First NSA on European continent elected on April 26, 1958

First National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of France, elected on April 26, 1958 (Baha'i News July 1958)

‘Abdu’l-Baha left Holy Land for Egypt, August 29, 1910

[A portion of a letter from Sydney Sprague to Isabella Brittingham.]

Mount Carmel, August 29, 1910.

Dear Sister in the Holy Cause: I have a very big piece of news to tell you. ‘Abdu’l-Baha has left this Holy Spot for the first time in forty two years, and has gone to Egypt. Think of the vast significance and importance of this step! By it many prophecies of the sacred Scriptures are fulfilled. The Light and Life of Acca has departed and we feel as though we were now left in obscurity while Egypt is illumined, and that ancient country which has seen the prophets Joseph and Moses and even the infant Christ is now to see the Consummation of all the prophets. Will it appreciate and realize this Bounty? Everyone was astounded to hear of ‘Abdu’l-Baha's departure, for no one knew until the very last minute that he had any idea of leaving. The afternoon of the day he left, he came to Mirza Assad’u’llah's home to see us and sat with us awhile beside a new well that has just been finished and said that he had come to taste the water. We did not realize that it was a good-bye visit. Then he took a carriage and went up the hill to the Holy Tomb (of the Bab). That night, as usual, the believers gathered before the house of ‘Abdu’l-Baha to receive that blessing, which every day is ours, of being in his presence, but we waited in vain, for one of the sons in-law came and told us that ‘Abdu’l-Baha had taken the Khedivial steamer for Port Said. We could hardly believe it was true, so great was this news. Think how happy we must be that after forty two years in this cage, the Divine Bird has spread His wings and in perfect freedom flown away.  
(Star of the West, Vol. 1, October 16, 1910)

April 1956: First Regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North West Africa was elected.

First Regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North West Africa. April 1956

Local Spiritual Assemblies worldwide, as of 1928

Australia: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
Brazil: Bahia
China: Shanghai
Egypt: Port Said
England: London, Manchester, Dorset
France: Paris
India and Burma: Burma, Mandalay, Rangoon; India: Bombay, Calcutta, Camp Karachi, Poona
Japan: Robe
Korea: Seoul
Palestine: Haifa
Persia: Hamadan, Kirman, Kashan, Mashhad, Sultan-Abad (Aragh)
Russia: Moscow
South Africa: Pretoria
Switzerland: Assembly of Lausanne
Syria: Alexandretta, Beirut
Tasmania: Hobart
Turkey: Constantinople

There were 1,280 Baha'is and 24 Assemblies in USA in 1906

According to the Government Census Bureau statistics gathered in 1906, dealing with the religious life of the United States, and now in press at Washington, D.C., Baha'is have twenty-four assemblies, aggregating a membership of 1,280. 
(Star of the West, vol. 1, No. 9, August 20, 1910)

‘Abdu’l-Baha’s younger brother, Mirza Mihdi, known as the Purest Branch, was about 12 years old when he was reunited with the Holy Family in Baghdad in 1860

Mirza Mihdi was taken to Baghdad to join the Family in the year AH 1276 (circa AD 1860). It was in that city that this pure and holy youth, noted for his meekness, came in touch with the Divine Spirit and was magnetized by the energizing forces of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation. From that time on, he devoted every moment of his life to the service of his heavenly Father. He was Bahá'u'lláh's companion in Baghdad, Adrianople and 'Akká, and served Him as an amanuensis [It must be noted that although Mirza Aqa Jan was Bahá'u'lláh's amanuensis, there were also others who were engaged in this task from time to time] towards the end of his life, leaving to posterity some Tablets in his handwriting. The last ten years of his life were filled with the hardship and suffering inflicted on Bahá'u'lláh and His companions in the course of the three successive banishments from Baghdad to 'Akká.

The Purest Branch resembled 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and throughout his short and eventful life he displayed the same spiritual qualities which distinguished his illustrious Brother. The believers loved and venerated him as they did 'Abdu'l-Bahá. (Adib Taherzadeh, 'The Revelation of Baha'u'llah')

Mid-July 1920: Shoghi Effendi arrived in the United Kingdom

Shoghi Effendi arrived in the United Kingdom in mid-July 1920 and was welcomed by a community of devoted believers and admirers of the Faith who had been nurtured by their loving Master. Prominent among the believers and admirers of the Master were Lady Blomfield, Major Tudor-Pole and Lord Lamington.

