‘MLMA introduces BINO’

    

The front page of the MLMA’s spring newsletter shows one of sculptor Bryant Baker’s George Washingtons, located in the famous Hollender Room of Masonic Hall. I hope we’ll be able to hold our board meeting there.

The new issue of The Page & Pillars, the quarterly newsletter of the Masonic Library and Museum Association, is in our members’ inboxes, delivering the essential news of the annual meeting in Manhattan and the roll-out of BINO also.

I know we’re only a day into summer, but let me again promote this annual meeting in autumn, scheduled for the weekend of October 16. Most details can be seen here, and they’ll be posted to our website soon. As you can see, it will be hosted by the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, located in Masonic Hall on 23rd Street. The official events will take place Saturday the 17th, so those visiting New York City will have all day Sunday for sightseeing. We’ll gather for dinner on Friday night.

BINO is Books Indexed Neatly Online—a monicker only a librarian could devise! I know a project like this has been in discussion at the MLMA for nearly twenty years (maybe longer), with the goal of providing our members the mother of all library databases.

Ideally, our Institutional Members, namely the libraries and museums of Freemasonry, will submit to MW Thomas Hauder, Past Grand Master of Nebraska who quarterbacks this initiative, their catalogs of books and other texts. The BINO will show researchers, readers, etc. where to find the book, journal, etc. being sought. The MLMA/BINO will not get you the book, but will show you where to find it. Then you would contact the library in question directly with your request. (Which reminds me to ask the Livingston guys about an old Collectanea.)

Click to enlarge.

Membership in the MLMA is understood under two denominations: Regular and Institutional. Individuals would sign up for Regular at only $30 per year and benefit from access to BINO and our other platforms; support from library and museum professionals via our online discussions and, naturally, in person contact; and access to members-only events. Such Masons could be research lodge guys, lodge historians, grand historians, keepers of your lodge’s archive, library, and antiques—or really anyone who wants to support the labors of the MLMA.

Institutions, such as Masonry’s grand lodges, supreme councils, etc., libraries, museums, research lodges & societies, historical societies, et al. may join at $50 annually to receive those same benefits, plus have voice in creating MLMA content, vote at the annual meeting, and other leadership opportunities.

In addition to signing up yourself, ask your lodge, especially your research lodge, to apply for Institutional Membership. You’ll be glad you did.

     

‘Rededication to mark statue’s 75th anniversary’

    

Magpie file photo

Bryant Baker’s seventeen-foot bronze of Bro. Washington greets visitors to the Memorial.

Somehow it’s hard to think of February, but it’ll be here soon. On the twenty-second of that month—George Washington’s birthday—the George Washington Masonic National Memorial will rededicate its famous statue of America’s most celebrated Freemason on the seventy-fifth anniversary of its unveiling. From the publicity:

On February 22, 2025, the statue of George Washington in Memorial Hall at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial will be rededicated—75 years to the day it was originally dedicated by President (and Most Worshipful Brother) Harry Truman. The speaker for the 75th anniversary dedication will be President Truman’s grandson, Ill. Brother Clifton Truman Daniel, 33º.

The rededication will begin at 2 p.m. in the theater of the Memorial. Shortly thereafter, attendees will move to Memorial Hall for brief remarks.

With the statue being the gift of the Order of DeMolay, it is appropriate that a multi-jurisdictional DeMolay initiation (both degrees) will be held at 10 a.m. that day in the North Lodge Room at the Memorial. Following the initiation, lunch (by advance reservation only on the form on the Memorial’s website) will be held at the Valley of Alexandria Scottish Rite building (1460 West Braddock Road, Alexandria) within a couple of miles of the Memorial. For more information about the initiation, please contact Virginia Executive Officer Rick Young here. If planning to attend the initiation, please indicate so on the registration form. 

A display of materials related to the original dedication and the statue’s creator will be available for review.

Dress for the day is coat and tie.

Please note: The Memorial’s annual George Washington Birthday Gala will be held beginning at 5 p.m. that day. Please help us prepare for that event by leaving the Memorial as quickly as possible after the rededication.

Read all about it here, as there are important details regarding registration and other logistics.