Talk:International Baháʼí Council

Appointed IBC
Is there a record for the eight members appointed in November 1950? If so, please reference it. There is a record of two appointed in March 1951. Davecornell 01:20, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
 * These are the records for those on the page:
 * The 1952 IBC :
 * Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih
 * Mason Remey
 * Amelia Collins
 * Ugo Giachery
 * Leroy Ioas
 * Jessie Revell
 * Ethel Revell
 * Lotfullah Hakim
 * The 1950 (original) IBC can is the above list except for Leroy Ioas and Ugo Giachery, and had Gladys and Benjamin Weeden, which can be seen from the below quote from Ruhiyyih Kanum:
 * '"The original membership had been changed through the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Weeden, for reasons of health, the arrival of Mr. Ioas, who had offered his services to the Guardian, and the inclusion of Dr. Giachery, who continued to reside in Italy and supervise the construction of the Shrine every single stone of which was quarried, cut, and carved in that country and then shipped to Haifa and the golden tiles of whose dome were ordered in Holland -- and to act as the agent of Shoghi Effendi in ordering and purchasing many other things required in the Holy Land. In May 1955 the Guardian announced that he had raised the number of members of the International Bahá'í Council to nine through the appointment of Sylvia Ioas."
 * (Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl, p. 252)


 * The 1955 enlargement :
 * adding Sylvia Ioas -- Jeff3000 01:42, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The creation of the IBC was first made known in the announcement issued in January 1951. I'm not sure where you're getting the 1950 date.

It appears the first two members were Mason Remey and Amelia Collins appointed in March 1951.

Then the two Weedens and possibly others were appointed during the course of 1951 and early 1952, but no record exists.

In 1952 two members had left due to reasons of health. [The Weedens]

Then there's a record of a total of eight members in March 1952 [minus the Weedens].

In 1955 Shoghi Effendi appointed the ninth member, Sylvia Ioas.

Is that correct? Davecornell 02:21, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * You are right that it is 1951, and not 1950. Based on Ruhiyyih Khanum's statement "The original membership had been changed..." it alludes that there were 8 original members, not just Mason Remey and Ruhiyyih Khanum. -- Jeff3000 02:27, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

IBC Meetings
The IBC did meet, but infrequently:


 * "In its functions the International Bahá'í Council acted as that Secretariat the Guardian, so many years earlier, had desired to establish; its members received their instructions from him individually, in the informal atmosphere of the dinners at the Pilgrim House table, and not formally as a body; its meetings were infrequent as all its members were kept constantly busy with the many tasks allotted to them by the Guardian himself. Skilfully Shoghi Effendi used this new institution to create in the minds of government and city officials the image of a body of an international character handling the administrative affairs at the World Centre. It was no concern of the public how much or how little that body had authority; we who were on it knew Shoghi Effendi was everything; the public, however, began to see an image which could evolve later into the Universal House of Justice."
 * (Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl, p. 253) -- Jeff3000 03:04, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I see where there is evidence that they met. Davecornell 03:19, 24 April 2006 (UTC)