Let your taste buds guide you on a culinary journey through Wilmette.
Wilmette, Illinois
Image: Hopi Powalawu sand mosaic. Source: Fieldiana: Anthropology, Volume 3, Pl.XLII. Course: The Great Spirit Speaks: Voices of the Wise Ones (2021)Faculty Mentor: K
Wilmette, Illinois
Design by Park & Oak. All images courtesy of Park & Oak. Rising grandly on one of Wilmette’s most prestigious streets lies a true architectural gem – a historic home that stands as a testament to time and tradition. Stepping inside is like embarking on a journey through history, where every room and each detail exudes timeless elegance. Originally constructed in the early 20th century, this meticulously restored home showcases classical architecture and modern comforts. With a desire to preserve the historic character of the home, the owners hired the team from Park and Oak Design to update the interiors while preserving the traditional elegance. Entering the home visitors are transported to a time of refined sophistication. The interiors have been lovingly restored with painstaking attention to preserving the original architectural features while incorporating modern amenities. Ornate moldings, intricate woodwork, and majestic fireplaces serve as reminders of the home’s rich heritage, while contemporary furnishings and state-of-the-art appliances ensure comfort and convenience. The dining room is a lovely example of traditional styling combined with modern comforts. The couple wanted their grand dining room to feel casual and welcoming. The walls are adorned with a wallpaper mural that evokes the forest. The…
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
Created by Andrea Goldman, a Chicagoland-based designer creating sophisticated, serene, and timless interiors.
Evanston, Illiinois, also Wilmett and Bahai Temple, Lake Michigan 2007
Design by Park & Oak. All images courtesy of Park & Oak. Rising grandly on one of Wilmette’s most prestigious streets lies a true architectural gem – a historic home that stands as a testament to time and tradition. Stepping inside is like embarking on a journey through history, where every room and each detail exudes timeless elegance. Originally constructed in the early 20th century, this meticulously restored home showcases classical architecture and modern comforts. With a desire to preserve the historic character of the home, the owners hired the team from Park and Oak Design to update the interiors while preserving the traditional elegance. Entering the home visitors are transported to a time of refined sophistication. The interiors have been lovingly restored with painstaking attention to preserving the original architectural features while incorporating modern amenities. Ornate moldings, intricate woodwork, and majestic fireplaces serve as reminders of the home’s rich heritage, while contemporary furnishings and state-of-the-art appliances ensure comfort and convenience. The dining room is a lovely example of traditional styling combined with modern comforts. The couple wanted their grand dining room to feel casual and welcoming. The walls are adorned with a wallpaper mural that evokes the forest. The…
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) – Like many of his neighbors in the Locks Creek subdivision in Fayetteville, Chauncey Payne’s house flooded during Hurricane Matthew. Payne said he didn’t have flood insurance when the hurricane saw 4.5 feet of water go through his home. “When Matthew came, I had three years left to pay that house off,” […]
These 10 images from a newly published set of portraits show an unexpected side of the Chicago photographer.
Let your taste buds guide you on a culinary journey through Wilmette.
