The blue sky and sunshine welcome CARA members
gathering in Wilmette at the Baha'i House of Worship.
Photograph by Doris Cardenas
On Thursday, May 23, 2019, CARA members held their Spring Meeting from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the National Bahá'í Archives, United States, on the lower level of the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, IL.
Qualified researchers and visitors
are welcome to visit the archives reading room
which is open by appointment, during weekdays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Photograph by Doris Cardenas
After greeting the group at the Welcome Center, Edward Sevcik, their archivist, brought us to the reading room of the archive to view a display of archival materials and hear about his work as well as fielding questions from attendees about the archive, the Bahá'í faith and history, particularly in the Chicago area. Ed shared that he came to Wilmette from the International Archive at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, Israel.
Kristen Gravelin and Andrew Rea listen as host archivist, Ed Sevcik, discusses common concerns among religious archivists-
such as digitization of A-V materials, security, and levels of access to archival material.
Photograph by Doris Cardenas
The Chicago Bahá'í community established the US National Archive in 1903, moved it to Wilmette in the 1940s, and they are preparing it for another move this summer to a larger facility being prepared down the street. While the United States Bahá'í House of Worship is a well-known architectural wonder in Illinois, most researchers do not seek information about the building, but rather come to study the faith itself and its growth in this country.
The National Bahá'í Archives uses the spectrum of technology to access materials
created in different decades over a century of collecting. And they are ready to expand.
Photograph by Audra V. Adomenas
Messages of peace, tolerance, and inclusion
fill the architecture, artwork, and environment of the House of Worship.
This wall hanging reads, in part:
Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils is a major barrier to peace.
It retards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims,
corrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress.
Photograph by Audra V. Adomenas
After the business meeting, attendees enjoyed the glorious Spring afternoon, visiting as they walked through the gardens of the House of Worship or slipping inside to explore or perhaps, sit to pause, pray, and reflect in the light, airy interior.
There is one major Bahá'í house of worship on each continent of the planet.
The North American house of worship, right here on the north shore,
was designed by Louis Bourgious, the corner stone was laid in 1912,
construction begun in the early 1920s, and the building was dedicated in 1953.
Photograph by Audra V. Adomenas
