William P. Collins

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 Planning Officer with the United States Copyright Office 2000-2016. He served for slightly over two decades as faculty for the Wilmette Institute, and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Corinne True Center for Bahá’í History and a faculty member. He is “retired”—meaning he is serving the Bahá’í Faith and the wider community.

He has a B.A. from Middlebury College, two masters 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 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, and 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. Routledge published his book on Millennialism, Millerites, and Prophecy in Bahá’í Discourse in September 2025.

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, he has been 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 for affordable housing, help for the homeless, food security, and civil rights.

Some of Bill’s publications:

Apocalypse and Millennium: Catastrophe, Progress and the Lesser Peace

Babi and Baha’i Millennialism, The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism

Baha’i Faith, Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements

The Bahá’í Faith and Mormonism: A Preliminary Survey

The Bahá’í Faith and Mormonism: Further Reflections

Bahá’í Interpretations of Biblical Time Prophecy

Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths, 1844-1985

Freedom of Religion in the U.S. Bill of Rights: A Bahá’í Perspective

“The Greatest Claims I Have Ever Heard”: Mormon Missionary George Henry Barney Meets Ibrahim Kheiralla, 1902

Islám’s Tahríf: Implications for the Bahá’í Faith

Lev Tolstoi and the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions: A Bibliography (with Jan Jasion)