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
Cablegram from the Guardian: Mourn loss (of) immortal heroine, Marion Jack, greatly-loved and deeply-admired by 'Abdu'l-Baha, (a) shining example (to) pioneers (of) present (and) future generations (of) East (and) West, surpassed (in) constancy, dedication, self-abnegation (and) fearlessness by none except (the) incomparable Martha Root. Her unremitting, highly-meritorious activities (in the) course (of) almost half (a) century, both (in) North America (and) Southeast Europe, attaining (their) climax (in the) darkest, most dangerous phase (of the) second World War, shed imperishable luster (on) contemporary Baha'i history. (This) triumphant soul (is) now gathered (to the) distinguished band (of her) coworkers (in the) Abha Kingdom: Martha Root, Lua Getsinger, May Maxwell, Hyde Dunn, Susan Moody, Keith Ransom-Kehler, Ella Bailey (and) Dorothy Baker, whose remains, lying (in) such widely scattered areas (of the) globe as Honolulu, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Tihran, Isfahan, Tripoli (and the) depths (of the) Mediterranean(Sea) attest the magnificence (of the) pioneer services rendered (by the) North American Baha'i community (in the) Apostolic (and) Formative Ages (of the) Baha'i Dispensation. Advise arrange (in) association (with the) Canadian National Assembly (and the) European Teaching Committee (a) befitting memorial gathering (in the) Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Moved (to) share with (the) United States (and) Canadian National Assemblies (the) expenses (of the) erection, (as) soon as circumstances permit, (of a) worthy monument (at) her grave, destined (to) confer eternal benediction (on a) country already honored (by) its close proximity (to the) sacred city associated (with the) proclamation (of the) Faith (of) Baha'u'llah. Share message all National Assemblies. -Shoghi Haifa, Israel, March 29, 1954. Marion Jack, "immortal heroine," "shining example to pioneers," passed from this life on March 25, 1954, in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she had been living for twenty-four years as a pioneer of the Baha'i Faith. Her remains are buried in the British cemetery there. The Guardian's tribute, expressed in his cablegram of March 29, attests the high station which this "triumphant soul" has attained. Marion Jack's services in the Baha'i Faith began early in the new century. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on December 1, 1866, of a prominent family, she received much of her education in England and particularly in France, where she studied art. Landscape painting was her special field. Some of her paintings are preserved in the Holy Land at the World Center of the Faith. She first learned of the Faith at a social gathering during her student days in Paris. Charles Mason Remey writes of this first introduction : "My first remembrance of Marion Jack was when we were students in the Latin Quarter in Paris. She was studying painting, I, architecture, and I used to see her in the 'Quarter' along the boulevard on Mont Parnasse. In the Quarter lived a Mme. Philippe who kept a Pension where a number of girl students lived. Mme. Philippe gave dancing parties at infrequent intervals. It was at one of these affairs, a fancy dress dance, that I met Marion. She was dressed in a fiery red costume that she had made herself of crinkled tissue paper topped off by an enormous 'Merry Widow' hat decorated with large yellow paper flowers . . . It was as we danced and sat out between dances that I told Marion of the Baha'I Faith. She was, as many were in those early days, afire with the Faith then and there, all at once. Marion met the Baha'is, came to meetings in my studio and elsewhere, and that was the beginning of her belief." From this time forward, her life was dedicated to the service of the Faith. She spent some time in 'Akka and was there in 1908, where she taught English to 'Abdu'l-Baha's grandchildren. She continued her painting while she was there. By 1914 she had returned to North America. She was one of the first to respond to the call of the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha, performing pioneer service in Alaska and teaching in Toronto, Montreal, and many other places. She also spent a good deal of time in Green Acre, Eliot, Maine, helping with the teaching work at the Baha'i School and continuing her painting. Many friends remember this joyous, wholly dedicated soul from those days. Impressed by her gracious charm, her understanding, her twinkling sense of humor, everyone who recounts some association with her does so with a smile which seems to spring spontaneously from the mention of her name. "Jackie," as she was affectionately called, was ageless in her complete at-home-ness with young and old alike, was beloved wherever she went, drawing all to her and to each other through the quality of her faith, love and devotion to the Cause and to her beloved Guardian. One of her Green Acre friends writes: "She was such a lovely person-- so joyous and happy that one loved to be with her. Her shining eyes and beautiful smile showed how much the Baha'i Faith