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Biography

Growing up

Flora Emily Hottes was born to 1898 father Charles Frederick Hottes (1870-1966) and wife Flora (1873-?) May 21, 1896, in Champaign, Illinois. Charles was a university professor in Botony. In 1898 the family acquired a passport for some overseas time; they lived in Bonn, Germany, from 1898 to 1901.

The 1910 US Census has the family living at at N. California Ave, Champaign, and James was again a university professor. Both parents had been born in Illinois while her father’s family was from Germany and her mothers from France. That year Hottes won an honorable mention in a limerick contest, and won a medal medal for the highest academic achievement of 8th grade final examinations from among some 200 plus pupils in the county taking the examination. She went on to attend Urbana High School. Her academic excellence was just beginning.

The family visited the New Mexico Museum of Las Vegas, New Mexico, in July 1914, and by that fall she visible was at local Champaign Woman’s League events. In 1915 she began her college studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was a runner up for class vice-president of the Gregorian society of freshmen students. She joined the Alethenai Literary Society, and was in it's co-produced play in the role of “Tibet Talkapace” at the end of the spring semester. She was one of the committee leading a freshman girls hike and picnic at the beginning of the fall semester, and led a section of the Alethenai annual Founder’s day celebration by leading a folk-dance. The group's events had Hottes as one of the representatives of the present chapter members. Her position in the class rose in her sophomore year when she was elected president of the class, and she gave the initiation instructions to the incoming Alethenai members. That winter’s play performance of the literary societies again included Hottes this time in the Shakespearian play The Winter's Tale in the role of the 1st Lady, (though the name of the role isn't mentioned in the coverage.)

Despite the brewing sentiments in America of World War I she took part in several German cultural events beginning with co-performing a character dance for the Deutscher Verein, a general German society meeting. On campus Hottes recommended a petition system to arrive at candidates as a primary system. That summer the Hottes family visited with kin in the south of Illinois. Returning to some cultural expression, in the Fall semester Hottes co-presented a “Dutch Dance” at the Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs given mid-November. She was a member of the 1916 College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She was also elected to the Scribbler’s Club for writers. She again co-presented a cultural dance this time to the Junior’s class party. Amidst the deepening tensions of World War I in 1917 she was elected as secretary of the De Deutsche Verein German culture club on campus. She also joined the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA) that spring. In April she was on the ballot for junior class advisory board and led the devotional portion of the campus YW meeting. Hottes was among the leadership of junior class women at a bestowal of the “emblem of power” from the senior women class. That year Hottes was in the Alethenai presentation of the play Antigone. She read verse at the Scribblers’ Club meeting, and contributed a “toast” for the WAA archery practice entitled “The Target".

Patriotic exercises were called for by the literary societies in 1917; the Alethenai offered a “War program” with Hottes offering a “War poem”, while also contributing one of the talks on happiness at the YW meeting which was characterized in the newspaper coverage as one “she has traveled as a wide path which no one can travel alone”. Again she presented “The Target” during an archery review of the WAA in October, again co-presented a “Dutch Dance” at an international dance, this time for the WAA, and chaired the WAA costume party entertainments of cultural dances with an orchestra adding herself in the performances. That November Hottes was elected vice-president of the Alethenai literary club to serve until April 1918. The winter play had Hottes as a minor “shadow” of the “Sword of America” “patriotic masque” pageant as a fundraiser for the Red Cross. She was also part of a committee that put on the YWCA Doll Show Fundraiser.

In the Christmas edition of the Illinois Magazine contest, Hottes’ poem “To a Madonna” drew special praise with “more depth than is usually to be found in undergraduate productions", for which she won the award for poetry.

Gamma Phi Beta House in Champaign-Urbana

She contributed a message “Life of the Author” to the opening Alethenai meeting of 1918, and wrote a biographical article about Miriam Gerlach who was first the business manager of the Crescent of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority journal. She called Gerlach a strong minded woman, "more noble" than Lady Macbeth and "less sensational" than Carrie Nation and then associated her with the “Miriam of old”.

She volunteered time managing one of the days of making Red Cross kits February 1918, contributed a talk “What is funny in Alethenai” at their meeting, and was in a WAA costume party “plalette” about the economic hard times and Hooverisms. In March she attended the wedding of a sorority sister, and graduated with an AB in Language Arts & Sciences, was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority and had earned a scholarship in English.

It was later documented that Hottes had first encountered the Bahá'í Faith during her time in college but that "her father forbade her to become a Baha'i." She may have heard of the religion because of Albert Vail. Vail had attended the University of Illinois on a full scholarship, finished a BA degree, and went on to the Harvard Divinity School, a center of Unitarian training, where he wrote a paper critiquing William James Varieties of Religious Experience in 1902, finished his Doctorate of Divinity in 1906, and moved to Urbana serving as pastor for a Unitarian congregation of the university community. Vail introduced diverse texts to the Unity Club he formed including the Qur'an and Hindu texts. By the end of 1907 the Unitarian Association had grown to 120 members. In 1908 a Unitarian Church was constructed in Urbana due to Vail's efforts. Vail met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, in Malden, Massachusets in August 1912 during the latter's travels in America. Vail would later mark this as a pivoting point for his life, while still a practicing minister. In April 1914, Vail was a delegate to the annual Bahá'í national convention. Vail wrote a formal summary of the religion which was published in the July 1914 edition of The Harvard Theological Review. On May 1, 1918, Vail submitted his resignation from the Unitarian Church due to opposition he had faced to his promotion of the religion. Later he formally resigned in the presence of the Urbana congregation and his resignation was accepted and finalized by May 6. Despite his resignation he was able to speak the religion as a sermon on May 11. It is possible events had attracted Hottes attention and curiosity. Meanwhile Hottes joined in the Alethenia presentation of a vaudeville “stunt show” fundraiser for the YWCA May 9, was in another “patriotic rally” with Hottes on the organizing committee who wrote the “College Women’s War Service Pledge” approved by the Woman’s League Council. That fall Hottes was in charge of the Red Cross Comfort Kit production system of the twin cities. Donations could be sent at her home on West California St.

Amidst all the social and extra-curricular activities Hottes participated in, she still received the highest possible grade for 1918-19 with 17 others with straight As in every class - and was listed first in the non-alphabetical list of those achievements.

