‘Great news for researchers in Virginia’

    

The Masonic research domain is expanding under the Grand Lodge of Virginia, the jurisdiction with—I’d bet anything—the most lodges of Masonic research of any grand jurisdiction in this country. Currently, the brethren have five research lodges on the rolls, with another soon to be granted dispensation to begin its labors.

The reasoning behind having so many of these unique groups is twofold: spreading them around allows the brethren great access to education; and having a variety allows each to pursue a specific study.

If you’re not familiar, a Masonic research lodge is a combination historical society and literary society, but with a warrant from a grand lodge. Members are regular Freemasons from their respective Craft lodges, and they delve into history and write their findings for presentation to the research lodge, which hopefully publishes a book of these papers annually, or otherwise periodically.

In Virginia, those five research lodges at labor are:

George Washington Lodge of Research 1732 (at Fredericksburg Lodge 4), chartered in 2012, it focuses on Scottish Freemasonry, American Colonial Freemasonry, and Masonic military history.

Peyton Randolph Lodge of Research 1774 (at Williamsburg Lodge 6), chartered in 2007, its focus is dispersed on matters historic, philosophic, and even the practical aspects of the Craft.

Virginia Lodge of Research 1777 (at the Babcock Masonic Temple in Highland Springs), chartered in 1951, it is the eldest of Virginia’s research lodges and it looks into almost any Masonic subject.

Civil War Lodge of Research 1865 (at Babcock Temple also), chartered in 1995, its brethren concentrate on the U.S. Civil War’s intersections with Masonic history. I’m a member of this one, and I think it’s safe to say CWLR does most of its work on the road, traveling to Civil War historic sites in Virginia and beyond.

A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Research 1949 (at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial), chartered in 1983, it is named for one of the top scholars of his day. The lodge studies the philosophical and the practical sides of Freemasonry.

And what about this sixth research lodge?

This will be named Blue Ridge Lodge of Research. You might guess from the name it will be located in western Virginia, and it in fact will meet at Hunter’s Masonic Lodge 156 in Blacksburg. Its field of study will be the history of Freemasonry in that very beautiful part of the Commonwealth. Maybe Virginia Tech has Masonic materials in its library and archives?

Six lodges of Masonic research, each doing its thing, and dispersed about the face of Virginia. It is important work they do. There has to be an outlet for the Masons who have the drive and talent to pursue facts, however obscure and elusive, and piece them into narratives that can be shared with others.

Most Masons don’t get it. Because research lodges do not confer degrees, these lodges go overlooked or even forgotten among the many moving parts of a grand jurisdiction.

RW Chandler on Facebook last week.

“We make papers, not Masons,” said RW Bro. Shelby Chandler. He was kind enough to spend more than half an hour on the phone with the Magpie Mason Friday night to explain these things. He is uniquely situated to know too, as he has been appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic Research District in Virginia, looking after the well being of all those lodges.

“We are real lodges. We open and close tiled meetings,” he added, “but because we are nerd-oriented, we are seen as a red-headed stepchild.” (He was preaching to the choir. I’m a Past Master of New Jersey’s research lodge, am Senior Warden of New York City’s, and recently joined CWLR under his jurisdiction in Virginia.) Another distinction that baffles many of the brethren is a research lodge’s lack of voting ability at Grand Lodge.

Such distinctions hardly separate research lodges from the mainstream of the fraternity, Chandler also said. Every Mason is charged with learning and sharing his knowledge, and the lodge of research is the ideal forum for that. For the brethren who prefer these activities, maybe to the exclusion of others, the place for education can unlock possibilities. “Have you reached your potential?” he asked hypothetically. “If not, maybe you’ll find it here.”

Furthermore, Chandler continued, these lodges serve myriad purposes. They often are custodians of ritual. They are the places to find experienced writers and editors. (I can tell you how H.L. Haywood, one of Freemasonry’s top educators a century ago, was lured to New York to launch our Grand Lodge’s first magazine—and he soon was made a Fellow of The American Lodge of Research.) Similarly, but maybe more importantly, research lodges provide skilled public speakers who can visit lodges and other groups to lead discussions of all kinds of subjects. And, essential today, research lodges are where we find the talent in communications technologies—video conferencing, social media, and even just plain websites—to organize Masonic thought and share it.

Virginia’s Masonic Research District was created four years ago. For management purposes, the research lodges were separated from their geographic districts and were grouped together because of their singular but shared purpose.

Not a bad idea for us larger jurisdictions!

Here in New York, we are fortunate to have four research lodges at labor. (There used to be a fifth.) I am told there is desire for another in the Hudson Valley. I’m sure there’s room for one on Long Island. The possibilities are endless. Someone tell the guys on the seventeenth floor!