meant to her . . . We used to love to go to her studio and talk with her, also to see her paintings of the Holy Land and familiar Green Acre landscapes. . . . She always entered into any plan with zest. . . . If we could all radiate happiness as did Jackie, I am sure we would attract more people to the Faith." In 1930 Marion Jack returned to Haifa and following this visit went to Sofia, Bulgaria, where she spent the remainder of her life. During the earlier years of this period she attended the German Summer School and undertook teaching missions to Vienna and Budapest. In Sofia she held frequent meetings that were well attended by people of prominence and capacity. As World War II approached, and all who could fled the country, the Guardian suggested that she go to Switzerland or to some safer place. She pleaded to be allowed to remain at her post, preferring, as she put it, to "remain at the switch." Living on a small pension, which did not always reach her in recent years, suffering serious deprivation, aged and in poor health, she remained at her post. It was not without reason that 'Abdu'l-Baha used to call her "General Jack." One of the friends writes of these days: "She was much sought out and beloved everywhere she went. As the so-called Iron curtain dropped, fewer people attended her meetings because of fear of the government. Towards the end of her life even her closest friends no longer went to see her, except one Baha’i. . . . During the last months of her severe illness, I wrote Miss Jack almost every week and in her last letter she bade me goodbye, hoping for a reunion in the Kingdom. When Miss Jack still corresponded, her letters were always cheerful, most spiritual and even humorous. . . . The British Consulate called her 'our friend.' . . . She was a consecrated Baha'i teacher, full of charm, understanding, gaiety and humor." One of her devoted students, who became a Baha’i through her, writes of the later years in Sofia: "I met Miss Jack in June, 1938, in Sofia. I had left Austria when Hitler took over and found a temporary position in Sofia, waiting for my visa to the United States. I noticed her in the restaurant where I took my luncheon and she impressed me immediately with her friendly smile that she had for everybody. One day when her regular waiter who spoke English had his day off, the hostess asked me to serve as interpreter and from that day on, I shared the luncheon table with her regularly. It did not take long before she invited me to join a small group of her friends with whom she had discussions in her hotel room, and that was how I met the Faith. "Her room was a museum, full of her pictures, books and papers all over. We sat wherever there was some place-on 'the' chair, the bed, on the floor, and she always had some refreshments for her guests. The discussions on the Faith were handicapped by the complicated language question. Marion had no Baha’i literature in the Bulgarian language, few people understood English, and her favored book, 'Abdu'l-Baha’s Paris Talks, had to be translated by one person from French into German or English and by somebody else into Bulgarian. It was fun, but how much of the original spirit remained was questionable. "Marion had to be very careful in the choice of her guests. Bulgaria had one official State Religion, the Greek Orthodox Church, and only a few other religions were permitted, like Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist and Islam. Every Faith that was not permitted was forbidden and meetings like ours were illegal. State employees had to sign loyalty oaths stating their adherence to the legal Faith and we had one girl who worked for the government. "When World War II broke out, Marion had to discontinue her meetings. Sofia became the center of European spy systems. Neither she nor I (a German citizen of secondary quality) could dare to be seen together. I kept contact with her indirectly through 'neutral' Bulgarian citizens. She was in financial difficulties because her funds did not get to her. But her spirit was unbroken. "In October, 1940, when I finally got my visa for the United States, I dared to call her on the phone and even to see her. She had moved to a cheaper hotel. Her room was probably too small for two people and we met in the hotel lobby. I told her of my plan to go to the United States by the complicated way, crossing the Black Sea to Odessa, through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and across the Pacific from Japan to the United States. I invited her to come along and promised that I would take care of her. But she declined. She told me that the Guardian had permitted her to go to Switzerland rather than to wait for the German invasion in Bulgaria which was expected daily. She considered it her duty to stay in Sofia and would neither seek security in Switzerland nor in her native Canada, nor the United States. "We exchanged letters until Bulgaria became part of the Iron Curtain and she indicated that it was too dangerous to receive my letters and to write to me." In a letter dated June 17, 1954, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the British Isles, the