Chronology: Date 1938-0

date	event	tags	firsts
1938 Sep	The first Bahá'í summer school to be held in India took place in Simla. [BBRSM194; BW8:199]	Summer schools; First summer and winter schools; Shimla, India; Himachal Pradesh, India; India	first Bahá’í summer school held in India
1938 25 Jul	The passing of Queen Marie of Romania. [BBD144; GPB395] For her services to the Bahá'í Faith see GPB389–96. For tributes paid by her to the Bahá'í Faith see BW8:269–71. For her relationship with the Bahá'í Faith see BW8:271–6. For tributes to her see BW8276–82. For her biography see Her Eternal Crown - Queen Marie Of Romania And The Baha'i Faith by Della Marcus and published by George Ronald Publisher. In 2018 a film was made about her life titled Maria Inima Romaniei (Maria Heart of Romania) by John Florescu of Chainsaw Film Productions. Trailer.	Queen Marie of Romania; In Memoriam; Births and deaths; Romania
1938 Jul	The first Finnish Bahá'í, Pastor Väinö Rissanen, accepted the Faith. He was taught by Miss Josephine Kruka [BW8:935; BW17:129] For a letter from him about Finland see BW8:936.	First Bahá'ís by country or area; Finland	first Finnish Bahá’í
1938 June	In the June issue of Bahá'í News Shoghi Effendi recommended the translation of the Qur'an as done by Sales as being the best English translation. He said it was the most accurate rendering available, and it was the most widespread. [BN Issue 116 June 1938 p1] See also Recommendations Concerning Translations of the Qur'án and Introductory Books on the Bahá'í Faith by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice (2002), for guidance on more recent translations of the Qur'án.	Quran; Quran translations
1938 1 May	The National Convention was held in Chicago. Those elected to the National Spiritual Assembly were: Dorothy Baker, Allen McDaniel, Horace Holley, Roy Wilhelm, George Latimer, Seigfried Schopflocher, Amelia Collins, Harlan Ober, and Charles Ioas. [BN Issue 116 June 1938 p4] Grace Roberts Ober, who had just given a report on a travel teaching trip to Louisville KY and on her work in Toronto where she had been the previous Fall, collapsed into the arms of the Convention chairman, Harlan Ober in view of the assembled delegates while ending her address. She was removed from the convention hall and passed away shortly thereafter. See TG75-76 and FMH273-274 for the background to this story. Born in Thorold, ON of Sarah E. Wilson and the Rev Thomas Tempest Robarts, a cannon in the Anglican Church, Grace's life's work was that of a teacher. During 'Abdu'l-Baha's tour of America she served as his household manager, going ahead to secure an apartment for him and acting as His housekeeper and hostess. On July 17, 1912 she married Harlan Ober at 'Abdu'l-Bahá's suggestion. The legal marriage was conducted by Howard Colby Ives. [BW8p656-660]	Grace Robarts Ober; In Memoriam; Dorothy Baker; Allen McDaniel; Horace Holley; Roy C. Wilhelm; George Latimer; Seigfried Schopflocher; Amelia Collins; Harlan Ober; Charles Ioas; Conventions, National; National Assembly, election of; Chicago, IL; USA
1938 30 Apr	Munírih Khánum, the Holy Mother, wife of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, passed away. [BBD166; BW8:260; CB358; DH161] Note: UD119 records this was 28 April. She died while the American National Convention was in session in Chicago. Shoghi Effendi cabled the Convention to say that all Ridván celebrations were to be suspended and that the delegates should devote a special session to her remembrance. [SEPE1p266] Shoghi Effendi interred her body just west of the Shrine of Bahíyyih Khánum and erected a simple monument over her grave. [DH161] For excerpts from her autobiography see BW8:259–63. For tributes to her see BW8:263–7.	Munirih Khanum; In Memoriam; Monument Gardens; Cemeteries and graves; Bahá'í World Centre buildings, monuments and gardens; - Bahá'í World Centre; Shoghi Effendi, Life of; Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Shoghi Effendi, Works of; - Bahá'í World Centre; Mount Carmel MERGE