As 1919 opened Hottes contributed to the Scribblers’ Club meeting. She finished a Masters of Arts at the university producing a dissertation The ethical value of Dickens' humor and satire finishing June 12, 1919.

Careers and travels

The January 1920 US Census finds her living with her family at West California St. and employed as a public school teacher. She was still a member of Alethenai Literary Society, - listed as Vice President in 1919 - listed as a graduate in 1920. She was a faculty of the Farmer City High School faculty by February and was visited by her mother in May.

In October 1920, the University of Illinois Woman’s Club included Hottes as a new member, was still faculty in Farmer City, and in early 1921 she served at the Alethenai reception for the Woman’s League. A friend from Farmer City visited her in Urbana in May. By July she was called a librarian “of the English seminar”.

Hottes, now listed as class of 1922, led a meeting and devotions of Illinois alumni, and hosted a Game Phi Beta alumnae meeting at her home of West California St. in March, 1922.

She applied for passport while living in Champaign, April 10, 1922. It listed her as employed as a librarian and traveling to Europe for four months with an itinerary including England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, and Austria, leaving from Montreal on the RMS Antonia July 1. She was traveling with Mrs. I. M. Staehle and a dozen or two other students and graduates set to return August 31 from Liverpool. Before she left she visited a friend in Farmer City. She returned arrived on SS Victorian from Liverpool August 31 and arrived at the Port of Quebec September 8.

Detroit Bernard Ginsburg Library as it appears today

She was listed leaving for a librarian position in Detroit, Michigan, to start September 18, and as one of six students who finished her degree in Bachelor Library Science she had started 1920. She was employed at the Ginsburg Library of Detroit as a children’s literature librarian working with children of color and foreign-born children. She was visible in Detroit contributing to the relief of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in September, and visited home for Christmas, 1923. No mention has yet been found for 1924, however whatever she experienced in the way of dealing with Jim Crow laws in Detroit did not dissuade her from the career. See History of African Americans in Detroit.

Main Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

She is next visible in February, 1925, starting a library practicum in Davenport, Iowa, which she finished in early March. She then finished her library sciences degree in 1926 and was again listed as among the women with a perfect record at the University of Illinois, and led the Sunday School program of the campus Unitarian Church from mid-April through May.

Kenoshan librarian

Having tried being a teacher and then a librarian, it was the latter that she would continue to work in for decades to come, in various roles. Initially she started a more than a decade career at the Kenosha public library system. She appears in newspaper coverage in November, 1926, offering a "story hour" for children, reading a book to an audience of children and their parents, and setting up a window display of children's books.

Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library

She was employed at the Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library, and she also began to appear at Parent–teacher association (PTA) meetings representing the library. A brief biographical entry of her was included in the staff listing in the newspaper in February, 1927. Story hour came next advertised in April, then she appeared in the news with the Congregational Church Kandoo Club social, story hours for Easter and Mother’s Day followed by more opportunities for library talks, including for the disabled, and at drama workshop. She also oversaw an essay contest in October. She began a long association with the Child Study group of the Kenosha College Club in November, with her talk summarized and with quotes.

Regular events of the library continued in 1928, and there was news her mother was in the hospital back in Urbana in June. In October she gave a talk as the Children’s Librarian of the Public Library of Kenosha at the Wisconsin Library Association meeting in Milwaukee which was covered in news outlets of the state. In November she gave a PTA meeting a talk of her work, and published a brief listing of children's literature in the Wisconsin Library Bulletin. She then returned to the Child Study group giving a talk when they met several times at the end of the year.

What used to be the Boys' and Girls' Library

In early 1929 the Bradford Community Church was bought by the Kenosha Public Library system and converted into a new "Boys’ and Girls’ Library" opening in April with Hottes as its founding librarian. In May the new library hosted a "Mothers’ banquet" at which she recited spring poetry mostly from memory “beautifully executed”. In July she aided an earning-a-book program, and went visiting friends in Los Angeles for three weeks.

In November she presented to the Child Study group again, spoke at the Kenoshan Library's Armistice Day remembrance, and published articles on juvenile literature, and on school libraries in the Kenosha News. A Christmas story hour was held at the schools with Hottes reading, and she spoke to a club in January 1930, while publishing another list of books for juveniles.

The April 9, 1930 US Census finds her a single lodger at the home of David Fogwell home on 8th Ave, employed as a librarian at the public library. - and, perhaps visiting her parents neatly timed in this window - in the April 11, taking of the Census in Champaign at the family home employed as a public librarian. Later in April she published an article on animals books in Kenosha, and was vacationing in Ottawa, Canada, from June. With the Great Depression in the United States breaking open she went on a weekend roudtrip with the Fogwell daughter in late September. Come October she was listed with the University of Chicago and member of American Association of University Women. In November she published an article on Children’s Book Week being held by the library, another on Christmas books, and then more generally on children’s books. There were also talks to PTAs meetings, then an article on picture books, and one closing Children’s Book Week. She was then mentioned giving a talk to the Child Study group before Thanksgiving. The Kenosha College Club December workshops for high school girls included Hottes giving a presentation, and she followed that with an article in the newspaper for book suggestions for Christmas, and more PTA talks. She was also visited by former students of hers in Farmer City in mid-December, and was part of Congregationalist Kandoo Club play reunion.

Opening 1931 she was in a performance of a Pinocchio play where she had the role of a story teller in February. In March she was elected to Congregationalist Sunday School Board, and remained listed among staff of library system. In May she spoke at a Mother-Daughter Banquet, was among high school exhibitions on libraries, and visited in Farmer City. After a break in coverage through the summer, in October she presented at the state librarian conference with some of her talk quoted in some newspaper coverage: “Dime novels and comic supplement in newspapers used to worry parents and librarians; today movies and cheap literature are the chief competitors for children’s reading.… In spite of all inducements which the modern library offers children, they are being lured away by these competitive influences. We must meet the foe on his own ground, with wit and cleverness. We must see what fundamental needs in the young people these alluring competitors of ours seem to fill, and, if possible, give that need a legitimate nourishment. The process should be one of substitution rather than opposition." In December 1931 she saw the opera performance of Richard Wagner's Parsifal.