Guardian, through his secretary, extols the standard set by Marion Jack as a pioneer: "To remain at one's post, to undergo sacrifice and hardship, loneliness and, if necessary, persecution, in order to hold aloft the torch of Baha’u'llah, is the true function of every pioneer. "Let them remember Marion Jack, who for over twenty years, in a country the language of which she never mastered; during war and bombardment; evacuation and poverty; and at length, serious illness, stuck to her post, and has now blessed the soil of the land she had chosen to serve at such cost with her precious remains, every atom of which was dedicated to Baha'u'llah. Perhaps the friends are not aware that the Guardian, himself, during the war on more than one occasion urged her to seek safety in Switzerland rather than remain behind enemy lines and be entirely cut off. Lovingly she pleaded that he would not require her to leave her post; and he acquiesced to her request. Surely the standard of Marion Jack should be borne in mind by every pioneer!" In a letter to the European Teaching Committee, dated May 24, 1954, through his secretary, the Guardian also stressed the quality of Marion Jack's services to the Cause and the heroic conditions under which she lived and worked: "He would suggest that, when writing to the European centers, you share with the believers the glorious example of the life of Marion Jack. Young or old could never find a more inspiring pioneer in whose footsteps to walk, than this wonderful soul. "For over thirty years, with an enlarged heart, and many other ailments she remained at her post in Bulgaria. Never well-to-do, she often suffered actual poverty and want: want of heat, want of clothing, want of food, when her money failed to reach her because Bulgaria had come under the Soviet zone of influence. She was bombed, lost her possessions, she was evacuated, she lived in drafty, cold dormitories for many, many months in the country, she returned, valiant, to the capital of Bulgaria after the war and continued, on foot, to carry out her teaching work. "The Guardian himself urged her strongly, when the war first began to threaten to cut her off in Bulgaria, to go to Switzerland. She was a Canadian subject, and ran great risks by remaining, not to mention the dangers and privations of war. However, she begged the Guardian not to insist, and assured him her one desire was to remain with her spiritual children. This she did, up to the last breath of her glorious life. Her tomb will become a national shrine, immensely loved and revered, as the Faith rises in stature in that country. "He thinks that every Baha'i and most particularly those who have left their homes and gone to serve in foreign fields, should know of, and turn their gaze to, Marion Jack." As requested by the Guardian, a Memorial gathering was held for Marion Jack in the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, the program prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States in association with the Canadian National Baha'i Assembly and the European Teaching Committee, on July 3, 1954. Among the over two hundred Baha'is attending were representatives from the Canadian Baha'i Community. To permit more of the Canadian Baha'is to share in a Memorial to Marion Jack, a time had been set aside at the Canadian National Baha'i Convention, on May 1, 1954, for the Canadian friends to gather for commemoration and prayers. In their tribute to Marion Jack, published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada as an insert to their Baha'I News of April, 1955, are cited the following Words Baha’u’llah (Gleanings, p. 319): "When the victory arriveth, every man shall profess himself as believer and shall hasten to the shelter of God's Faith. Happy are they who in the days of world-encompassing trials have stood fast in the Cause and refused to swerve from the Faith." (The Baha’i World, volume 12)
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
Vivian Maier is the best street photographer you've never heard of. Here are some of the pictures she took in the 50s and 60s
Euphemia Eleanor Baker was born the eldest of 11 children to parents John and Margaret, on March 25, 1880, at Goldsborough. Some of her grandparents had arrived in Australia in the great migrations of the 19th century. Her father’s father, Captain Henry Evans Baker, was born at White Hills, Kent, in England, in 1816, and had moved to New York. Captaining a sea-collier, Henry Baker was in the port of Melbourne in 1852 when gold fever struck his crew. The prospect of making one’s fortune on the gold fields was so enticing that Captain Baker could not find enough men willing to leave Melbourne, and thus form a new crew. He solved his dilemma by selling his boat and joining the rush to inland Victoria. Ancestors The captain was thick-set, dark-complexioned, portly and jolly in appearance. He was inventive and technically minded, and on the voyage to Australia had even constructed a dynamo to light his cabin. He is reported to have constructed in 1855 the first Chilean Mill on the Bendigo gold fields -- a system in which a horse pulled a stone wheel in a circular motion in