1938 27 Apr	In a message addressed to the Thirtieth National Convention the Guardian announced: "As token my gratitude to such community entrusted beloved co-worker Mrs. Collins locks Bahá'u'lláh's most precious hair arranged preserved by loving hands Greatest Holy Leaf to rest beneath dome of Temple nobly raised by dearly beloved believers in American continent." [BN Issue 116 June 1938 p1] "This is the Tablet read by Mrs. Thomas (Amelia) Collins in presenting at the Convention the Guardian's gift of locks of Bahá'u'lláh's Hair. The Tablet is shared with the believers with the Guardian's permission." [BN Issue 121 December 1938 p11] Though the translation had been approved by Shoghi Effendi, it was more recently (2001) sent to the Bahá'í World Center to verify its authenticity. The translation given here is an authorized translation from the BWC, approved for distribution. Translator not identified. See also provisional translations of the remaining six Tablets of the Hair, that have been completed by Adib Masumian. There are a total of eleven Tablets of the Hair. [Adib Masumian's personal website]	* Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Alvah-i-Shaarat (Tablets of the Hair); Amelia Collins; Conventions; Conventions, National; Gifts; Hair (general); Relics; Chicago, IL; USA
1938 Ridván	The National Spiritual Assembly of India, (Pakistan) and Burma launched a Six Year Plan, the Indian Six Year Plan (1938-1944). [Ruhi 8.2 p46, BBRSM158; The Spiritual Conquest of the Planet (Supplement) p2] Although the plan was not initiated by Shoghi Effendi, it received his commendation and encouragement. Lack of funds prevented the plan from being implemented until 1940. [DND70-71, 96-97, 100-101; SBBH2:160]	- Teaching Plans; - Teaching Plans, National; India, Pakistan and Burma Six Year Plan; India; Pakistan; Myanmar
1938 Apr	The first local spiritual assembly in the whole of Latin America was formed in Mexico City. [bahai.org;Wikipedia]	Local Spiritual Assembly; Mexico City, Mexico	first LSA in Latin America
1938 15 Mar	Mary Virginia Thornburgh-Cropper (Maryam Khánum), the first Bahá'í of the British Isles, passed away in Kensington, London. Find a Grave. She was known to her friends as Minnie and first heard of the Bahá'í Faith in 1898 when she was 41. She was an American living in London and had been married to an Englishman. Shortly after reading about the Báb in an encyclopedia, by coincidence, she was invited by her friend Phoebe Hearst to be part of the first group of Western Bahá'í pilgrims to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the Holy Land. She is considered to be the first person to become a Bahá'í in the UK and throughout her life was a very active member of the community. She was a member of the first elected National Spiritual Assembly of England (later Great Britain). She made her motor-car available to 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His visits. [SBR30, BW4p375, In the Footsteps of 'Abdu'l-Bahá p9] For details of her life see BSR17–30. For her obituary see BW8:649–51. Notes: It is possibly she, rather than her mother, Mrs Thornburgh, who is referred to as a Disciple of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in BW3:84–5. The picture is not that of Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper.	Mary Virginia Thornburgh-Cropper; Disciples of `Abdu'l-Bahá; In Memoriam; London, England; United Kingdom	first Bahá’í of British Isles
1938 5 Feb	Bahá'ís in the Soviet Union were persecuted by the authorities. [BBR473, BW8p87-90, 179-81, BW14p479-481, SETPE1p155; YS6] Five hundred Bahá'í men were imprisoned in Turkistán. [Bw8p89] Many Persian Bahá'ís living in various cities of the Soviet Union were arrested, some are sent to Siberia, others to Pavladar in northern Kazakhstan and yet others to Iran. [BW8p87, 179, 184] Six hundred Bahá'í refugees-women, girls, children and a few old men, went to Iran, most to Mashhad. [BW8p89] The Bahá'í Temple in Ishqábád (now Ashgabat, Turkmenistan) was confiscated and turned into an art gallery. [BDD122, BW8p89] The Bahá'í schools were ordered closed. [BW8p89] Spiritual Assemblies and all other administrative institutions in the Caucasus were ordered dissolved. [BW8p89] Shoghi Effendi included all these territories in his Ten Year Plan, unveiled in 1953, as follows: The National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria was made responsible for opening Albania, Estonia, Finno—Karelia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (Moldova), Romania and White Russia (Belarus) and for consolidating Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (S.F.S.R.), and Yugoslavia. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of lran was made responsible for opening Kirgizia (later named Kyrgyzstan), Mongolia, Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan) and Uzbekistan, and for consolidating Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkmenistan. The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States was responsible for opening Kazakhstan, Sakhalin, and the Ukraine. [BW20p196-197]	Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Ishqabad; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); Persecution, Russia; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution, Other; - Persecution; - Bahá'í inspired schools; Local Spiritual Assembly; Soviet Union; Russia; Caucasus; Turkestan; Ashgabat; Turkmenistan; Kazakhstan; Iran; Mashhad, Iran
