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The early history of the
American Section of the Theosophical Society (TS) is
very much interlinked with the founding of the Society itself.
When the principal founders, Helena P. BLAVATSKY
and Henry S. OLCOTT left the United States for India in
late 1878, the welfare of the work in the States became the
responsibility of another founder, William Quan JUDGE.
By 1882, branches had been established in Rochester,
New York and St. Louis, Missouri; in 1883, the Aryan
Theosophical Society of New York was chartered and
other branches in cities as far apart as San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia
were soon organized. In 1884, the President-
Founder, H. S. Olcott, issued a “Special Order” to
constitute a Board of Control for the central management
of the American branches; E. B. Page of St. Louis was
elected president of the Board. With the further growth of
branches or lodges in the United States, the General Council
of the Society authorized Olcott to send instructions to
Judge to organize the American branches into a “Section”
of the Society (the first time the term “Section” was used
as a designation for what became known later as a National
Society, chartered by Adyar). Accordingly, delegates
from the various branches met in Cincinnati, Ohio,
on October 30, 1886, and voted to organize the American
Section as successor to the Board of Control, unanimously
electing Judge as General Secretary and Treasurer. This
was the first time in the Society’s history that the term
“General Secretary” was adopted to describe a member so
elected to serve “as the official channel of communication
with the Adyar Headquarters.”

[[image:americats.jpg|thumb|500px|The headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America]]

Earlier, in 1886, Judge had begun a theosophical journal
known as ''The Path'', which, with the establishment of
the Section, became then its semi-official journal and the
backbone of theosophical publicity throughout the country.

Following the death in London of H. P. Blavatsky, difficulties
arose between Olcott and Judge as well as between
Judge and Annie BESANT, who was by then taking a
leading role in the Society’s affairs. These difficulties involved
not only the management of the Society, but also
the headship of what was then known as its Esoteric Section
(E.S.). Finally, at the Ninth Annual Convention of the
American Section, held in Boston (Massachusetts) on
April 28-29, 1895, the delegates approved a motion prepared
by J. D. Buck (one of the original group who established
the Section), chairman of the Convention. The
motion concluded with the words “. . . the American Section
consisting of Branches of the Theosophical Society in
America, in convention assembled, hereby assumes and
declares its entire autonomy and that it shall be called from
and after this date The Theosophical Society in America.”
Judge was duly elected president of the autonomous body
for life, with the power to nominate his successor.

When Olcott was notified of this action, he issued an
Executive Order abrogating the charter of the Section, canceling
the charters of the Branches which had voted for the
“Act of Secession” (Olcott’s term) and appointed a committee
from among the members loyal to Adyar “to supervise
the proper organization of the new American Section
of the Theosophical Society.” Alexander Fullerton, who
had been Judge’s assistant since mid-1887, was elected
General Secretary of the re-organized Society under the
original 1886 charter. A magazine titled Mercury, which
had been started for children by John Walters of San Francisco
became the Section journal, until Fullerton replaced
it with a new Section journal known as ''The Theosophic
Messenger''.

Under Fullerton’s leadership, the Section’s membership
grew from approximately 100 at the time of the “secession”
to well over 2500, when, in 1907, he retired from
office and Weller Van HOOK, a prominent Chicago physician was elected his successor. Headquarters were then
moved from New York to Chicago. During Van Hook’s
tenure in office, 1907-1912, the Society continued to expand;
he founded the Rajput Press and the Theosophic
Book Corporation as well as a Karma and Reincarnation
League. Retiring in 1912, Van Hook was succeeded by
Albert P. WARRINGTON, a member of the Section’s Executive
Committee who was also Besant’s personal representative
and Corresponding Secretary of the E.S. Besant,
then International President, following Olcott’s death, had
commissioned Warrington to seek a location where a center
might be established that was envisioned as representing
the future colony written about by Charles Webster
LEADBEATER in ''Man: Whence, How and Whither''. When
Warrington was elected to succeed Van Hook, he had just
succeeded in founding, with a group of members as his
co-workers, the center envisioned by Besant; it was called
“Krotona” and was located in Hollywood, California.
Therefore, the Headquarters of the Section was now
re-located from Chicago to its new home on the west coast.
As Warrington wrote; “We have named the new Headquarters
Krotona because of our devotion to the ideals
which were taught by the illustrious Pythagoras in his institute
of Krotona, many centuries ago.”

Under Warrington, the Section’s activities continued
to expand with “bureaus” established for such varied functions
as library, correspondence courses, literature distribution,
Scandinavian, Dutch and German propaganda,
prison work, Bible study, etc. as well as the Order of the
ROUND TABLE and the Order of the Star in the East. The
KROTONA INSTITUTE and School had begun, with, it is recorded,
144 lectures on a variety of topics given during its
first “summer school.” A new magazine was launched,
''The American Theosophist'' with ''The Theosophic Messenger''
becoming a member’s supplement. By the close of
Warrington’s first year in office, there were 129 branches
and over 3500 members.