Lady Blomfield, one of the pillars of the Cause in England, had been among the first to recognize the new revelation. She was a woman whose considerable influence traced back to her father-in-law, Dr Charles James Blomfield (1786-1857), the Bishop of London and the tutor of Queen Victoria. Lady Blomfield and her daughter Mary had been introduced to the Faith at a reception in Paris in 1907. Their teacher was Miss Bertha Herbert. Both had embraced the Faith upon their return to England and were nurtured by a Baha'i community comprising two people: an American believer living in London, Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper, and Miss. Ethel Rosenberg, the first British woman to accept the new Earth of God.

1934 -- First National Convention of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand

First National Convention of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand, 1934

Baha’i Magazines in circulation in 1923

With reference to the following excerpt from a letter written by the beloved Guardian on 12 March, 1923, the following Baha’i magazines were in circulation in 1923:

In America: “Star of the West” and the “Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom”;
India: the “Bahá’í News” of India;
Turkestan: the “Sun of the East” (Khurshid-i Khavar);
Japan: the “Star of the East”; and in
Germany: the “Sun of Truth”.

“They [Assemblies] must encourage and stimulate by every means at their command, through subscription, reports and articles, the development of the various Bahá’í magazines, such as the “Star of the West” and the “Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom” in the United States of America, the “Bahá’í News” of India, the “Sun of the East” (Khurshid-i Khavar) in Turkestan, the “Star of the East” in Japan, the “Sun of Truth” in Germany.” 
(Shoghi Effendi, letter dated 12 March, 1923, to the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout America, Great Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and Australasia; Baha’i Administration, p. 38)

Baha’u’llah rented a house in Baghdad

Baha'u'llah arrived in Baghdad on 8 April 1853. The journey from Tehran had been very difficult and had lasted three months. After a few days in Baghdad, Baha'u'llah moved to Kazimayn, a Shi'i shrine city which at that time was some five kilometers north-west of Baghdad (it has since become incorporated into the city). The Iranian consul suggested to him that since Kazimayn tended to be full of rather fanatical elements, it would be safer for Baha'u'llah if he lived in Baghdad itself in the mainly Persian-speaking quarters on the west bank of the Tigris river. Baha'u'llah consented to this and rented a house there. 
(Moojan Momen, 'Baha’u’llah A Short Biography')

Green Acre in Eliot, Main, USA becomes one of the first Baha’i summer schools in the Western Hemisphere

Sanctified by a native peace pipe ceremony in 1894, the Sarah Farmer Inn, near the banks of the Piscataqua river in Eliot, Maine, became a conference facility for a variety of courses, including transcendentalism, evolution and comparative religion. Its open-minded atmosphere attracted people of many religions, cultures, and races. It provided a peaceful setting for fostering fellowship, understanding and unity.

After her pilgrimage to ‘Akka in 1900, Sarah Farmer, made the facilities at the disposal of the followers of the Faith which she had herself recently embraced. The center attracted many Baha’i speakers including some very famous like, Mirza Abu’l-Fadl in 1902. In 1912 Green Acre became specially blessed by the footsteps of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Who spent a week there and gave a number of talks. In one of them on August 17 He indicated that “In the future, God willing, Green Acre shall become a great center, the cause of the unity of the world of humanity, the cause of uniting hearts and binding together the East and the West. This is my hope. (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 264). It is reported that ‘Abdu’l-Baha further indicated that one day Green Acre would become the site of the first Baha'i University and the second Baha'i Temple in the United States. The room in which ‘Abdu’l-Baha stayed is reserved nowadays for prayers and meditation.

Green Acre was the site of America’s earliest conferences on racial unity. It was also at Green Acre that the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada took place. On 12 August 1929, the NSA of US and Canada obtained legal title to the property. Green became the site for the first office of the National Spiritual Assembly and the residence of its secretary, Horace Holley.