Opening 1932, as the Great Depression deepened, she remained listed as a Kenosha librarian in February, though otherwise the news is spares: she visited a friend in Kansas that summer, and in October she was at the state librarian meeting. There is no news of her in 1933 yet identified.

She gave a library talk to a PTA in January, 1934, vacationed with parents in Glacier National Park and visited Colorado Springs in the later summer of 1934. In September she was a member of the First Congregational Church school leading one of the departments. She was visible again at the October state librarian meeting, and was at a school party reading ghost stories after. In November came the PTA talks, and at a school. She gave a Christmas reading for a group's holiday meeting, and again at a Presbyterian church meeting.

First Congregational Church Kenosha

In February, 1935, she gave a reading at a Congregationalist “family night", was the keynote at a mothers-and-daughters banquet of a men’s club, followed by a PTA talk, and this year the state librarian meeting was held in May, at which Hottes spoke.

In November she presented as a series of PTA talks that carried on into December, with coverage of Book Week and free books being given away, and a reading at a doll program at a Methodist Episcopal church amidst them. Last of the year, she gave a reading at a Baptist Church meeting in mid-December.

A PTA and library talk with readings opened the newspaper coverage of the library work of Hottes in May, 1936. She took a trip to England in the summer of 1936 arriving back in American on the SS Manhattan in September. That October she presented at the state librarian meeting, and gave a talk “Sermons in Stones” at the First Congregational Church. She had spent 2 months in England and Scotland with a friend and gave her first talk on the trip in November as part of a fundraiser for the Congregationalists. The International Relations group talk also heard about the trip itinerary including London, Edinburgh, Cornwall, the lake district, and Oxford. Her talk featured people wishing for peace, visiting war memorials, and a offered a phrase “disarm the hearts”, which was held at the YMCA. This talk was remembered in 1951. She next gave the talk at a Methodist church including magic lantern slides in January 1937. The regular state librarian meeting she spoke to came in February. In March she spoke to a Methodist Episcopal jr youth church group, and Illinois University staff visited the Kenosha Boys’ & Girls’ Library under Hottes and specifically complimented her work there. In April she was a judge in a school stained glass contest, and then presented on supporting community National Youth Week committee of Kenosha.

A Bahá'í and librarian

See also: Bahá'í Faith in the United States

It remains unknown how she came into contact with the Bahá'ís in Kenosha, but she did and enrolled in the religion. To her library activities she soon added public engagements for the religion. The community of Bahá'ís stretched back to the founding of the American Bahá'í community. 'Abdu'l-Bahá had spoken in the First Congregational Church in Kenosha in 1912, and in 1937 the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kenosha had been the first one of Wisconsin to incorporate. Hottes first appears in newspaper coverage of Bahá'í events was of giving a talk “Everlasting radiance” at the Bahá'í Center in Champaign in May, 1937. A couple weeks later she was back in Kenosha giving library related talks at a school wide presentation. In August she gave a Bahá'í talk - “The Everlasting Gift” “from prayers of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha” - at the Kenosha Bahá'í Center of “particular interest to the young people", as it was phrased in the newspaper mention. The annual state librarian meeting came in October with her presentation on children's literature, and gave a talk "The Greatest Flower of Creation" at the Milwaukee Bahá'í Center, followed about a week later by a talk on the Seven Valleys at the Racine Bahá'í Center. That weekend she took in a play with friends, and in later November writer Mary D. Bradford publicly thanked Hottes for her suggestions of her new book. Hottes' Christmas readings began to feature Tolstoy's “The Christmas Story", she then gave a librarian talk for the Business and Professional Women’s Club in December, and continued reviewing Tolstoy at a Baptist Church Women's meeting, and for the Odd Fellows group closing out the year.

January, 1938, opened with coverage of a talk by Hottes' “Poetry through the Day” at a Methodist church, and a PTA talk in March. She gave an Easter reading at the First Baptist club in mid-April, led a committee on the library program for National Youth Week for the city, and followed by another seeking to bring Clare Tree Major to town to see if a play of hers could be performed. She returned to the topic of her trip to England for a group in late May, and then presented at the June open Nineteen Day Feast meeting at the Racine Bahá'í Center. She gave another Bahá'í talk in Urbana coming in early August. Late in August came news she met friends at a luncheon in Farmer City. In September a poem of hers "Petition" was published in the Bahá'í periodical World Order, followed by another entitled "Knowledge" in the October edition. Meanwhile she was co-chair of a group for the library state convention, and chaired a series of forums introducing the religion to the public. The Fall Book Week Fair coverage included her work, and she read at a drama meeting especially for PTAs. The ongoing Bahá'í forums continued to have coverage, intermingled with coverage of her Christmas readings for PTAs, churches, and a civic group. She closed 1938 with a talk “New Horizons" at the Urbana Bahá'í Center.

1939 was an even more vigorous year of activities for Hottes. Late in January she spoke to a Congregationalists in Kenosha on her trip entitled “Humous aspects of a trip to England", followed by a February talk “Promises of God” at the Racine Bahá'í Center, and a “Why I am a Bahai(sic)” talk at an interfaith Brotherhood Week panel that was held in late February. That same week her father's grandmother’s album of signatures “Denkmal der Freundschaft” from Germany with entries as early as 1804 was part of an exhibition in Kenosha. March included Hottes' poem “Prayer before Dawn" in World Order which was itself reprinted in Charleston, South Carolina, in the local newspaper there. In mid-March Hottes led a program of youth for the Bahá'í community observance of Naw Rúz. In April she presented a “Book Nook” exhibition at a school's hobby show, and a talk for Youth Week for "Library Day" while also being elected as a delegate to the national Bahá'í convention held the end of April into May. She was one of 125 that attended. That convention continued a focus raised by Shoghi Effendi, then international head of the religion, in 1936, to the convention asking for the systematic implementation of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's vision of the Tablets of the Divine Plan to begin and the next year for systematic pioneers to be established in all the countries of Latin America via the First Seven Year Plan (1937–44), which gave the American Baháʼís the goal of establishing the religion in every country in Latin America. By May 1944 some 88 individuals including Hottes had scattered across Latin America from the country. An additional feature of the 1939 convention was a close reading of the then new Advent of Divine Justice during sessions of the convention and special emphasis was placed on the the sections on the issues on race in America and the Baháʼí teaching of the oneness of humanity. Two weeks later she spoke at a Baptist Mother’s Day program.

