It was noted a challenge to teaching work was that the city had an insular culture and most of its population only lived in the city for short periods.

By early 1940 Becker had established a study group but most participants were only able to attend intermittently although two members allowed her to hold meetings in their homes. She had also been invited to proclaim the Faith at a Government Hospital and established contact with the President of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Alaska and Margaret Duncan Green's sister. By February 1940 six people were friendly towards the Faith in Juneau with fifty people being aware of it and Becker departed to pioneer to Sitka. There was little Bahá’í activity in Juneau throughout the 1940's although in 1948 a journalist in Juneau wrote to the Bahá’ís of Palmer to request information on the history of the movement in the state.

As of 1951 weekly advertisements on the Bahá’í Faith were being run in local Juneau papers. At the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 the Alaskan community was set the goal of opening Juneau to the Faith and on September 28, 1953, Gladys Stewart pioneered to the city, with regular firesides and other teaching activities being held throughout 1954. In 1955 the Alaska Teaching Committee made establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Juneau an immediate objective, and in 1956 the Committee announced the Assembly would be formed as soon as pioneers were able to finalize plans to move to Juneau.

As of early 1957 there were five Bahá’ís living in Juneau and Ann Ashen of Juneau wrote a letter to the Western Hemisphere Teaching Committee advising that the community would assist any prospective pioneers in finding employment if they moved to the city to help form an Assembly, and the Assembly was successfully established on April 21, 1957.

Consolidation Efforts

After the formation of the Assembly teaching work increased in the city immediately with individual Bahá’ís establishing firesides, a deepening class studying God Passes By forming, and newspaper articles being published in local newspapers. Later in 1957 the community collaborated with other local organizations to hold a celebration of United Nations week.

In 1958 the first permanent annual Summer School in Alaska was established in Juneau with Bahá’ís from across all of North America attending and a message from the Custodians being sent to note the accomplishment. In 1961 Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem taught at the Juneau Summer School, in 1964 Ugo Giachery and his wife Angeline attended, and in 1966 William Sears taught classes. In 1967 the Alaskan Bahá’í community purchased a property outside Juneau to serve as the location of the summer school going forward.

In September 1967 the Governor of Alaska signed a Proclamation of World Peace Day at a ceremony in Juneau with a Bahá’í delegation including Robert Milton, the chairman of the Juneau Assembly. In early 1968 Hand of the Cause Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí visited Juneau during a teaching tour of Alaska attending a meeting in the city. In 1969 the newly formed Continental Board of Counsellors for North America arranged a major deepening conference in Anchorage which ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan spoke at.