order to crush rock in the quest for gold. He had an interest in astronomy, and won a silver medal in a Melbourne exhibition of 1873. He achieved some fame when he was selected to re-polish the mirror of the great Cassegrain telescope at the Melbourne observatory. In 1886 a telescope made by Captain Baker for the newly opened Oddie Observatory at Ballarat was used for the first time. Captain Baker’s wife, Euphemia McLeash, came from Cooper Angus in Scotland, although the two were married in New York. A brother, William McLeash, went into partnership with Captain Baker on the gold fields. Captain Baker and his partners, Robert Dodd, William McLeash and Samuel Crozier, discovered and opened Bealiba Reef (the Queen’s Birthday Reef), taking a lease on the last day of 1863. They soon created a 4 horsepower engine on the site and the first crushing yielded 77 ounces of gold. At this time, the Bakers were probably squatting in a calico house next to the mine. Another reef, the Goldsborough, was discovered in 1865, and Captain Baker bought a house near it in 1868. Goldsborough had only been established in 1854, and grew to be a thriving town of 70,000 people. But these were living mostly in semi-permanent calico huts, the prospectors shifting with the rumors of new gold fields. The streets were named “Pick,” “Shovel,” “Windlass” and the like, emphasizing the town’s functional nature. Childhood and Youth Effie’s father had been educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, from 1868 to 1869 but had to interrupt his studies and return to Goldsborough when some people tried to jump the Baker claim to the Birthday mine. John Baker subsequently worked as a foreman in the mines at Goldsborough. He married Margaret in December 1879 and in 1880 Effie was born. With John and Margaret Baker’s family growing, Effie, at age six, went to live with her grandparents at their home, Cooper Angus, in Ballarat. Although Captain Baker died four years later, in 1890, while Effie was still a young girl, she was already greatly influenced by his enthusiasm for science, and for technical instruments. In Ballarat she attended Mount Pleasant State School and later Granville College. She lived at the Mount Pleasant Observatory from 1886 until Captain Baker’s death, and from then on moved between Ballarat and Goldsborough. As a child in Ballarat, Effie studied piano, and in 1892 won second and third prizes in a music competition. Later, she became interested in painting and attended the old Ballarat East Art School and then Carew-Smyth’s Art School. She also attended Beulie College. After receiving a thorough grounding in art and especially in color and composition, she became interested in the new science of photography and the traditional one of woodworking. Effie learned photography after acquiring a quarter-plate camera in Ballarat and was encouraged in her work by her aunt “Feem.” Following holidays in Perth in 1898 and around the Ballarat district in 1899, Effie made photograph albums for her parents and filled them with the photos she had taken, developed and printed. With the help of her family, most of whom could either paint, draw or play the piano, Effie received the best education possible for a Victorian country girl at the turn of the century. Interest in photography and woodwork Sometime after completing her education, Effie moved to Black Rock, a suburb of Melbourne, to live with her aunt Ephemia, a school headmistress and one of the first women to obtain entrance to the civil service university course in Victoria. In the house at Black Rock, Effie had a room set aside to work in. It was always full of tools, materials and projects. She became interested in the photography of wild-flowers, which grew profusely in the district. She hand-colored her photographs and in 1914 published a booklet, Wildflowers of Australia, which was an immediate success and went into a second edition. This was possibly the first book of its kind to be published in Australia. The booklets were printed in Melbourne by T&H Hunter, three-color printers. Series One (1914) contained seven prints, and Series Two (1917) contained six. These were subsequently printed in a combined edition in about 1922. A newspaper article of the time said: “The colors of these are faithfully reproduced with exquisite softness through the medium of hand-colored photographs,” and suggested the booklet would make an ideal gift for Christmas. At the time of the outbreak of the First World War, Effie began to work with wood, in preference to painting wildflower studies, of which she was tired. An arts and crafts society was holding a sale of work for the Belgian Relief Fund, and Effie contributed, in place of paintings, a set of dolls’ furniture in three-ply wood and upholstered in mauve leather. It was greatly admired and Effie was asked to make another set for the Christmas sale. At this time she conceived the idea of toys for children which were typically Australian. Her first attempt was a small dolls’ house, constructed so that a child could build it up and take it to pieces. Another original design was an adaptation of the Biblical version of Noah’s Ark into