That summer in June she gave a class entitled "Character Building" at the Michigan Louhelen Bahá'í School first Youth Session running June 25-30. Shoghi Effendi, instructed a message congratulating the emphasis be written:

The course on character building to be given by Miss Flora Hottes, the Guardian feels, is particularly important and should be given due emphasis and studied carefully and thoroughly, especially by the young believers in attendance at the school. These standards of Baha'i conduct, which he himself has set forth in his last general epistle, The Advent of Divine Justice, and which it should be the paramount duty of every loyal and conscientious believer to endeavour to uphold and promote, deserve serious study and meditation, and should constitute the main central theme of this year's programme at all the three Bahá'í Summer Schools in the States.

In October she joined the Louhelen School committee, which managed the school's affairs, and in November she gave a talk on Book Week to a Moose Women chapter, and two talks at the Kenosha Bahá'í Center - "Be not afraid" and for Christmas - and was scheduled to speak at the Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette. Mid-December she gave a reading from Shepherd who stayed behind for a PTA group, and contributed to the readings at the "Library Christmas Candlelight Story Hour".

1940 was another big year of activities for Hottes. She started off going to the mid-winter Bahá'í youth conference at Wilmette in early January, a week later she gave talk on “universal literature of childhood" at the Boys' & Girls' Library, and she attended another conference in late January called by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís after their move from Boston to Chicago with speakers Harlan Ober, Dorothy Baker, Leroy Ioas, and Louis Gregory. Hottes began a series of internationally oriented story hours starting with one between the cultures of Japan and China, then at war, - perhaps a story of Yashima no Hage-tanuki - then one on China in February, and Germany in March including Franz Schubert, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, & Friedrich Fröbel whom she described as “citizens of the world”. Back in February the letter she sent to the Bahá'í News periodical quoted her views on the strength of diverse voices in children’s literature. The coverage of that April's eleventh anniversary of the Boys' & Girls' Library noted Hottes among the founding staff and presenting at the celebration. Still in April she gave a talk at the Kenosha Bahá'í Center entitled "The Signs of God”, and was on to library talks at the PTAs on the new parent services of the library grand opening. She also gave a girl scout group a tour of the library with coverage of the event featuring the international doll collection. The April 19, 1940 US Census, lists her a single white woman, about 43 years old, as a lodger at the R. Newell home on 60th St. In 1935 she had been living at the same home. She was employed at a 40 hr/week job as a children’s librarian at the Boys' & Girls' Library. Other lodgers in the home were also librarians and teachers. A few days later she was speaking at the national Bahá'í convention entitled “The Spirit of the Age", where she was one of 121 delegates that attended which continued its focus on pioneers and the ongoing construction of the Bahá'í House of Worship (or Temple) in Wilmette, among many topics. In another few days she again had a Book Nook exhibit at a school hobby show, spoke at a school mother & daughter meeting, and again on her Britain trip. She was also working on compiling a booklet Bahá'í Lessons. In June she was giving a talk "The Power of the Atom" at the Milwaukee Bahá'í Center. That summer she gave the Louhelen School class entitled “Course on Fundamentals” on the religion at the second youth session, held August 21-25, and then a few days later gave a talk entitled “Glass Houses” at the Kenosha Bahá'í Center at the end of August. In October she gave the talk “Towards Democracy” at the Racine Bahá'í Center taken from Shoghi Effendi's Advent of Divine Justice Some filming was also done that month at the Simmons Library and Hottes announced attendances and book circulation statistics of the Boys' and Girls' Library. Later in October she spoke at the dedication of new Urbana Bahá'í Center entitled “Voices of Tomorrow" following which Ruth Moffett led series of talks. A week later she gave a talk to the National Council of Administrative Women in Education, later part of the National Education Association, about libraries and "the spirit of democracy". In November parents active in the Boys’ and Girls’ Library gathered to hear talks; Hottes contributed a story hour on Christmas coming in December and helped form a parents library study group. In December she gave a story telling for a nurses meeting, a review of the library and the life of books in society for a PTA, with future story hours outlined. As Christmas approached she gave a reading for the Baptist gala, closing the year's coverage of events.

Hottes had a slightly reduced year of activities in 1941. In January she began with mention of a story hour at the library, and then a repeat of the talk entitled “Towards Democracy” at the Kenosha Bahá'í Center in February. In March she read from Juliet Thompson’s I, Mary Magdalen at the Kenoshan Center, in April at a PTA about growing minds and books, the Library Day of Youth Week was noted again with Hottes, followed by a library series story hour carried on through into early May. Later in May she wrote an article summarizing the Boys’ and Girls Library preschool activities for the library board. In July she gave a talk at a librarian meeting, and then gave a talk on Mary Dousman, children's librarian 1898-1938, and with whom she had vacationed last in England and Scotland, and a “house warming” for Dossman's collection of 88 dolls of 30 countries, and reviewed essays contributed by 120 children including 20 boys about the dolls. In September she gave a talk at an Iowa meeting of librarians, was pictured in the newspaper, and was elected secretary of the Wisconsin state association of librarians. Hottes then announced the library would have expanded story hours being offered, the hiring of an assistant, and then followed the fall's beginning of talks for PTAs. She also chaired another weekly set of panel discussions of the Bahá'í Faith at the Kenoshan Bahá'í Center through early December. Intermingled with those meetings she introduced the speakers at the Boys' & Girls' Library on parenting, highlighting the perception that their work would be an “inward defense”, in her words, and then announced books and meetings in line with speakers themes.

Hottes was beginning to serious plan on Bahá'í pioneering, where she would go to promote the religion on her own resources, to Bolivia by December 1941. Just following the news of the Attack on Pearl Harbor Hottes gave a talk at a PTA on “Gifts for Always” and reading of “The Boy who found his King".

Wisconsin in the United States

She gave a further Christmas party reading, another PTA talk, and readings and stories at the Boys’ & Girls’ Library featuring Heart of a Child by Phyllis Bottome which was later adapted to a film.