First Canadian Teaching Committee, December 1946

Standing, left to right: Siegfried Schopflocker, John A Robarts, Victor Davis, Rowland Estall, and Emeric Sala; Seating, left to right: Laura R Davis, and Doris Richardson (Baha'i News, no. 192, February, 1947)

Khadijih Bagum & Asiyih Khanum were born in the same year

The wife of the Bab, Khadijih Bagum and the wife of Baha’u’llah, Asiyih Khanum (Navvab), both were born in the same year – the year 1820. Baha’u’llah was 2 years older than the Bab. 
(A Basic Baha’i Chronology, by Glenn Cameron and Wendi Momen)

Ruhiyyih Khanum’s links with Africa

The first time she touched African soil was in July 1923, when she accompanied her mother, May Maxwell, on pilgrimage. During that summer, when she was just thirteen, they spent a few months in Egypt in the north of Africa. But the first time Amatu'l-Baha actually travelled in this continent was in 1940 with Shoghi Effendi himself and with her father. Mr. Maxwell had been invited by the beloved Guardian to live in Haifa after the passing of his wife, but soon after he joined them in Rome they were cut off from the Holy Land by the events of World War II. The Mediterranean Sea was closed to the Allies and Shoghi Effendi decided to sail to South Africa; from here he and Ruhiyyih Khanum drove overland most of the way from Cape Town to Cairo and so on to the Holy Land. It was this historic journey, in the company of the beloved Guardian himself, which was her first real introduction to Africa.

The Marriage of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

It was in the summer of 1873 that 'Abdu'l-Baha [then 29 years old] was married to Munirih Khanum, the niece of two brothers who were devoted followers of Baha'u'llah in Isfahan [six years later they became King and Beloved of the martyrs] She had been brought to 'Akka by Baha'u'llah in early 1873, at a time when the situation was very difficult due to the murder of the Azalis and all other Baha'i pilgrims had been told to stay away. 'Abdu'l-Baha himself had been reluctant to marry, although a number of spouses had been proposed to him over the years. He felt he could serve his father better if he remained single, as indeed did his sister Bahiyyih Khanum who never married. Although he had turned down the other spouses who had been proposed to him, he was attracted to Munirih Khanum and agreed to marry her. The marriage was put off for a few months however because the tight accommodation in their place of residence meant that the couple could not have a room to themselves. llyas 'Abbud, their neighbor who lived in the other half of the same building and who had been so fearful of the Baha’is earlier, had by this time been won over by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Bahiyyih Khanum [‘Abdu’l-Baha’s sister] went to the wife of Ilyas 'Abbud and told her of the problem. When he was informed, 'Abbud immediately opened up a doorway between his residence and Baha'u'llah's and gave ‘Abdu'l-Baha a room in his house for his use. Once this happened the marriage was able to proceed.

An example of God’s wrath when followers of a religion became totally attached to dogmas and blind imitations and gave up the essential foundation and reality of their religion

… when the Jews became fettered by empty forms and imitations, the wrath of God became manifest. When they forsook the foundations of the law of God, Nebuchadnezzar came and conquered the Holy Land. He killed and made captive the people of Israel, laid waste the country and populous cities and burned the villages. Seventy thousand Jews were carried away captive to Babylon. He destroyed Jerusalem, despoiled the great Temple, desecrated the Holy of Holies and burned the Torah, the heavenly book of Scriptures. Therefore, we learn that allegiance to the essential foundation of the divine religions is ever the cause of development and progress, whereas the abandonment and beclouding of that essential reality through blind imitations and adherence to dogmatic beliefs are the causes of a nation's debasement and degradation. After their conquest by the Babylonians the Jews were successively subjugated by the Greeks and Romans. Under the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70 the Holy Land was stripped and pillaged, Jerusalem razed to its foundations and the Israelites scattered broadcast throughout the world. So complete was their dispersion that they have continued without a country and government of their own to the present day [1912].

From this review of the history of the Jewish people we learn that the foundation of the religion of God laid by Moses was the cause of their eternal honor and national prestige, the animating impulse of their advancement and racial supremacy and the source of that excellence which will always command the respect and reverence of those who understand their peculiar destiny and outcome. The dogmas and blind imitations which gradually obscured the reality of the religion of God proved to be Israel's destructive influences, causing the expulsion of these chosen people from the Holy Land of their Covenant and promise. 
(Abdu'l-Baha, from a talk, 'The Promulgation of Universal Peace')

“Bahá'u'lláh upraised the standard of His Cause in prison ... -- a prisoner and an exile advancing His Cause and spreading His teachings broadcast so that eventually He became powerful enough to conquer the very king who banished Him.”

