{"product_id":"tools-for-living-winnifred-harvey-and-the-beginnings-of-the-bahai-faith-in-ottawa","title":"Tools for Living: Winnifred Harvey and the Beginnings of the Baha'i Faith in Ottawa","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eThis book tells the story of a woman who made a difference in the Bahá’í community and beyond. Winnifred (1911-1990) was a well-known Canadian Bahá’í teacher and administrator who was the first Bahá’í in Ottawa and, by her count, the hundredth Bahá’í in Canada. With Winnifred, we experience many firsts of the Canadian Bahá’í community in the mid-1900s, such as the first summer schools, first Spiritual Assemblies (Ottawa in 1948), the first National Convention, the first outreach to communities outside Ottawa, the beginnings of French-Canadian, Indigenous and Inuit teaching and Canada’s response to the Ten-Year Crusade. We accompany Winnifred on her pilgrimage in 1956, where she met the Guardian, and to his funeral in London just a year later. There are also stories of her teaching trips across Canada (including the North), Scandinavia, Nigeria and Europe.  We also met her co-workers, including Roger White, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eHelen and Andy Andrews, Chuck and Mary Keedwell, Edna Hughes, Ethel Martens, Rosemary and Emeric Sala, Rowland Estall, and Hands of the Cause Siegfried Schopflocher and John Robarts. The last 20 years of her life, until her death, she served the Bahá’í Faith at the World Centre in Haifa, where she is buried.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eThe Ottawa Bahá’í community is now one of the most successful in North America, and I thought it was important to chronicle its beginnings, as Winnifred was so instrumental in its founding.  The book explores in detail the first decades of the Ottawa Baha’i community, including short biographies of the Baha’is of the 1940s and 1950s, the cooperative houses in Ottawa South and Centretown, teaching plans,  the extensive use of media and public meetings, and the extension teaching project that led to the formation of the Spiritual Assemblies of Kingston and Belleville.  The book also explores the central role of Ottawa in fulfilling Canada’s goals of the Ten Year Crusade and its role in the Canadian Baha’i News\u003c\/span\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eWinnifred left a rich archive. Her handwritten account of her pilgrimage alone is close to 80 pages long and a summary of this pilgrimage, including notes of her conversations with Shoghi Effendi, is included.  This well-researched book is based on the fiive boxes of her papers left to the Canadian Bahá’í Archive, files in the Ottawa Bahá’í Archives, papers in the U.S. Bahá’í archives, the box of her papers sent to me from the Bahá’í World Centre, letters of friends and family, scrapbooks, and about 15 interviews.  There are extensive footnotes and references. As her neice, it was hard to resist writing this project.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bahá’í Books Canada \/ Librairie bahá’íe Canada","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52702714364186,"sku":null,"price":24.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0764\/4099\/4074\/files\/WhatsAppImage2026-08-15at15.25.28.jpg?v=1786986972","url":"https:\/\/distribution.bahai.ca\/en-ca\/products\/tools-for-living-winnifred-harvey-and-the-beginnings-of-the-bahai-faith-in-ottawa","provider":"Bahá’í Books Canada \/ Librairie bahá’íe Canada","version":"1.0","type":"link"}