William P. Collins was Catalog Librarian and then Head Catalog Librarian at the Middlebury College Library, 1973-1976; Catalog Librarian at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1976-1977; Director of the Bahá’í International Library, 1977–90, Chief of the Cataloging Division, United States Copyright Office, 1991–2000, and Program Planning Officer with the United States Copyright Office 2000-2016. He served for slightly over two decades as faculty for community courses at Wilmette Institute. He is “retired”—meaning he is serving the Bahá’í Faith and the wider community.
Bill has a B.A. from Middlebury College, two master’s degrees from Syracuse University, and additional education at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia), Leningrad State University (now Saint-Petersburg, Russia), and the College of Librarianship (Aberystwyth, Wales).
He is the author of Bibliography of English Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths, 1844–1985 (1990), and numerous articles on Bahá’í history and beliefs. He has served in the past in various professional capacities on boards for the Bahá’í Faith, including the United States National Bahá’í Archives Committee, the Bahá’í Publishing Trust advisory board, the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Bahá’í Studies, the Editorial Board of the Bahá’í Studies Review. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Corinne True Center for Bahá’í History. His book Millennialism, the Millerites, and Prophecy in Bahá’í Discourse (Routledge), is forthcoming.
He has served the Bahá’í community as: a member of four Spiritual Assembles, an Area Teaching Committee Secretary, a Cluster Institute Coordinator, a member of the Regional Bahá’í Council of the Atlantic States, and in various other capacities.
Since retirement, Bill has become more active in interfaith work, including Ventures in Community (a southeastern Fairfax County coalition of faith communities and social service organizations serving those in need), and in a number of efforts to support individuals and communities who are harassed, whose properties are vandalized, or who are subjected to hate crimes based on religion or race.
A selection of articles by William P. Collins
Apocalypse and Millennium: Catastrophe, Progress and the Lesser Peace (2002)
Babi and Baha’i Millennialism, The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism (2011)
The Bahá’í Faith and Mormonism: A Preliminary Survey (1980/81)
The Bahá’í Faith and Mormonism: Further Reflections (1983)
Bahá’í Interpretations of Biblical Time Prophecy (1998/99)
Lev Tolstoi and the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions: A Bibliography (1991)