Inside prison walls He wrote Epistles to all the kings and rulers of nations, summoning them to arbitration and universal peace. Some of the kings received His words with disdain and contempt. One of these was the Sultan of the Ottoman kingdom. Napoleon III of France did not reply. A second Epistle was addressed to him. It stated, "I have written you an Epistle before this, summoning you to the Cause of God, but you are of the heedless. You have proclaimed that you were the defender of the oppressed; now it hath become evident that you are not. Nor are you kind to your own suffering and oppressed people. Your actions are contrary to your own interests, and your kingly pride must fall. Because of your arrogance God shortly will destroy your sovereignty. France will flee away from you, and you will be overwhelmed by a great conquest. There will be lamentation and mourning, women bemoaning the loss of their sons." This arraignment of Napoleon III was published and spread.

Read it and consider: one prisoner, single and solitary, without assistant or defender, a foreigner and stranger imprisoned in the fortress of 'Akká, writing such letters to the Emperor of France and Sultan of Turkey. Reflect upon this: how Bahá'u'lláh upraised the standard of His Cause in prison. Refer to history. It is without parallel. No such thing has happened before that time nor since -- a prisoner and an exile advancing His Cause and spreading His teachings broadcast so that eventually He became powerful enough to conquer the very king who banished Him. 
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a talk, 'The Promulgation of Universal Peace')

1948: Dr. Ugo Giachery is appointed by the Guardian as his personal representative for all the work in Italy associated with the erection of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab on Mr. Carmel

Ugo Giachery, born and educated in Palermo, Sicily, pursued a widely varied course of studies, receiving from the Royal University of Palermo a doctorate in chemistry, in which subject he engaged in teaching and research and published a number of papers. He served with distinction in the First World War. After living in the United States for some years, he and & wife returned to Italy in 1947 as pioneer teachers of the Baha'i Faith. From then on his career was one of continuing distinguished services.

In 1948 Dr. Ugo Giachery was appointed by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, as his personal representative for all the work in Italy associated with the erection of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab on Mr. Carmel. It was this service which brought him the immortal honour of having the south-western door of the original Shrine named after him as 'Bab-i-Giachery'. In 1951 Shoghi Effendi appointed Dr. Giachery Hand of the Cause of God, and in 1952 'Member at Large' of the international Baha'i Council, the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice. In 1953 he became chairman of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy and Switzerland.

Exceptionally cold weather during which Baha’u’llah and His Family were exiled to Adrianople

Pursuant to the peremptory orders issued for the immediate departure of the already twice banished exiles, Bahá'u'lláh, His family, and His companions, some riding in wagons, others mounted on pack animals, with their belongings piled in carts drawn by oxen, set out, accompanied by Turkish officers, on a cold December morning, amidst the weeping of the friends they were leaving behind, on their twelve-day journey, across a bleak and windswept country, to a city characterized by Bahá'u'lláh as "the place which none entereth except such as have rebelled against the authority of the sovereign." "They expelled Us," is His own testimony in the Suriy-i-Mulúk, "from thy city (Constantinople) with an abasement with which no abasement on earth can compare." "Neither My family, nor those who accompanied Me," He further states, "had the necessary raiment to protect them from the cold in that freezing weather." And again: "The eyes of Our enemies wept over Us, and beyond them those of every discerning person." "A banishment," laments Nabil, "endured with such meekness that the pen sheddeth tears when recounting it, and the page is ashamed to bear its description." "A cold of such intensity," that same chronicler records, "prevailed that year, that nonagenarians could not recall its like. In some regions, in both Turkey and Persia, animals succumbed to its severity and perished in the snows. The upper reaches of the Euphrates, in Ma'dan-Nuqrih, were covered with ice for several days -- an unprecedented phenomenon -- while in Diyar-Bakr the river froze over for no less than forty days." "To obtain water from the springs," one of the exiles of Adrianople recounts, "a great fire had to be lighted in their immediate neighborhood, and kept burning for a couple of hours before they thawed out."

