Editor John Bowers Frequency Monthly Final issue
— Number October 1990
No. 714 | Categories Religion First issue December 1924 | |
Publisher National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States | ||
Bahá'í News was a monthly magazine, published between December 1924 and October 1990, that covered "news and events in the worldwide Bahá'í community." The magazine was first published as Bahá'í News Letter for 40 issues, changing to Bahá'í News from issue 41 onwards. A significant portion of the content of Bahá'í News touched upon worldwide developments in the Bahá'í community and the achievement of pioneering goals, as well as developments in the American Bahá'í community. Digitized issues are available online.
Contents
American Bahá'í, a successor periodical which began publication in 1970 and is still in production, carries a particular focus on domestic developments in the American Baha'i community.
Impact
Bahá'í News was founded as part of Shoghi Effendi's strengthening of the administration of the Bahá'í Faith in his role as Guardian. As William Garlington writes in his book The Baha'i Faith in America, "[E]mphasis was placed on developing positive methods of communication between the various Baha'i administrative institutions. Special attention was given to the proper relationship between local and national assemblies as well as the desired manner of interaction between the National Convention and National Spiritual Assembly. This effort was assisted by the national publication of Bahá'í News beginning in 1924, which provided all Bahá'í access to the Guardian's correspondence".
Further it “should become a great factor in promoting understanding, providing information on Bahá’í activity, both local and foreign, in stimulating interest, in combating evil influences, and in upholding and safeguarding the institutions of the Cause. It should be made as representative as possible, should be replete with news, up-to-date in its information, and should arouse the keenest interest among believers ... in every corner of the globe.”
Similar periodicals
Another periodical, Star of the West, was initially named Baha'i News as well, and its dates of publication (from 1910 to 1935) overlapped with Bahá'í News.