1938 Jan	The National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand incorporated. [GPB336]	National Spiritual Assembly of Australia; National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand; National Spiritual Assembly, incorporation; Incorporation; Recognition (legal); Australia; New Zealand
1938 (In the year)	The Bahá'í Faith was banned in Austria. [SYH209]	Persecution, Austria; Austria
1938 (In the year)	Felix Maddela became the first Filipino Bahá'í. His first encounter with the Bahá'í Faith was in 1924 when a purchase he made was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper which contained an article by Martha Root about the religion and a picture of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. As the author's address did not appear in the article, it was another 14 years before he encountered more about the religion. In the early spring of 1937, Loulie Albee Mathews arrived in Manila on board the "Franconia." As the boat was to dock for only a few hours, she managed to place a few pamphlets in a college library on the shelf of comparative religions. A few months later, on a visit to Manila from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Mr. Maddela came across the literature. This started a series of correspondence with the Bahá'í Publishing Committee of the United States. With Madella so fired up, he immediately taught his family and friends. Shortly before World War II, the Bahá'í's of Solano numbered around fifty. When war broke out all communications ceased. Immediately after the war, contact was re-established thru Alvin Blum, who was attached to the medical unit of the United States Army. Hitch-hiking to Solano, which was in ruins, he located the Maddelas living in impoverished conditions. Of the fifty enrolled Bahá'í's, twenty-five had been killed or were missing. The others had survived by hiding in rice fields for three years. [WikipediaThe Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines] On the 2nd of December 1946, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Sloano was incorporated. At Ridván 1964 the first National Spiritual Assembly was formed and during the Ten Year Crusade Hand of the Cause Dr Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir led the mass conversion with brought the Faith far and wide throughout the islands. [BW19p798] Travel teachers that had visited the Philippines were: Jamal Effendi, Mirzá Husayn Tútí, Martha Root and Siegfried Schopflocher. [BW19p798]	Felix Maddela; Loulie A. Mathews; Alvin Blum; Jamal Effendi; Martha Root; Siegfried Schopflocher; Manila, Philippines; Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; Philippines	first Filipino Bahá’í
1938 (In the year)	The publication of The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, a compilation of the communications to the North American Bahá'í community between 1929 and 1936. "These...communications unfold a clear vision of the relation between the Bahá'í community and the entire process of social evolution under the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh." [WOBv; Collins5.145] It is available online at the Bahá'í Reference Library .	World Order of Bahá'u'lláh (book); Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh (letter); World order; * Publications; * Shoghi Effendi, Writings of; Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Peace; World peace; Shoghi Effendi, Works of
1938 - 1939	Shoghi Effendi disbanded the Haifa Spiritual Assembly which had been in operation since 1922, and sent the local community away. The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine made local conditions dangerous with the Arab nationalist contending with the threat of the apparent open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases and the stated goal of establishing a "Jewish National Home". Perhaps another factor in his decision was the impending war in Europe. [PP348] The disbanding of the spiritual assembly apparently did not mean the end to the publication of the "Haifa News Letter" in which news from the World Centre had been forwarded to all the Bahá'í centres in the East in Persian with an English translation of the publication distributed in the West. The last known mention of the Haifa News Letter was in letter dated the 6th of March, 1946 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Britain. UD182 refers. [PP50, 282,348]	Haifa Spiritual Assembly; Local Spiritual Assembly; Haifa News Letter; - Newsletters; Haifa Bahá'í Assembly; Haifa, Israel