Traveling through rain and storm, at times even making night marches, the weary travelers, after brief halts at Kuchik-Chakmachih, Buyuk-Chakmachih, Salvari, Birkas, and Baba-Iski, arrived at their destination, on the first of Rajab 1280 A.H. (December 12, 1863) 
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 161)

Baha’u’llah Reveals the Station of ‘Abdu’l-Baha – the Suriy-i-Ghusn (Surih of the Branch)

It was in Adrianople that Bahá'u'lláh revealed a Tablet the significance of which cannot be over-estimated. That Tablet was the Suriy-i-Ghusn (Surih of the Branch) addressed to Mirza 'Ali-Riday-i-Mustawfi, a Bahá'í of Khurasan --that province in eastern Persia famed in the Bábí Dispensation and to which some momentous prophecies of Bahá'u'lláh specifically apply. Mirza 'Ali-Rida was a high-ranking official in the service of the government, and his brother, Mirza Muhammad-Rida …also a follower of Bahá'u'lláh, was the Vizier of Khurasan. In the Suriy-i-Ghusn, Bahá'u'lláh thus extols His eldest Son:

1927 -- First time delegates from nine leading provinces of Persia convened a conference

With their traditional fidelity and characteristic vigor, notwithstanding the unimaginable hindrances they have to face, they have convened their first historic representative conference of various delegates from the nine leading provinces of Persia, have evolved plans for holding every year as fully representative a convention of Bahá'í delegates in Persia as circumstances permit, and modelled after the method pursued by their brethren in the United States and Canada. 
(Letter written by Shoghi Effendi, dated October 18, 1927; printed in 'Baha'i Administration')

Nov. 27, 1924 -- The Guardian approved suggestion by Horace Holley to create Baha’i Year Books

The suggestion made by my dear and able friend, Mr. Horace Holley, as to the compilation of an annual " Bahá'í Year Book" is extremely valuable and timely. I am much impressed by it, and feel that an immediate start should be made. I believe it can best be now undertaken under the direction and supervision of your Assembly until the time should come for the friends in the East and particularly Persia to participate effectually in its development. I trust you will send me a copy of the skeleton of the material you propose to include, and I shall here attempt to fill up any gap and render any assistance I can to make it as comprehensive, as attractive, and as authoritative as possible. (Shoghi Effendi, 'Baha'i Administration')

Circa May 1922 – Shoghi Effendi left for a time the affairs of the Cause both at home and abroad in the hands of Bahiyyih Khanum

In the Name of God

This servant, after that grievous event and great calamity, the ascension of His Holiness 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the Abha Kingdom, has been so stricken with grief and pain and so entangled in the troubles (created) by the enemies of the Cause of God, that I consider that my presence here, at such a time and in such an atmosphere, is not in accordance with the fulfilment of my important and sacred duties.

For this reason, unable to do otherwise, I have left for a time the affairs of the Cause both at home and abroad, under the supervision of the Holy Family and the headship of the Greatest Holy Leaf [Bahiyyih Khanum, sister of 'Abdu'l-Bahá] until, by the Grace of God, having gained health, strength, self-confidence and spiritual energy, and having taken into my hands, in accordance with my aim and desire, entirely and regularly the work of service I shall attain to my utmost spiritual hope and aspiration.

The servant of His Threshold,

Shoghi

Haifa, Palestine.
Circa May, 1922 (undated).

(Shoghi Effendi, 'Baha'i Administration')

September 1867-August 1868: the most momentous Tablet of Baha’u’llah, The Suriy-i-Mulúk (the Surih of the Kings) was revealed in Adrianople

The first full translation of this Tablet is included in the Summons of the Lord of Hosts. In the Introduction section of that book the Universal House of Justice explains that:

Included in this collection, as well, is the first full translation of the Súriy-i-Mulúk or Súrih of the Kings, which Shoghi Effendi described as “the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in which He, for the first time, directs His words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West”. It sets forth both the character of His mission and the standard of justice that must govern the exercise of their rule in this Day of God:

“Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the iii extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.” (Baha’u’llah)

The Tablet introduces some of the great themes that were to figure prominently in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh over the next two and a half decades: the obligation of those into whose hands God has entrusted civil authority to institute the reign of justice, the necessity for the reduction of armaments and the resolution of conflicts among nations, and an end to the excessive expenditures that were impoverishing these rulers’ subjects.

Baha’i Summer Schools Originated in America

The Bahá'í summer schools were originated in America to meet the requirements of the friends. They have been adopted by other Bahá'í Communities the world over, but there is no reason why they should be called "summer schools". There is nothing rigid about the term, it is purely descriptive. 
(From a letter dated 26 December 1941 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand; The Compilation of Compilations vol. 1)