Another series of panels initiated at the Racine Bahá'í Center chaired by Hottes opened January, 1942, and she was planning to go to Bolivia by April. Hottes closed out her service at the Boys' and Girls' Library giving a report on the years’ activity for the Simmons Library board. At some point before March 1942, perhaps the winter of 1941-2, she had taken a trip to Mexico and showed slides of the trip on her return to Kenosha. She was given a send off party by the area Bahá'ís in late March - she was going to Urbana and then leaving for Bolivia. She was soon followed by Lauretta Voelz and others.

Bahá'í and pioneer

Bolivia and Peru

Main articles: Bahá'í Faith in Bolivia and Bahá'í Faith in Peru

Bolivia way south of Wisconsin in the Northern Hemisphere

She was replaced at library by late April, 1942, By then she was in Bolivia following the work done by an earlier pioneer, Mrs. Adler, and wrote letters and included a contribution to Temple Fund by a believer in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The summary of her 1942 early letters back to America to the Bahá'ís are scant of details - just of general progress mostly, making contact with local Bahá'ís who had converted during the presence of the previous pioneer and gathering efforts. Between various trips she would spend many years there and became fluent in Spanish. Hottes worked with the first local Bahá'í of Bolivia, Yvonne Cuellar. A letter of Hottes was quoted calling her of "great enthusiasm and capacity… a spiritual dynamo…. The next three Bahá'ís were personal friends of hers…."

Hottes also visited in Lima, Peru for the religion. Hottes arrived in Lima, Peru, in December 7, 1942, coming from La Paz, visiting pioneer Eve Nicklin, among a few others, for about two months and was back in Bolivia by March. She gave talks in the Nicklin home.

In April, 1943, an exhibition of Indian objects she had collected in her travels was put on at the Simmons Library in Kenosha. Comment in the newspaper noted the skill of the craft work done, the colorful stones of Isla del Sol, pottery, llama dolls of wood and wool, people dolls in different clothing of events and peoples of the area, what she called a zampona, a replica model of the Gate of the Sun at Tiwanaku, and pictures. It was re-exhibited in 1948. In June a letter was summarized in Bahá'í News indicting a Christian priest's daughter had liked Bahá'í prayers and wanted to translate them into the Aymara language. The parents group started with Hottes in Kenosha grew and became its own organization that year as well.

By August, 1943, a letter of Hottes reported her thoughts. Many had heard of the religion thanks to their efforts and some had been interested while a few actively antagonistic. She also had become aware of internally displaced peoples; "To them the Faith speaks a word of hope and courage; there are people of intelligence and vision who are sincerely trying to raise the condition of the indigenous races, and to them we speak of the unity of humanity and the great Bahá'í teaching of education for all; there are progressive women, usually educated abroad, who, returning to their country here, see the secondary position of women, and rebel against it, and to them the Message of Bahá'u'lláh for equality of the sexes, is a reinforcement of their belief…" She twice visited an indigenous school in Warisata near Illampu leaving them with Bahá'í literature. She met a public librarian there and saw different approaches relevant to their culture and an emphasis on sincere friendliness. She reported the Bahá'ís regular gathered Monday afternoons and of the personal struggle of trying to serve and the prayerful reflection to keep mindful and active.

Hottes returned to Lima for second visit in December, 1943. At some point she got a job teaching English in an American Institute in La Paz, itself founded in 1943.

In a letter of the La Paz community was summarized in January 1944 she mentions a new convert - the fifth - who promptly moved south to Tarija to work on promoting the religion there and spoke of contacts from serving maids to diplomats, people interested in the advancement of the indigenous, of college students, professors, and of the need for more literature to be handed out.

Virginia Orbison visited Hottes in La Paz, leaving in August 1944, for Lima, Peru, where she was in April to see that assembly elected. Hottes had met with people who would join that assembly.

Another letter from Hottes describing progress in La Paz arrived and was summarized in November 1944. In it she remarks of another convert, the fifth in La Paz, who was a lawyer and ran a radio program for women and children. Two others had believed and moved to other cities. The Bolivian delegate to the Centenary of the Declaration of the Báb at the international conference in Chicago in May 1944, while Hottes remained in the country and managed a translation of a Bahá'í compilation that was locally published, a radio broadcast, a short profile of the religion in the local newspaper, a community commemoration, and aided a talk by Cuellar. By December 1944 the La Paz community had reached 9 adults, now including Cuellar's husband, and Hotes noted that work promoting the religion had been done in Sucre, Bolivia. In January 1945 Hottes sent a letter to Kenosha Parents group which was well received.

Cristo de la Concordia

Hottes contributed a 10 page article entitled "Conquistadors" which was published in volume 9 of the serial Bahá'í World covering activities and developments of the religion. Therein she contrasts the approach done in the past by Christians and Christianity with the Bahá'í approach of “not seeking to impose a new culture or religion, but attempting to comprehend the old, and perceiving a new life stirring amid its ruins.… a renascent awareness of God and of His plan of renewal for a moribund society…." She also speaks of the emotional and intellection challenge of such a challenge: "Is this really you who are flying over an enormous plain veiled by low-hanging clouds?" And of her need to adapt to the altitude, and sights like the Cristo de la Concordia: "To stand at His feet on a dark night, and look down at the city, is an experience never to be forgotten." Of the the Indians she says they "…are very picturesque, but as one sees deeper, one realizes the imperative necessity of more and more education, of hygiene training, of hospitalization, of the practical application of the rights of man, regardless of race or class.… A Bahá'í who mingles freely and without prejudice among all strata of the population, can do his bit to soften ranchers, explain differences, and quote examples of harmonious and cooperative endeavor on the part of both races.… A fine Bolivian patriot counseled the Bahá'í pioneer: 'If you want to help Bolivia and the United States, and increase cooperation and understanding between them, just go about being kind and friendly, learning the language, the customs and life of the land, and trying to penetrate the backgrounds and reasons for things.'" Of the little Bahá'í community she says: "We hold weekly meetings for our better organization and study, and little gatherings in between to attract others in a friendly way.… In Bolivia the pleasantest relations are established over the tea-cups, and so it is that we begin offering the spiritual and material feast to our new friends.… One learns to be patient, to be self-contained, and to try to understand; and when some of these southern souls become Bahá'ís, it is surprising what change begin to appear!" She also speaks of the changing sense of her approach to action: "Once we begged that we might be eloquent, or reinforced with heavenly confirmation, or crowned with knowledge. But now we pray that the Work may go on in spite of any or all of us, that God may reveal the souls ripe for it, and that one may always be ready … Whatever may be our qualifications, every one of them can be enriched by love.…"