a traditional Australian setting, substituting a bark hut for the ark and using an Aboriginal man and woman and Australian animals. Effie also created expanding toys which opened on a “lazy tong” or hat-rack system, and on which were placed a procession of emus and kangaroos, a native boomerang thrower, or flocks of geese and fowls. Although Effie had become close to Wally Watkin, the two had not married. She had waited because she felt that her grandmother and Aunt Feem needed someone to look after them. In the meantime, Wally met and married another girl. As she didn’t marry, Effie had to provide her own income, and may have done so through selling her woodwork and photography. She was also fortunate to inherit her grandparents’ house in Ballarat and her aunt’s house in Black Rock, as well as the home in Goldsborough in which her parents were living. Encountering the Baha’i Faith Effie had received a good Methodist upbringing. In the early 1920s many people were still horrified by the results of the war and were looking for solutions to the world’s problems. Effie’s two brothers, Jack and Jim, had served in the war, so Effie’s family could well have learned about it from them. Also at this time, many people were questioning the role of the established churches. It was becoming more common to retain Christian beliefs but to move away from regular church attendance. In 1922 Effie and her friend, Ruby Beaver, began attending the lectures of Dr. Julia Seaton Seers, a Californian who had established that year in Melbourne a New Civilization Centre. Shortly before John Henry Hyde Dunn and Clara Dunn left Sydney for Victoria late in 1922, Effie Baker had become disenchanted with the church. She and Miss Ruby Beaver were on the welcoming committee and were charged with the responsibility of arranging for speakers for the New Thought organization when Hyde Dunn visited Melbourne. One evening Effie noticed a benign looking white-haired gentleman in the audience – that was Hyde Dunn. Effie turned to Ruby and commented: “Look at that white-haired gentleman sitting in the audience. What a light he’s got in his face!” Hyde Dunn had moved to Australia from America with his wife, Clara, in 1920. He became a traveler for Nestles Milk Company, a job that allowed him to earn a living and at the same time travel to different parts of Australia informing people of Baha’i teachings. Effie made a note of intention to request him to come as a speaker for their group. The next meeting Effie was late in arriving and saw that the notice board in the vestibule stated that Mr. Hyde Dunn would be speaking on the Baha'i Faith. Hyde Dunn opened with a Baha’i prayer, then prefaced his talk with a quotation from The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah: “O Son of Spirit, Free thyself from the worldly bond, escape from the prison of self, appreciate the value of time for it will never come again or a like opportunity” (an early translation of the passage). Effie later recalled the occasion: “Hearing this, I thought ‘I must listen to what this speaker has to say.’ He then gave the 12 principles given to the ‘world of mankind for this age’ by Baha’u’llah. The one that arrested my attention was ‘investigate truth for yourself, don’t follow the blind imitation of your forefathers.’ It suddenly dawned upon me: ‘Why! I was born and christened a Christian. My forebears were Christians for centuries. I certainly have never investigated truth for myself.’ After the principles, Mr. Dunn gave a short account of the history of the Baha’i Faith and immediately proved to me that the Báb, the forerunner or herald of the coming of Baha’u’llah, was the same as John the Baptist who proclaimed the coming of Jesus the Christ. I went immediately and declared myself as accepting the Baha’i message.” And so it was that Effie first heard of the Faith and accepted it that night. Miss Baker thus became the first woman believer in Australia. The first man to accept the Faith, Mr. Oswald. Whitaker, had accepted earlier in 1922 through Hyde Dunn in Lismore, New South Wales, when both were there on business. She surely could not have imagined how her life would change. Could anyone have imagined that within three years, she would be living in Haifa? Could anyone have imagined that, more than this, she would risk her life traveling for eight months through Persia and Iraq, taking the photos that were to be included in Shoghi Effendi’s translation of The Dawn-breakers’ Ruby Beaver also became a Baha’i at about the same time as Effie -- there are no exact dates, as there was not at that time any formal method of joining. By the close of 1922, there were five Baha’is in Australia, three of whom were new adherents and at the beginning of their understanding of the Baha’i teachings. They were very close friends with John and Clara Dunn, and, using the analogy of the family, became the “children” of the Dunns. The new Baha’is were well aware of how dependent they were on their “spiritual parents” for guidance and sustenance in their new faith. The Dunns, who had already been Baha’is for a number of years, were equal to the task, and the community, while