Meanwhile, the Society had become incorporated under
the laws of the State of Illinois and by 1915 the title
“National President” was adopted to designate the General
Secretary of the Section. In 1919, the number of branches
in Canada had grown to a sufficient number to be separated
from the American Section and chartered as an independent
National Society. In 1920 Mr. Warrington requested to
be relieved of office and he was succeeded by the
Vice-President, L. W. Rogers. Headquarters were now
moved from its Krotona site in Hollywood to Chicago once
again. (The Krotona property was subsequently sold, with
the E.S. headquarters later moving to Ojai, California.)

Under Rogers, the Section continued to expand: by
1921 membership stood at an all-time high of over 8,700.
The book business was re-christened The Theosophical
Press (a name which was retained until 1966, when it was
changed to the Theosophical Publishing House); a number
of administrative changes were instituted; a Publicity Department
and a National Library were established. An active
search for a permanent headquarters began, at Roger’s
suggestion and, in 1925, a 10 acre tract in Wheaton, Illinois
was purchased. (During subsequent administrations,
the property was expanded by gifts and purchase to its
present 40 plus acres.) Building soon began and on August
29, 1926, the International President, Annie Besant, in
Masonic regalia of the thirty-third degree laid the cornerstone
of the Headquarters Building according to the rites of
the Co-Masonic Order. Among those in the Masonic procession
for the occasion was J. KRISHNAMURTI. The following
year, 1927, the building was dedicated by George
ARUNDALE and his wife Srimati RUKMINI DEVI. Housing
the several departments of the Section, including the National
Library (re-named some years later as the Olcott Library
and Research Center), the Headquarters building
also provided accommodations for the resident staff of
workers. A second highlight of Roger’s administration
was the hosting of a World Congress in Chicago in 1919,
an occasion which brought together most of the luminaries
of the International Society (Geoffrey HODSON, Clara
CODD and the Arundales) and which proved to be the final
visit of Besant to the American Section.

The dissolution of the Order of the Star in the East by
its head, J. Krishnamurti, and the onset of the great world
depression, brought both a decrease in membership and
several financial problems in meeting the indebtedness incurred
by the building of the Headquarters. In 1931 Rogers
stepped down and Sidney A. COOK, a Chicago businessman
and financier, was elected National President. At the
1932 Convention of the Section, honoring the birth centenary
of the Society’s President-Founder, Cook proposed
that the headquarters estate be named “Olcott.” In the same
year, the Section journal was re-named ''The American Theosophist''.

In 1934, the legal name of the Section became the
Theosophical Society in America. Cook set to work to rebuild
the membership, instituting the “Greater America
Plan,” a Section-wide lecture program combined with
training workshops for members. A National Radio Committee
was established and Publicity and Correspondence
Course departments were set up at Headquarters. In 1937 a
“Burn the Bonds” campaign resulted in the total retirement
of all indebtedness on the Headquarters building and estate.
In 1940 a special ceremony was held to dedicate the
newly completed entrance arch, designed by the notable
architect Claude Bragdon, a long-time member of the Society.

Having seen the Section safely through the war years
and on a stable financial footing, Cook retired from office
in 1945 (a year later he was to go to Adyar as the Society’s
International Vice-President, under C. JINARĀJADĀSA).
James S. PERKINS, a Cincinnati artist, was elected to succeed
Cook, taking up again the expansion of the Section by
inaugurating a “Spotlight” program (SPOT as the acronym
for “Speed the Popularization of Theosophy”) to
strengthen weak branches and develop new ones. The
Foundation for Radio Theosophy was established and,
most significant for the Section’s financial stability, a
Theosophical Investment Trust was instituted in 1955. National
Theosophical Conferences, held annually from 1955
through 1962 in various cities throughout the country, augmented
the annual Conventions and Summer Schools held
at “Olcott.” Departments of Information and Education
were added to the activities at the Headquarters. By the end
of the 1950s a new program had supplanted “Spotlight,”
called the Regional Expansion Program. Membership
stood at more than 4500, the highest point since 1933.

After 15 years in office, Perkins stepped down at the
elections of 1960 and Henry A. Smith, a Chicago physician
who had been the Section’s vice-president, was
elected. During Smith’s administration a Membership Endowment
Plan was introduced; the semi-annual publication
of “Special Issues” of The American Theosophist each
devoted to a particular topic (in many ways the fore-runner
of today’s Quest magazine) was initiated and the first major
addition to the Headquarters Building was constructed
with the building on of a library wing providing more
space for the Olcott Library and Research Center, including
three seminar rooms, one of which was to later house
the Boris de ZIRKOFF library and archival collection.

However, Smith’s tenure was marred with internal dissension
and he was forced to step down before the expiration
of his second term. The National Board of Directors
named the Vice-President, Joy Mills, as Acting President
and, at the triennial elections of 1966, she was elected the
National President, the first woman to be elected to that office
in the American Section’s 80-year history.