The Spiritual Assembly of La Paz, the fundamental organizational unit of the religion for a community, was elected in April, 1945. Shoghi Effendi, sometimes referenced by his title, the Guardian, replied in a letter to the news through his secretary, and, as he sometimes did, appended his own comments in his own hand, rendered in italics:

16 June 1945 [Flora E. Hottes, Bolivia]

Dear Bahá'í Sister:
The beloved Guardian has received your letter of April 29th, as well as the enclosed message from the members of the first Bolivian Bahd’i Assembly, and he was most happy to hear from you all. I am answering you on his behalf, and also enclosing a reply for the Spiritual Assembly.
He was greatly rejoiced at the formation of the Assembly there, and feels it has begun with the auspicious start of a group of devoted and enkindled souls. You must be very happy indeed to see at last the tangible fruits of your patient efforts over a period of years!
He was also delighted to learn there are now two capable, intel­ ligent and dedicated believers residing in Sucre, and he hopes that you, and the La Paz Assembly, will give them every support and encouragement within your power. Please convey to them his greet­ ings and assure them he will pray that they may soon attract a group of active truth-seekers around them and thus form the nucleus of the second Bolivian Spiritual Assembly.
He certainly urges you to continue your all-important work in Bolivia, and he will pray that God in His mercy makes Bolivia a radiant center of His Faith.
With loving Bahà’i greetings to you and the dear Cuellars, Yours in His service,
R. Rabbani
Assuring you of my deep sense of gratitude for your magnificent services to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, and of my constant, my loving and fervent prayers for the success of your high endeavors, and the realization of every hope you cherish for the advancement of His glorious Faith,
Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi

She was in Bolivia some three years. Hottes and Cuellar also aided the growth of the religion in Sucre.

Montevideo, Uruguay

Uruguay in South America

She arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, and by March, 1946, she was teaching English there. That is when she received the next letter known from Shoghi Effendi in Uruguay:

9 March 1946 [Flora E. Hottes, Uruguay]

Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letters dated September 18th, 1945 and February 11th, 1946 have been received, and the beloved Guardian has instructed me to answer them on his behalf, and to assure you he was delighted with all the good news you gave him.
Before going any further let me assure you he will pray for those 2 souls you particularly mentioned:… and, especially, the gifted and devoted man who is doing so much for the Cause— …. He hopes this man will take the final step and give himself to Bahá'u'lláh, realizing such a bondage is the greatest freedom of all.
He is very pleased that you are not only remaining in Uruguay, but have found some work which makes you happy and brings you good Bahá'í contacts. He hears that the work in Bolivia is going well, so you need have no fears, and can dedicate yourself to consolidating the Faith in Montevideo with a tranquil heart.
He will most certainly pray that the Spiritual Assembly there may be firmly established, and that your labors may be richly blessed.
With warm Bahd’i love, R. Rabbani
P. S. As the Guardian always answers all his cables he cannot understand why you received no answer; presumably it got lost somehow.
May the Almighty guide and bless you at all times, aid you to proclaim the truths underlying His glorious Faith and contribute, in an exemplary manner, to the multiplication and consolidation of its nascent institutions in those faraway and promising countries,
Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi

She was teaching English at the US-Uruguay Cultural Alliance. She was still known to be in Montevideo in August, and November 1946, when she went to meet with pioneers for a Buenos Aires all-South-America conference. There she participated with local representatives of 10 countries and they sent a telegram to the US among their actions and meetings; it was to be followed by an all-Latin-American conference in Panama in January 1947.

Montevideo in the region

Hottes was set to leave Montevideo in early February, 1947, first to Buenos Aires, and other Latin-American countries on her way back towards the US. Before April she and Cuellar were in Sucre again, and by April was in Quito, Ecuador.

The point of pioneering was never to create a dependency - for Latin American development to depend on North Americans. Retrospectively stated, a purpose of developments across Latin America for the religion was to facilitate a shift in the balance of roles from North American guidance and Latin cooperation to Latin guidance and North American cooperation. The process was well underway by 1950 and was to be enforced about 1953 with independent institutions.

Back in America - mostly

She arrived back in America, noted as a 50 yr old female, July 9, 1947, on Pan American flight as a passenger from Mexico City, via Tampico, to Brownsville, Texas, flying on to Houston, listing Urbana, Illinois, as her permanent address, and that is where she lived some years. "During the time she lived in Urbana, she cared for her aged parents, served on the assembly, and taught English to the wives of foreign students." That Bahá'í community dated back to about 1914 and raised their first Center in 1930s, and their present Center had been acquired the year of Hottes arrival donated from a Bahá'í, herself also a pioneer to various lands among many others. In August she visited the Kenosha area and gave a talk “Lights of Unity under the Southern Cross”, and the newspaper coverage briefly summarized her life. Now she was an assistant in Fine Arts and Architecture Library of University of Illinois at Urbana. In September she was assisting Inter-America Committee and reviewing translations.

