‘Craddock to present Truman Lecture’

    

When the Grand Lodge of Missouri meets next month, the local research lodge will host its customary Truman Lecture and Breakfast, and the speaker will be W. Patrick Craddock. If you are in the area and have not heard “Admit Him If Properly Clothed,” I recommend making the effort to attend. From the publicity:

Fall 2023 Truman Lecture:

Admit Him If Properly Clothed:

The Evolution

of the Masonic Apron

in America,

1740 to the Present

Tuesday, September 19

Tickets here

W. Bro. Patrick Craddock is a noted expert on Masonic aprons and regalia. He has earned a Master of Arts Degree and a Master of Philosophy in History Degree, and is a contributing author to Encyclopedia of Tennessee History. He is a past curator of exhibits at the Carter House Museum in Tennessee.

Craddock was Initiated, Passed, and Raised in O.D. Smith Lodge 33 in Mississippi, and is a Charter Member and Past Master of Conlegium Ritus Austeri 779 in Nashville. Additionally, he is the owner of The Craftsman’s Apron, manufacturer and provider of one of the highest quality Masonic regalia available today.

Bro. Craddock will address the brethren on the subject of the Masonic apron and how it has changed over the last 250 years. The presentation features many images of historic American aprons.

     

‘Livingston Library lecture’

    
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will host its next lecture February 25, when Bro. Patrick Craddock will present “Admit Him If Properly Clothed: The Evolution of the Masonic Apron in America, 1740 to the Present.”

Patrick, of course, is The Craftsman’s Apron.

This lecture is open to Master Masons, Fellows, and Apprentices from lodges under or in amity with the Grand Lodge of New York.

The library is located on the fourteenth floor of Masonic Hall, at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

    

‘A physical representation’

     

I feel like I’m the last one to have seen it, but just in case, let me bring to your attention the Grand Lodge of California’s excellent short film that was posted to YouTube two months ago. Titled Emblems of Innocence and Honor: The Masonic Apron, it runs just about ten minutes and does an excellent, credible job of explaining the evolution of the Masonic apron, thanks to interviews with Dr. Aimee Newell of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library in Lexington, Massachusetts; Bro. Adam Kendall, of the Henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum of Freemasonry in San Francisco; and Bro. Patrick Craddock, proprietor of The Craftsman’s Apron.

The title of this edition of The Magpie Mason quotes Craddock. In the final minute of the video, he explains his role as a craftsman of bespoke Masonic regalia. “I want to create aprons that a brother says ‘This is me. This is a physical representation of my commitment to the Craft.’ ”

I guess there’s no sense reading about it when you can watch it–and I’ll spare you my obligatory rant about New Jersey Masonry, where no lodge or brother has the freedom to commission aprons that speak to individuality. Enjoy.
     

‘Masonic Week 2012: The Badge of a Mason’

     

“...more ancient than the Golden Fleece
or Roman Eagle; more honorable than
the Star and Garter, or any other Order....”

We have it all wrong, you see. We Freemasons go about it backward. My own opinion of the Freemason's apron is that the youngest Entered Apprentice ought to be presented a lavish, gleaming garment, embroidered in bullion, bejeweled brilliantly; fashioned by “a man skillful to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, and in timber; in purple, blue, fine linen, and in crimson.” But then, as the brother progresses through the degrees, along the path of places and stations, improving in his labors, his apron should lose these embellishments, gradually, until the time he deserves the white lambskin. When he has mastered his Craft.

Admittedly, this sounds laughably romantic—and I know it is unworkable and impossible, so I won't pitch the idea to anyone but you—but it would do us so much good.

In the meantime, belated Magpie coverage of Masonic Week 2012 continues with a quick stop at the table of The Craftsman's Apron, staffed by Bro. Patrick Craddock. The vendors at Masonic Week change every year, and most of those present this time are easily forgotten, thanks to their marked up mail order goods. And then there is Bro. Patrick. Despite photographing his wares and chatting with him here and there, I managed to forget to shoot a photo of him, but the following is a display of his work. (Pardon the watermark on each shot.)

Bro. Craddock custom makes aprons, designing them to the clients' specifications, but look under the flap, and you'll see what makes the apron unique to he who wears it. INSET: Another variation on the personalization under the flap.

About a month ago, I started a discussion in my mother lodge's Yahoo! Group about aprons. I had been perusing the new catalog from one of the overpriced mail order companies, when I got to thinking about plain white aprons, and how the brethren in New Jersey do not own their own. It's some kind of absurd custom that Masons here, when attending their lodges or visiting others, wear whatever regalia is provided in the anteroom. Many lodges do not give the matter much thought, resulting in aprons that should have been retired ages ago still being made available for use. Past Masters and grand lodge officers own, care for, and carry their own regalia. All Master Masons should. They should buy themselves white aprons, and the carry cases needed for proper care. It's a matter of respect and responsibility for oneself and for the Order.

Anyway, it didn't take long for that discussion on-line to go off-topic. I complained about our grand lodge's endless laws and rules that, in this case, needlessly require everyone here to wear the exact same regalia. (The inspiration for this, I suspect, is the same mentality that stifles other aspects of individuality and creativity, namely there are those who cannot bear to see someone enjoy what they themselves cannot. As a past grand master told me one night near the end of his term of office years ago, governing New Jersey Masons requires treating us like children.) But my main point still stands: Master Masons should exercise choice and responsibility by acquiring their own regalia, and having it ready to wear when needed. Like adults.

It saddens me to know New Jersey Masons never will have the freedom
to wear regalia of their own design.

Look at the potential for greatness here! Where lodges have the freedom to adopt their own regalia, they may devise a design of their own, or work with Bro. Patrick on a design, or just select an appropriate symbol or two with their lodge name and number. To do something unique is a great privilege, brethren, don't pass up the opportunity!

Bro. Craddock makes the regalia of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee.

And, as you'll see on his website, Bro. Patrick
offers a variety of personal items too.

Coverage of Masonic Week will continue with Knight Masons, Allied Masonic Degrees, and, of course, The Masonic Society!