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Abstract:
A website with thematic compilations of quotations from the Bahá’í Writings and beyond, and a catalog of over 29,000 works attributed to the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, or Abdu’l-Bahá.
Notes:
Search inventory at this Library at bahai-library.com/inventory. See also The Writings of Bahá'u'lláh (S. Phelps, 2021). See excerpt from the Inventory Bibliography and Key to Source Codes.

See the complete database at loom.loomofreality.org, and the front page (with other links) at blog.loomofreality.org. See also oceanoflights.org.

See also Phelps' Youtube presentations Cataloguing and subject indexing (2022-04) and Update on the Partial Inventory: Charting the coastline, and initial soundings (2025-05), and Adib Masumian's How to use the Partial Inventory, introductory video (2021) and The Languages of Revelation of the Bahá'í Writings (2020).


Loom of Reality:

A Partial Inventory of the Works of the Central Figures of the Bahá'í Faith

Steven Phelps, compiler

2020/2025

Contents
  1. Website
  2. Inventory
  3. Presentation, 2020
  4. Presentation, 2022
  5. Presentation, 2025

1. Website

Loom of Reality is a personal project that represents one attempt to organize some of the subject matter of the Bahá'í Writings in five main sections and approximately 800 subheadings. These conceptual building blocks, which are interconnected and overlapping, are in most cases hyperlinked to thematic compilations of quotations from the Bahá’í Writings and beyond. See the complete database at loom.loomofreality.org, and the front page (with other links) at blog.loomofreality.org. See also Phelps' presentation below. See the Inventory items at the Library at bahai-library.com/inventory. The Bibliography and Key to Source Codes is excerpted here.

2. Inventory
(Version 5.0, May 2025)

Vol. 1, click to download PDF: phelps_loom_reality_2025_vol-1.pdf [83 MB]

Vol. 2 (v. 4 2024), click to download PDF: phelps_loom_reality_2024_2-of-2.pdf [10 MB]

Contents of PDF
    Introduction
    Catalogs
    Writings of Bahá’u’lláh (BH)
        Reported utterances of Bahá’u’lláh (BHU)
    Writings of the Báb (BB)
        Reported utterances of the Báb (BBU)
    Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (AB)
        Reported utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (ABU)
    Bibliography and key to source codes
        Most frequently cited sources, by author
    Subject classification main headings
    Subject classification sub-headings
This PDF [83 MB] is an unofficial catalog of some 700 works attributed to the Báb, 12,000 works attributed to Bahá’u’lláh, and 16,700 works attributed to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which are accessible to the public, either in published form, in manuscripts held in national or institutional archives, or in digital images, texts and translations found on the Internet. The holdings of the Bahá’í World Centre Archives in Haifa, Israel, which are not open to the public, are not included.

As well as the downloadable PDF above, the complete database can also be browsed online at loom.loomofreality.org.

The primary goals of this catalog are to compile all publicly available sources of the works of the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith both in the original languages and in English translation, and where possible to facilitate online access to these sources via hyperlinks to digitized page images or typed texts. The intended audience is primarily an academic one with exposure to source criticism: As the goal is maximal inclusion, works of unknown authentication status, oral statements and provisional translations are all included; and as a consequence this resource may not be suitable for the general Bahá’í reader or for those seeking an introduction to the Bahá’í teachings. The Bahá’í Reference Library website at bahai.org/library is the sole official online repository of fully authenticated Bahá’í scriptures and their translations.

3. Presentation, 2020

See also this presentation "Approaching the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
in Powerpoint phelps_approaching_writings_bahaullah.pptx [2MB] and PDF phelps_approaching_writings_bahaullah.pdf [2MB].

And see Phelps' presentation "Overview of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh":

4. Presentation, 2022

Cataloguing and subject indexing at loomofreality.org
(from bahai-library.com/hassall_reference_desk)

In this session given on the weekend of 9/10 April 2022 Steven Phelps speaks about projects in cataloguing and subject indexing, based on his blog blog.loomofreality.org and website loom.loomofreality.org. Online at youtube.com/watch?v=53ZvwpLnMv8.

See presentation notes in PDF or Powerpoint.

Sites referenced: loom.loomofreality.org, blog.loomofreality.org, wilmetteinstitute.org/overview-of-the-writings-of-the-bab, and wilmetteinstitute.org/overview-of-the-writings-of-bahaullah.

5. Presentation, 2025

Update on the Partial Inventory: Charting the coastline, and initial soundings

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