The Hottes family attended a reception for the Botony department in October, which is also when she began to serve as an associate editor of the World Order magazine and her father reviewed a Hermann Grossmann book. She served mostly continuasly through March 1949. In later November 1947 a Library Association newsletter noted her in a short update on her life: "Flora E. Hottes is this year working as an assistant in the Ricker Library of Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana. She returned to the United States last spring after five and one half years in South America, where she taught English and traveled in the interests of the Bahai faith(sic). Miss Hottes spent three and a half years in Bolivia and over a year in Montevideo, Uruguay, and visited in all of the South American republics except Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. She hopes to return to South America to resume her teaching activities at a later date." She led a Bahá'í Center hosted discussion on the religion in early December, “Old Words reclothed with New Meanings” in late January, and co-officiated at a funeral of Farmer City citizen Mrs. A. T. Willerton. In late February she gave a slide show and talk on South America at the Urbana Bahá'í Center. In April she gave a talk “Faith for Maturity” in Terre Haute, Indiana, with a short bio of life in South America included in the newspaper coverage her presently working at University of Illinois Library. Later in April came the news she was going to help the religion with an emergency re-assignment to support goals of 175 assemblies in the Americas. In May she gave a talk with slides about Bolivia “Fly-Ways and By-Ways of South America” in Racine along with a brief background of her life. Later in May she co-officiated at a funeral of W. I. Brockson in Farmer City. In June she gave talks "Life and Light in South America" and "How shall we know?" at Milwaukee the Bahá'í Center. That's also when she received a letter from Shoghi Effendi:

23 June 1948 [Flora E. Hottes, United States]

Miss Flora E. Hottes
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letters to our beloved Guardian, dated June 28th and November 28th 1947, were received, and he regrets the long delay in answering you, but circumstances here, and pressure of work, have necessitated it.
Your visit with your dear parents, your sojourn in the United States, and the opportunity to rest at home after so many years of service abroad must be doing you a lot of good, and fitting you for future labors in the field you have already given your heart to.
He hopes you will follow your desire to resume your teaching work in Uruguay as soon as your health and circumstances permit. There you will be doing the Cause a much needed service, and, how­ ever much you accomplish in North America, it will be negligible compared to what you could do in South America, because of your long years of experience, your command of the language and your love for the people.
He deeply appreciates the valuable work you have been doing in going over the translation of God Passes By, as well as your con­stant and selfless labors for the Faith.
Assure your dear mother of his loving prayers on both your and her behalf and that you may see your parents well and happy during any absence of yours from home.
With warmest greetings, R. Rabbani
P. S. He will also pray for all the dear friends you mention in your letters.
May the Almighty guide, sustain and bless you in your constant and meritorious services to His Faith, remove all obstacles from your path, abundantly reward you for your incessant labors, and enable you to pro­mote, at all times, the vital interests of its nascent institutions.
Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi

She was on the staff of International School about pioneering held June 19-July 10 at a ranch, and she showed slides of Bolivia at Colorado Springs, following which she went to Phoenix, Arizona, in July where a newspaper noted her talk at their Bahá'í Center and commenting that the United States had a chance to be enriched by its Indian cultures but was "so far behind Latin America in removing race prejudices”; she had come directly from the school on pioneering at the ranch near Colorado Springs. The coverage of the illustrated lecture with color slides of pioneering in Bolivia and Peru, in Phoenix noted again her life events and how she planned to return south in January. She was noted as going to Uruguay “at the Guardian’s request” to sail in December. Coverage confirmed she had left in December for Uruguay. She left from New York December 31, 1948, bound for Montevideo, Uruguay, on the SS Brazil.

The 20th year of Boys’ and Girls’ Library was remembered with Hottes. The next month she received a letter from Shoghi Effendi in Uruguay:

22 October 1949 [Uruguay]

Miss Flora Emily Hottes
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letter of May 13th was received, but until now our beloved Guardian has been too busy to reply to it.
Please assure dear Emilia Martinez that the Guardian always answers letters, and in case she received no reply, he wants her to know he will certainly continue praying for her, and he deeply appreciates her loyal and devoted services, services which he greatly admires. Sometimes letters get lost, no doubt, but the Spanish letters he always makes a point of replying to as soon as possible, as he feels these relatively new believers deserve every encouragement.
He was sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Gambetta — such a devoted soul, who has now, no doubt, received his eternal reward.
He was very pleased to hear of the progress being made there, which is largely due to your loving and wise service. Your presence there is very important, and he will pray that the condition of your dear parents may improve and thus permit you to remain at this important post and continue your invaluable work.
Please give his loving greetings to all the dear believers there in Montevideo.
With warmest love,
R. Rabbani
Assuring you of my abiding appreciation of your valiant labors, your solid achievements, and above all, your exemplary spirit so powerfully manifested in the course of your meritorious services to the Faith and its God-given institutions,
Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi

Hottes returned to the US in Urbana by late October, 1949, and showed “Slides on Switzerland” at the Urbana Bahá'í Center. In March 1950 she was a visitor from Urbana at Lincoln's Tomb.

She and Anna Kunz were elected as delegates to the national convention from southern Illinois. There regional convention had suggested that the national convention be held in rotating location in the country to which the national assembly responded that through it was "desirable" it also had to balance with "an area which will best serve the centers of population". They were among the 118 delegates attending the national convention that year and who elected, among others, Dorothy Beecher Baker and Helen Elsie Austin. Ongoing construction was noted, leading the agenda with questions, the need for respecting diversity of personal styles. William Sears addressed the convention some years before he was named to one of the offices of the Hand of the Cause; Kunz had just returned from Switzerland, and the topic of pioneers continued to be of intense discussion.

In July the Bahá'ís observed the centennial Martyrdom of the Báb with a program co-presented by Hottes entitled “A Century of Spiritual Revival”. In September she been invited to be among the many pioneers at a programs of conferences… and counted as a pioneer to Puebla and Coatepec, Mexico, on new a Lockheed Constellation airplane flying from Chicago arriving, by September 11, 1950, in a telegram of Shoghi Effendi. The last known letter from Shoghi Effendi then was sent to her in Chile in February, 1951:

7 February 1951 [Chile]

Miss Flora E. Hottes
Dear Bahá'í Sister:
Your letters dated the 28th of September, 1950 and the 7th of January, 1951, have been received; and our beloved Guardian has instructed me to answer you on his behalf. As he has a great deal to do, I will make it very brief, in order to spare him as much as possible any extra work.
He is very happy to see that, through the love and understanding of your dear parents and their willingness to sacrifice for the Faith, you have again gone forth into the pioneer field; and you may be sure that his prayers will be offered for the success of your work, and for the dear friends in Mexico whom you find so faithful and devoted.
The letter of Srta. Morente arrived recently, and the answer has been mailed a few days ago. If any previous letter from her had reached him, he would have certainly replied to her.
With warmest Bahi’i love,
R. Rabbani
May the Almighty bless, guide and sustain you, and enable you to promote the vital interests of His Faith,
Your true brother,

Shoghi

She was then a briefly a contributing editor of Baha’i News from September 1951. That December she was one of four delegates to national convention in the US. That year the national budget had paid up deficits in supporting national and international fund goals. That year also included Austin and Baker among the national assembly along with others.

