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Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helped Buddhism into a new renaissance.
Henry Olcott was a lawyer and journalist who covered the Spiritualist movement. In 1874, while both were living in New York City, Henry met Helena Blavatsky, a medium of some reknown. In September of 1875, the two formed the Theosophical Society.
In the 1880s they moved the headquarters of the Society to Adyar, India. Blavatsky eventually went to live in London where she died, but Henry stayed in India and pursued the work of the society there.
After his death, the leadership of the society devolved onto the shoulders of Blavatsky's protege Annie Besant.
Works
- Buddhist Catechism (1881)
- Theosophy, Religion, and Occult Science (1885)
- Old Diary Leaves 6 volumes
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