Florence Breed Khan
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Florence Breed Khan | |
|---|---|
 Florence Breed Khan and Mirza Ali Kuli Khan in 1911, from the Library of Congress. | |
| Born | 1875 Lynn, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | June 24, 1950 (aged 74–75) Teaneck, New Jersey, US |
| Children | 3, including Marzieh Gail |
| Mother | Alice Ives Breed |
Florence Breed Khan (1875 – June 24, 1950) was an American political hostess and Bahá'i convert from Boston, wife of Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, a Persian translator and diplomat.
Florence M. Breed was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Francis W. Breed and Alice Ives Breed.[1] Her father was a shoe manufacturer. Her mother, an active clubwoman, was also a Bahá'i convert, introduced to the faith by suffragist Mary Hanford Ford.
Career
Breed, who acted as a young woman and studied Eastern religions and texts,[2] married a Persian diplomat, Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, in 1904.[3][4] They met when he was lecturing at Harvard University.[5] Following his diplomatic career, they lived in Washington, D.C.,[6] San Francisco,[7] Paris, Tehran, Istanbul, and Tbilisi.[8]
Khan was a society hostess in Washington while her husband was the Persian chargé d'affaires there.[9][10] "I find that few Americans, even traveled and cultured ones, know Persian as it deserves to be appreciated," she told an interviewer in 1910.[11] The Khan family greeted Bahá'i leader ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on his arrival in Washington in 1912,[12] and hosted a luncheon for him, with guests including Louis Gregory.[13] She contributed Persian recipes to The Economy Administration Cookbook (1913).[14] In 1915, she and her husband attended the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, representing Persia.[15] She was an occasional lecturer on Persia to community groups.[16]
