A Note from the Editor

The Pearl Project is an open forum initiative with a single objective: to catalogue and host in electronic format book titles that Shoghi Effendi read and owned.  In the first part of the initiative we categorize those books that Shoghi Effendi: (1) placed in his bookshelf during his time in Haifa; (2) read, accessed, or owned according to his own accounts; (3) read, accessed, or owned according to other first hand accounts.  The second part of the project entails hosting in electronic format those books (provided posting them does not infringe on copyright laws) and making them available to the public.

The objectives of the Pearl Project is multifaceted. It is safe to say that the fruits of the project will mean different things to different people.  Although the content of the books do not necessarily reflect Shoghi Effendi's beliefs or thoughts, they do highlight what he was thinking about at some point; especially his books in Haifa (all of which he read).  On one account, it may be an exercise in intellectual history.  By another account, it may be intrinsically pleasing for some to access the same books which a man, unparalleled and so accomplished, took time to read during the moments afforded to him in the mist of tireless work.  Nonetheless, we do not intend to set the boundaries for the usefulness of such a project. We think it is interesting and worthwhile, and think it will also be of interest to others.

At the onset of this project, we welcome participation in the form of submitting electronic scans (preferably in PDF format) of books and articles, technological assistant, conceptual input, and other information that will fill in the gaps as the project rolls out.  More information on this is included in the section entitled Participation.