In late 1965, the Kern Foundation came into existence.
Established by a long-time member, Herbert A. Kern, a
Chicago industrialist (founder-president of the American
Aluminate Corporation), the Kern Foundation existed to
aid the work of the Section, particularly its publishing and
other media programs, as well as certain other selected
theosophical organizations (the KROTONA INSTITUTE
SCHOOL of Theosophy, Theosophical Book Gift Institute
and theosophical programs at the HAPPY VALLEY
SCHOOL.) Administered by the Northern Trust Company
of Chicago, with the late Herb Kern’s son, John, also a
member of the Society, serving as Advising Trustee, the
foundation gave grants to approved programs after submissions
for specific funding.

Under Mills, the first grants from the Kern Foundation
were received for the publication of high-quality paperbacks,
soon to be christened Quest books. The first of
these, issued in late 1966 in response to public demand,
was The Essential Unity of All Religions by Bhagavan Das.
Helen Zahara, former General Secretary of the Australian
Section, had been named co-ordinator of the Kern Foundation
sponsored programs and, together with Mills, developed
a number of new activities that quickly qualified for
funding: the establishment of Quest Bookshops in key cities
throughout the country; an expanded radio program;
the development of Quest Book Films; education and
training programs at the Section’s several summer camps.
A National Brotherhood Committee (in response to the
civil rights unrest in the country at large) and a National
Education Committee (to provide materials for branch and
study center study) were formed. The growth of the Quest
Books program made it imperative to expand the Headquarters’
facilities and, in 1969, Mills laid the cornerstone
for the second major building on the estate, the Theosophical
Publishing House, which was soon to be complemented
in 1972 with the construction of a book storage
building. Earlier, in 1966, soon after assuming office,
Mills proposed the change of name of the publishing business
from The Theosophical Press to The Theosophical
Publishing House, a change approved by the Board of Directors.

The Section continued to take an active role in international
affairs, promoting the establishment of an
Inter-American Federation, an idea mooted at a “Conference
of the Americas” held in Mexico City in 1963 and
taking a lead in the development of a North American
Theosophical Students Conference, to which members of
all the various Theosophical Societies were invited. Plans
were also under way for a Centenary World Congress to be
held in New York City in 1975, to commemorate the anniversary
of the Society’s founding in that city.

In 1973, the death of N. SRI RAM, International President
since 1953, was to have its effect on the American
Section. John COATS was elected President in October
1973 and in early 1974 nominated Mills to the office of International
Vice-President. Resigning then as National
President later in 1974 to take up that appointment, Mills
turned the administration of the Section over to its
Vice-President, Ann Wylie (later Ann Greene) to fill out
her unexpired term, pending the tri-ennial elections of
1975, when Dora Kunz, a member of the Board of Directors,
was elected. When Mills left office, membership of
the Section had reached a high of over 6,000.

Kunz, then, inherited a flourishing Section, with a
range of active programs for both members and public, but
she was also faced with an aging Headquarters building
and the need to professionalize the work carried on in its
several departments. Early in her administration, responding
to member suggestions, Kunz appointed a committee
to investigate the possibility of re-locating the national
headquarters, at the same time completely reviewing staff
and departmental needs. With the decision to modernize
the Headquarters, expand the Publishing House Building
and undertake a vigorous publicity and advertising program,
Kunz instituted a number of new programs, funded
by the Kern Foundation, including the “Eternal Quest Radio
Series” and the development of videotapes for the presentation
of Theosophy by branches and study centers.

Retiring from office in 1987, the year following the
major celebrations of the Section’s centenary, Kunz was
succeeded by Dorothy Abbenhouse, the Section’s
Vice-President, long a member of its Board of Directors,
former chair of the National Education Committee.
Abbenhouse proposed the founding of a major public journal
devoted to the presentation of theosophical ideas in
contemporary form; endorsed by the Board of Directors
and with funding from the Kern Foundation, ''Quest'' magazine
was launched in 1989. With a major advertising program
and national distribution, the magazine soon found
its way into bookstores and news stands and along with
''Quest'' books continues to be the major public relations program
of the Section.

After six years in office, Abbenhouse was succeeded
by John Algeo, who retired as Professor of English at the
University of Georgia, to accept the presidency of the Section
in 1993. Algeo, a well-known lecturer throughout the
Section, had served as the Section’s Vice-President and in
various other capacities within the administrations of both
Kunz and Abbenhouse. Emphasizing the need for an educated
membership, Algeo has established the Olcott Institute
of Theosophy, with a greatly expanded program of
classes, seminars and workshops at the Headquarters and
encouraging members to gain “credits” by attending similar
programs at the Krotona School of Theosophy as well
as the summer camps. Re-elected in 1996, Algeo continued
to press for theosophical education programs and the
wider dissemination of theosophical ideas to the public. In
2001, he assumed the International Vice Presidency of the
TS, and was succeeded by Betty Bland as the National
President of the American section.

[[Contributors|J.Ms.]]