William P. Collins

William P. Collins is a Bahá'í author, librarian, and historian. He served as Director of the Bahá'í International Library from 1977 to 1990.

He has served on several Local Spiritual Assemblies (Rochester, VT; Madison, WI; Cary, NC; Mount Vernon, VA), as an Area Teaching Committee Secretary, Cluster Institute Coordinator, as a member of the Regional Bahá'í Council of the Atlantic States, as a faculty member at the Wilmette Institute for more than two decades, and on the Executive Committee of the Corinne True Center for Bahá'í History. He began writing in the 1970s by contributing articles to World Order, The Journal of Bahá’í Studies, and Bahá’í Studies Review.

He has a B.A. from Middlebury College in French and Russian with unofficial minors in Spanish and geology, two masters degrees from Syracuse University in librarianship and social science, and additional education at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia), Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg) State University (Russia), and the College of Librarianship (Aberystwyth, Wales).

In his career he worked at the Middlebury College Library from 1973 to 1976 and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin from 1976 to 1977 before relocating to serve in the Holy Land. After returning to the United States he served as Chief of the Cataloging Division in the United States Copyright Office, in the Library of Congress, from 1991 to 2000 and as Program Planning Officer in the Copyright Office from 2000 to 2016, with a part-time recall in 2016-2017.

He is now retired, engaged in interfaith social service activities in southeastern Fairfax County, VA as a Bahá'í representative to Ventures in Community, and as the Public Information Representative of his Bahá'í community.

Publications

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Books

• 1983 - Guidelines for Bahá'í Archives, as editor.
• 1990 - Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths, 1844-1985 ISBN 0853983151
• 2026 - Millennialism, Millerites, and Prophecy in Bahá'í Discourse ISBN 9781032504032.

Periodicals

• 1995-2001 - Scriptum: Newsletter for Bahá'í Librarians, Archivists and Information Professionals, editor.

Essays & Articles

• 1976 - Islam's Tahrif: Implications for the Bahá'í Faith, published in World Order, 11(1), pp 22-31.
• 1977 - Kenosha: The History of the Second Bahá'í Community in the United States, published in Bahá'í News, No. 553, pp 1-9.
• 1979 - Publication and Dissemination of Bahá'í Literature in English, published in The Bahá'í World, Vol. 17, pp 546-553.
• 1981 - The Bahá'í Faith and Mormonism: A Preliminary Survey, published in World Order, 15(1-2), pp 33-45.
• 1982 - Kenosha, 1893-1912: History of an Early Bahá'í Community in the United States, published in Studies in Bábí and Bahá'í History, pp 225-253.
• 1982 - Thoughts on the Mormon Scriptures: An Outsider's View of the Inspiration of Joseph Smith, published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 15(3), pp 49-59.
• 1983 - The Bahá'í Faith and Mormonism: Further Reflections, published in World Order, 17(3), pp 25-33.
• 1984 - Some Remarks on Stephen Lambden's 'An Episode in the Childhood of Siyyid Ali Muhammad the Bab, published in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 1(4), pp 58-60.
• 1985 - Library and Archival Resources at the Bahá'í World Centre, published in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 3(4), pp 65-82.
• 1986 - Diseases, Calamities, Disasters: Divine Retribution?, published in 1844 Magazine, No. 3, pp 21-23.
• 1988 - Classification of Materials on the Bahá'í Faith: Expansion of Library of Congress BP300-395, published in Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 8(2), pp 99-113.
• 1990 - Effects of Computerization Requirements on the Bahá'í Classification Scheme in Use at the Bahá'í World Centre, published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 11(2), pp 69-83.
• 1990 - Research Note: Mormonism and the Bahá'í Faith, published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 3(2), pp 57-62.
• 1990 - Sacred Mythology and the Bahá'í Faith, published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 2(4), pp 1-15.
• 1991 - Lev Tolstoi and the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths: A Bibliography (with Jan T. Jasion), published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies 3(3), pp 1-9.
• 1993 - Classification for Material on the Bahá'í Religion, published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 16(4), pp 103-121.
• 1993 - The Bahá'í Faith in the Eyes of the World: What the Print Media Report about the Bahá'í Faith, published in Bahá'í World, 1992-93, pp 147-167.
• 1993 - The Bahá'í World Centre Library, published in Journal of Religious and Theological Information, 1(2), pp 77-89.
• 1993 - Revelation as Constitution: The Kitab-i-Aqdas as Foundation of World Civilisation, published in Bahá'í Journal, 10(7), pp 10-11.
• 1993 - Preface to The Vision of Shoghi Effendi, published by Association for Bahá'í Studies.
• 1995 - Fasting: The Mercy and Grace of God, published in Northern Virginia Bahá'í Newsletter, No. 3, p 1
• 1997 - Freedom of Religion in the U.S. Bill of Rights: A Bahá'í Perspective, published in World Order, 28(3), pp 25-32.
• 1998 - Commentary on Christopher Buck's 'Native Messengers of God?: A Test Case for Bahá'í Universalism, published in Bahá'í Studies Review, Vol. 8, pp 55-58.
• 1998 - Millennialism, the Millerites, and Historicism, published in World Order, 30(1), pp 9-26.
• 1999 - Bahá'í Interpretation of Biblical Time Prophecy, published in World Order, 30(2), pp 9-29.
• 2000 - Bahá'í Faith, published in Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, ed. Richard A. Landes.
• 2002 - Apocalypse and Millennium: Catastrophe, Progress, and the Lesser Peace, published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, Vol. 12, No 1-4, pp. 1-30.
• 2002 - The Apocalyptic Upheaval Completed?, published in Bahá'í Studies Review, Vol. 10, p 135-143.
• 2004 - Bahá'í Family Life: Beyond the Traditional, published in Search for Values: Ethics in Bahá'í Thought, ed. Seena Fazel & John Danesh.
• 2011 - Babi and Baha'i Millennialism (with Dr. Peter Smith), published in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism.
• 2024 - The Greatest Claims I Have Ever Heard: Mormon Missionary George Henry Barney Meets Ibrahim Kheiralla, 1902, Corinne True Center for Bahá'í History Research Notes, 2024.
• 2025 - Treatment of the Baha’i Faith in the Pages of Christianity Today, (with Jay Tyson), Corinne True Center for Bahá'í History Research Notes, 2025.

References

• Corinne True Center bio