small, was from the beginning strong in its allegiance to the Baha’i cause. Poor Health Effie was of slight build and had poor health. Through many years of painting, she had developed the habit of wetting the brush with her tongue, rather than in a container of water, and this eventually gave her lead poisoning, which contributed to her frail condition. By 1924 her health had deteriorated, and she was unable to work constantly. Perhaps upon medical advice, Effie decided to travel and rest, as the appropriate course of action. She sold the home at Black Rock she had inherited from Aunt Feem, and became the constant “companion of the Dunns. Her eventful career as a traveler had begun. Travel Teaching with Dunns Effie's first activities were in accompanying the Dunns on their subsequent visits to other States. In January 1924, the Dunns, Effie and another of the Melbourne Baha’is, Miss Hastings, visited Tasmania. By April 1924, Effie and the Dunns were in Perth, where the second local Spiritual Assembly in Australia was formed in July -- the first was in Melbourne in December 1923. At this time, Martha Root, the foremost Baha’i traveling teacher of her time, had arrived in Melbourne from China and was provided by the Perth Baha’is with a train ticket to Western Australia, then a five-day journey. Effie also attended Martha Root on Martha's first lecture tour which took her to New Zealand where she met Mrs. and Miss E. Blundell and Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, New Zealand's first believer. Then back to Sydney on October 7, before moving on to public meetings, radio talks and newspaper interviews. While in Auckland, Effie learned of the intention of a group of New Zealand Baha’is to make the pilgrimage to Haifa in the Holy Land. Martha Root talked Effie into joining the party, with the promise of meeting them at Port Said, Egypt, after her travels through Africa. Pilgrimage & Service at the World Center Effie then sold her home and left with the first pilgrims from the Antipodes. The party was made up of Effie, Miss M. Stevenson, Mrs. Blundell, Ethel and Hugh Blundell, though Hugh had not then accepted the Faith. On February 9, 1925, the steamer Largs Bay left Melbourne, and Effie and the New Zealand Baha’is began their journey to the East. Effie’s plan was to make the pilgrimage for about two weeks, spend three months in London, then travel to America before returning home to continue her Baha’i work with the Dunns. This plan didn’t come about. It was 11 years before Effie returned to Australia. The party arrived in Haifa on March 13, 1925 where they were met at the train by Fujita who took them to the western Pilgrim House where they were welcomed by Mrs. Corinne True. Shoghi Effendi asked them to see him before lunch. Effie described this as a wonderful interview. The party visited the Shrines the next day and then met with the Greatest Holy Leaf, whom Effie eulogized. The group spent nineteen Days in the Holy Land and then proceeded to London for three months. Effie accompanied the others on the Guardian's instructions to visit the friends there and then return to Australia and work with the Dunns. The ladies of the household of the Holy Family asked Effie to stop over at Haifa on her return journey to Australia. Having spent three busy months in England Effie returned to Haifa in June and found that Mirza Abu’l-Fadil, returning with his family to Persia from a lecture tour in America, had fallen ill while visiting Haifa, as had Fujita also, so Effie looked after them and the ladies of the household asked Effie to remain until Shoghi Effendi returned to the Holy Land. When the Guardian came back to Haifa and took her to Bahji, Effie offered her services to him in Haifa, but Shoghi Effendi said she was to return to Australia. The next day, however, the Guardian told Effie that he had reconsidered her offer to remain in Haifa, and thus began Effie's eleven years of service at the World Centre beginning with acting as hostess of a newly completed pilgrim hostel for Western Bahá'ís. Effie had made firm friends with the women in Shoghi Effendi's family and had no major commitments waiting in Australia, and residence in Haifa brought the opportunity for practical service to her Faith (for she did not regard herself as a public speaker like Hyde Dunn, or Martha Root), as well as the opportunity to meet fascinating people from the East and the West. Besides carrying out the myriad tasks of hostess at the World Centre, within a short period Shoghi Effendi came to appreciate Effie's talents as photographer and model-maker. Her good fortune was to commence residing in Haifa when he was preparing the first Bahá'í Yearbook, a publication chronicling Bahá'í activities world-wide which continues to the present time as the Bahá'í World. Early volumes included numerous of her photographs of the Bahá'í monument gardens on Mt. Carmel, widely regarded as the most beautiful in all Israel. Also, Effie made models of landscapes to assist Shoghi Effendi in his planning of new sections of the gardens. Her hardest assignment came late in 1930, when Shoghi Effendi was urgently seeking a photographic