1938 (In the year)	The publication of Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh. [P&M; Collins1.100] It contained 186 pieces.	Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh (book); * Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Prayer; Meditation; Shoghi Effendi, Translations by; Translation; * Publications; Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Shoghi Effendi, Works of; - Bahá'í World Centre
1938 (In the year)	Shoghi Effendi remained in Europe for the year owing to terrorist activities in Palestine. [PP219] "The Great Revolt" raged in Palestine from 1936 to 1939. It was a nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration of the Palestine Mandate, demanding Arab independence and the end of the policy of open-ended Jewish immigration and land purchases with the stated goal of establishing a "Jewish National Home". An innocent casualty of the unrest was Habib Miskar. He was one of the oldest Bahá'ís in Haifa at the time. On the 6th of March, 1939, while on his way home he was passing the gate of the house of 'Abdu'l-Bahá when he noticed a party of militia pursuing a fleeing man. He hurried towards the entrance of the garden to take refuge but the soldiers, having no way of knowing that he was not the terrorist they were pursuing, shot them both. [BW8p679]	Shoghi Effendi, Life of; Shoghi Effendi, Travels of; History (general); Europe; Palestine
1938 (In the year)	The first Bahá'í to be resident in Finland, Aminda Josephine Kruka, an American nurse, arrived in the country.	First Bahá'ís by country or area; Finland	first Bahá’í resident Finland
1938 (In the year)	The first native person to become a Bahá'í in Canada, Melba Loft (née Whetung), a Chippewa, accepted the Faith.	Melba Loft; Canada	first native to become Bahá’í in Canada
1938 (In the year)	William DeForge became the first Bahá'í to visit the Dominican Republic. He made a one-day trip from Puerto Rico.	First Bahá'ís by country or area; Dominican Republic; Central America	first Bahá’í visits the Dominican Republic
1938 (In the year)	Persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran continued throughout the country. [BW18p389] Bahá'ís marrying without a Muslim ceremony were investigated, including several hundred in Tihrán alone. Most were imprisoned pending trial and were imprisoned for six to eight months afterwards and fined. Bahá'í meetings in Kirmánsháh, Záhidán, Mashhad and other towns were harassed by the police.	Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution, Other; - Persecution; Iran; Tehran, Iran; Kirmánsháh, Iran; Zahidan; Mashhad, Iran
1938 to 1955	The fourth Trustee of the Huqúqu'lláh was Jináb-i-Valíyu'lláh Varqá, the third son of Varqá the martyr. He was born in Tabriz and after the death of his father and brother he was raised by his grandmother, a fanatical Muslim. At the age of 16 his uncle removed him from the home and taught him the Faith. He attended the American University at Beirut and spent summers with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and accompanied the Master to America and served as His interpreter. He returned to Iran where he served on local and national assemblies and was made a Trustee of the Huqúqu'lláh in 1938 at a time when the observance of the law spread throughout Iran. [Message from the Universal House of Justice dated 25 March, 1985] He was elevated to a Hand of the Cause of God in 1951 and passed away in Tubingen, Germany in 1955 while taking a treatment for an illness. [BW13p831-834]	Varqa, Valiyullah; Huququllah; Huququllah, Trustees of; - Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, Appointments; Hands of the Cause, Births and deaths; Births and deaths; Hands of the Cause, Activities; American University of Beirut; Varqa; Tubingen; Germany; Tabríz, Iran; Iran; Beirut, Lebanon; Lebanon; Akka, Israel
Try also a shorter date like or 1938 or 193 try also the Chronology Canada — 1938-0 or 1938 or 193

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