In January 1952 she co-officiated funeral of Mrs. D. L. Fuller in Farmer City. In August she spoke at the Bahá'í Temple in Chicago “Beyond the Prison Walls". In October she gave the same talk at the Peoria Bahá'í Center, and "The Promised One of all religions” in Springfield in November. The Boys' and Girls Library at birthday celebration of 1953 remembered her work.

Hottes gave a talk “Baha’u’llah, the Glory of God and Author of the Bahá'í World Faith” in Urbana in December. In January she gave a talk entitled "An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith” and the newspaper bio noted she was the daughter of former head of Floriculture Department of the University of Illinois Charles F. Hottes, cousin of Dr. Frederick C. Hottes of Millikin University, was librarian at the Boys’ and Girls’ Library of Kenosha, taught English in La Paz, Bolivia & Montevideo, Uruguay, and lived with parents, was a traveling speaker for the religion, and member of Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Urbana. In February she did a review talk of “The Spell of the Temple” by Allen McDaniel at the the Urbana Bahá'í Center.

In March she gave talks in Decauter, Illinois, entitled “The Bible and the Baha’i World Faith” and “The Christ Spirit in the World Today", and was elected one of the four delegates to the 1954 Bahá'í national convention. The Ten Year Crusade had been announced the previous year defining another period of new pioneering spread across Africa and the Pacific. She had been appointed to the Bahá'í National Library Committee and served as its secretary.

In January, 1955, she spoke on pioneering at the Urbana Bahá'í Center, and published a piece in the Theosophic magazine Sunrise. A talk of Hottes in Bloomington, Illinois, was set for March, and in April she was in Decatur again, while she continued serving as secretary of the national library committee through 1955.

Wilmette Bahá'í Temple

In February 1956 she gave a talk entitled "The Unity of Mankind" at the Bahá'í Temple in Chicago, and was one of the delegates to the national Bahá'í convention in spring 1957 from southern Illinois, being of one the 133 delegates attending, included news of the progress of raising new national assemblies around the world which included participation of all the members of the US national assembly, various goals inside the country, a record of the evolution of the national assembly itself and generally of the progress of the Crusade, and the Race Amity Day was announced to begin in June.

In January, 1958, Hottes gave a talk for World Religion Day entitled “A Common Faith basis for World Peace" in Indianapolis, “The Old World and the New Law” at YWCA in Terre Haute in June, “Journey in Space” in Springfield in September, “Journey in Space” in Moline, Illinois in November, and attended the southern Illinois Bahá'í convention again and was among its elected delegates to the national convention, following which she gave a talk “Journey in Space” at YWCA in Terre Haute, and was in Kenosha in January, 1959, along with a comment she had spent 6 mths in Pueblo, Mexico. In February she gave a talk “I was a stranger” in Decatur, “New Worlds to Conquer” in Indianapolis in April. She had served on the national assembly's European Teaching Committee.

At the April-May national convention Hottes addressed the national convention along with William Sears, Horace Holley, and Edna True, such that the convention made the recommendation to make the talks given available to the Bahá'ís generally. Her talk was called "Living the life and the World Crusade". Her talk was aired at the 1959 Bahá'í Summer School in North Carolina, and in Santa Cruz. Meanwhile she gave a talk at the Chicago Temple “The Nearness of God". In a few days she officiated at the funeral of Lillian Bergman in Springfield. That year Ludi Johnson and Lucile Taylor encountered Baha’is at Champaign including Hottes, and Hottes returned to the Chicago Temple to speak on “He shall lead you into all truth” in November, and in December gave a talk “Joy to the World” at Terre Haute.

Far fewer events are captured in the news reports of the time for Hottes since the late 1930s and now in 1960 they were fewer still. At the World Religion Day of January 1960 she gave a talk “Can the religions unite?", and by the end of the summer was back from her Bahá'í pilgrimage in 1960. She returned to Terre Hatue in 1961 in August and November when she gave the talk “The Last Defense and the First Shelter”. In 1962 the 50th anniversary of Bahá'ís of Kenosha with Hottes among short list exemplifying Abdu’l-Baha’s call for pioneers. That year she gave a gift to the University of Illinois. In November, 1963, she gave a talk “Selections from the Bahá'í Writings” at the Urbana Center. Kenosha news remembered her leaving for Uruguay in 1964. No record of Hottes has been of Hottes being present in 1964 or 1965. This might because of the health of her father. He died died in April, 1966, in Urbana. Hottes "she brushed up on her German" and was soon going to pioneer again. A gravesite was set aside for her next to her parents at Champaign but she not buried there.

There is yet no mention of Hottes identified in news coverage of 1967-1969 in the US. Some of this might have been because she was out of the country at times, being noted as part of the Dutch Bahá'í community sometime in the 1960s. but returned to the US. In 1969 Hottes co-presented at the Urbana Center on “Christ and Baha’u’llah: The Second Coming”.

Last decades in Switzerland

Switzerland on the globe

By 1970 Hottes was set to go to Switzerland as a pioneer.

Her work was remembered at the Kenosha Library in 1981.

She died in Bern, Switzerland, in 1989.

Legacy

Academic, library, Pioneering…

The Boys' and Girls' Library closed in 1979 and in 1993 a Unitarian group reformed.

The international governing institution of the religion, the Universal House of Justice, sent a telegram that was published in the US Bahá'í periodical The American Bahá'í in June:

FLORA EMILY HOTTES, LONG-TIME PIONEER TO BOLIVIA AND SWITZERLAND, DIES

GRIEVED LEARN PASSING FLORA EMILY HOTTES, DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT BAHA'U'LLAH. HER LONG YEARS SERVICE FAITH IN HER HOMELAND AND IN PIONEERING FIELDS BOLIVIA AND SWITZERLAND, HER THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF THE TEACHINGS, HER WARM, KINDLY PERSONALITY LOVINGLY RECALLED AND WILL BE INSPIRATION FUTURE GENERATIONS BELIEVERS. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

- UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

JUNE 20, 1989