Julia Lynch Olin

Julia Lynch Olin (October 21, 1882 – March 11, 1961) was an American author and Baháʼí who co-founded the New History Society in New York City, and was later expelled from the religion by Shoghi Effendi around 1939. Through marriage, she was a member of the Astor and Dudley–Winthrop families. and Alice Wadsworth Barlow (1853–1882). Her sister was Alice Townsend Olin (1881–1963), who married Tracy Dows (1871–1937) in 1903. After her mother's death in 1882 at the age of 29, her father remarried to Emeline Harriman (1860–1938), the former wife of William Earl Dodge III, in 1903.

Her maternal grandparents were Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow (1826–1889) and Alice Cornell Townsend (1833–1889). Her paternal grandparents were Julia Matilda Lynch Olin (1814–1879) and Rev. Dr. Stephen Olin (1797–1851),

Baháʼí Faith Olin was first introduced to the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith about 1925, as she states in her autobiography. Becoming intimately associated with Mirza Ahmad Sohrab they together with her second husband, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, started the New History Society. This Society, based in the home that Olin and Lewis owned in New York, (later called Caravan House), published several books, into the late 1950s.

The New History Society was addressed by several prominent intellectuals, including Albert Einstein in 1930. Another speaker was Margaret Sanger in January 1932. In 1934, she described Baha'i membership as: "To be a Baha'i simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood." In 1936, Julia translated the French version of Seven Valleys into English.

As part of its mission, the New History Society, for many years sponsored an essay-contest. At least one of the winners of this, Jaja Wachuku, became famous in his own right, for his essay "How Can the People of the World Achieve Universal Disarmament?" written while at the New Africa University College.

Personal life On December 11, 1902, Olin married John Philip Benkard (1872–1929) of New York City, a financier and the son of James Benkard. Elsie Benkard, who married Charles Harold Clarke and lived in Oyster Bay, New York, in 1930.

On May 23, 1921, she married Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler (1869–1942), the ex-Lieutenant Governor of New York and a former Democratic candidate for Governor, in Paris. He was the fifth son of John Winthrop Chanler and Margaret Astor Ward and a great-great-grandson of the first John Jacob Astor. In her obituary she was described as "spiritual leader of the Reform Baha'i movement..."

Works Living Pictures. In the Great Drama of the 19th Century. (with Ahmad Sohrab) New York: The New History Society, 1933. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004. (this link includes her picture) Seven Valleys, by Baháʼu'lláh (trans. Julie Chanler), 1936 Brand, & Sohrab [libretto Max Brand, and Julie Chandler; Music Max Brand]. The Gate: Scenic Oratorio for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra in Two Parts (19 Scenes). 61. New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1944. His Messengers Went Forth, by Julie Chanler, Illustrated by Olin Dows. Published by Coward-McCann, Inc. New York. Copyright 1948. Ioas, Chanler, & Sohrab. Three Letters. 11 leaves. New York: Caravan of East and West, 1954. From Gaslight to Dawn, New History Foundation, NY 1956