record of numerous locations associated with the origins of the Babí and Bahá'í religions. Haste was required to photograph many towns and buildings which were being razed in the Persian government's rapid modernization program. Furthermore, Shoghi Effendi was nearing completion of his translation of Nabil's Narrative, an epic account of the religions' origins, and required the photos to accompany the first edition. At a time when European women could find little protection in the region, Effie travelled by train and car through Iraq to Persia, where living conditions swung from the brief luxury of Tehran Hotels to bitterly cold night-riding on heavily laden mules across steep and stony terrain. A three month commission extended to eight as she moved between locations, keeping well hidden her No1 A Kodak, and her half plate clamp camera with triple extension, and often herself completely covered in a black "chaudor". The complete lack of photographic supplies in the country, and her need to check her work before leaving each location, tested Effie's photographic abilities to the full. In the absence of dark-room or running water, she developed film at night, ensuring that she had at least one good print from the snaps of various apertures taken at each site before moving on. In all but a few places where it was too dangerous for a westerner to go, Effie photographed sites of Baha'i interest. Most of the trip was accomplished by automobile supplied by the Persian believers, but at times it was necessary to travel on horseback, or sometimes by donkey or mule. On one of these occasions while on a mountain track, steep and dark, she fell and injured her collarbone, but continued the journeyShe returned to Haifa with above one thousand good prints, some 400 of which have been published. A selection of the photographs taken by Effie during this period have been immortalized by their being selected by the Guardian for inclusion in The Dawn-Breakers Although away from Australia for an extended period, Effie was still instrumental in guiding the infant Australian Baha’i community. She kept in close contact with the friends she had made in the years 1922-25, and her letters home are full of advice about methods of administration and teaching, as well as of insights into the Baha’i Revelation, gained from close contact with Shoghi Effendi, various learned Persian Baha’is, and many other Baha’is who passed through Haifa on pilgrimage. Back in Melbourne In February 1937 Effie returned to Melbourne, Australia. For a time she stayed in Sydney and then spent several years in her parent's home in Goldsborough, Victoria until moving to Sydney in 1963. The last years of her life were spent at the national Haziratu'l-Quds where she lived at the invitation of the National Spiritual Assembly, from time to time visiting the friends in other States She constantly shared with friends prints of her photos and art-works, although she shied from publicity and from any celebration of her unique life experience and achievements. In the remaining years of her life she enjoyed the love of the growing Australian Bahá'í community, and especially of children who received from her undeserved gifts and tales of adventure. Of her photographic accomplishments, little is known beyond her circle of acquaintances. In 1981-82 her work was included in a national exhibition, Australian Women Photographers 1890-1950, and it has since begun to attract wider attention. Faithful to the Guardian Effie's loyalty to the Guardian was absolute. Her dignity, humor and quiet unassuming manner made her a treasured companion of the friends. She had kept a day-by-day account of her Persian journey, but her modesty and humility were such that it was with some difficulty that she was finally persuaded to send a copy of her journal to the Universal House of Justice. Effie lived a true and exemplary Baha'i life, helpful, loving and affectionate and ever encouraging those who sought to arise to serve the Cause she loved so well. In a letter addressed to Miss Baker on August 27, 1951, the secretary of the Guardian wrote: "Often Shoghi Effendi remarks that if you were in Haifa, you would take some wonderful photos. He considers that no one has ever captured the beauty of the place as you did, and your photographs adorn his own rooms, and the archives and the Mansion, just as they did when you were with us!" A postscript to this letter, in the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, states: "Assuring you of my deep appreciation . . . of your unforgettable services at the World Centre of our beloved Faith, and of my prayers for the success of every effort you exert for its promotion." Death came to Effie gently, on January 1, 1968. She was laid to rest in Mona Vale Cemetery beneath weeping skies, mourned by a wide circle of friends.(Adapted from the ‘Baha’i News’, July 1986; ‘The Baha’i World 1963-1968’, article by James Heggie; article by Graham Hassal in ‘Australian Dictionary of Biography,’ volume 14, published in 1996)
The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.
Photographed is the Bahai temple, Chicago (one of the 9 temples in the world).
