‘Retired Senator made Mason on Sight’

     

Bro. Pat Roberts, retired U.S. Senator in white apron, and MW Jack Kyle Lewis are flanked by four of the Grand Lodge of Virginia’s District Deputy Grand Masters after the Grand Master made Roberts a Mason on Sight last Wednesday at Andrew Jackson Lodge 120 in Alexandria. (I nicked this photo off Shelby’s Facebook.)

A longtime reader—there literally are several of those—saw the post the other day about Naval Lodge, and took the opportunity to tell me about something novel in the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

Last Wednesday, the sixteenth, Grand Master Jack Lewis exercised a prerogative very rarely seen in the jurisdiction by “Making on Sight” retired U.S. Senator Pat Roberts a Mason. He is a member of Andrew Jackson Lodge 120 in Alexandria. This lodge, now in its 170th year, meets inside the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.

Sometimes it is called “at Sight,” and it is found among Mackey’s Landmarks, although not every grand lodge permits it.

There was no mention of this on the Grand Master’s schedule, and I don’t see anything official about it. I was able to find a few mentions on Facebook. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next issue of The Herald. All I know about Sen. Roberts is he represented Kansas in the Senate from 1997 to 2021, and served in the House of Representatives for sixteen years beforehand.

Congratulations to all involved!

The Grand Annual Communication is a few weeks away. Richmond is too far for me, but I hope to attend someday.

     

‘Szramoski is new E.D. of GWMNM’

    

Matthew T. Szramoski

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial has a new executive director. From the announcement:

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association is delighted to announce the appointment of Matthew T. Szramoski as its new Executive Director. Szramoski, a distinguished leader with a profound dedication to non-profit fundraising and historic restoration, will assume his new role effective immediately.

Mr. Szramoski was most recently the Director of Development for the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Washington, D.C., and formerly the Youth Programs Manager for the National Rifle Association. With over three decades of experience in organizational leadership and development, Mr. Szramoski brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep passion for the mission of the Memorial. He has demonstrated a strong commitment to preserving and promoting the legacy of George Washington and the principles of Freemasonry.

“Matt Szramoski’s extensive experience makes him the ideal choice to lead the Memorial into its next chapter,” said the Memorial Association’s President Kenneth G. Nagel. “His leadership is expected to usher in a new era of growth for the Memorial.”

Szramoski’s appointment comes at a pivotal time as the Memorial embarks on several ambitious initiatives aimed at expanding its educational outreach and enhancing visitor experience. Under his leadership, the Memorial will further engage the public and foster a deeper understanding of George Washington’s life and the impact of Freemasonry on the founding of the United States.

Read all about it here.

     

‘In the pages of the summer ESM magazine’

    

ESM magazine

Speaking of White Plains Lodge (see post below), the Immediate Past Master has an article published in the new issue of The Empire State Mason magazine that includes a familiar photo.

It’s weird seeing New Jersey guys in New York’s magazine, but W. Bro. Stephen Petty included this shot from New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786’s meeting of February 19 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. A very special occasion attended by brethren from around the country and beyond. (Click here for a recap.) The article is about the White Plains Lodge brethren’s enjoyment of the various attractions that wonderful weekend in Alexandria, Virginia.

     

‘Illustrations of William Preston’

    

The brethren in lodge assembled last Sunday.

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education reached a milestone last Sunday when our members gathered in the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia for our first Emergent Communication held outside New Jersey.

LORE, as it has become known, was opened in due and ancient form inside the South Lodge Room, home of Alexandria-Washington Lodge 22, with thirty-two brethren present, hailing from jurisdictions around the United States, including Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In addition, Bro. Robert L.D. Cooper of Scotland and Bro. David Chichinadze of the Republic of Georgia were present too.

GWMNM photo

Symbolic replica of the cornerstone.

In fact, hundreds of Masons were in Alexandria that week to join the centenary celebration of the Memorial’s cornerstone-laying ceremony, which was re-enacted the following day. Related activities included the annual meeting of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons of North America and the City of Alexandria’s George Washington Birthday Parade, which terminated at the Memorial this time.

Two presentations were heard that afternoon from our own Bro. Howard Kanowitz and from a very special guest speaker.

Bro. Kanowitz reprised his poem “Redemption at Gettysburg,” which he delivered for the first time at LORE’s inaugural Stated Communication. (Look for it in the pages of our first book of transactions.) The six-part epic tells of Freemasonry’s civilizing influence extending even into the horrors of combat during the Civil War.

The headliner was Bro. Shawn Eyer, a native of Academia Lodge 847 in California who has been in residence at the Memorial, serving as Director of Education. He also is Editor of The Philalethes, the quarterly periodical of the Philalethes Society, the independent historical and literary society, itself reaching its 95th anniversary this year. Bro. Eyer presented a research work titled “Holy Symbols, Infinite Wisdom: Freemasonry’s Mystical Ground Plan in Prestonian Thought.”

Worshipful Master Craig thanks Shawn
for the valuable Masonic research and education.

William Preston was the author of Illustrations of Masonry. First published in 1772, and reprinted numerous times in the ensuing years, Illustrations is widely thought to be the source material for much of the ritual we today use in our lodges, but he has not been celebrated universally. Nineteenth century writers, like Albert Mackey and Albert Pike, derided Preston, Eyer explained, alleging his ideas on Masonic rituals and symbols lacked any sophistication, particularly anything that could nourish a spiritual appetite. Eyer vindicated Preston’s writings by bringing to light texts that are supplemental to Illustrations.

etymonline.com

Illustrations does not mean only pictures.

The long-forgotten writings, called the “Syllabus,” provide what Mackey and Pike most desired, as well as the thesis for Eyer’s eye-opening discussion that day. Suffice to say there was more to Preston’s thinking than architecture and physical senses.

Two Georgia Masons:
Danny from the state and David from the country.

LORE’s rental agreement for the room stipulated a limited time, so it was necessary for GLNJ’s Senior Grand Warden to close the lodge in ample form before the brethren exited into the hallways for chats and selfies. The LORE contingent divided into separate dinner parties headed for several restaurants in the area, with all the brethren doubtlessly feeling fraternally satiated by our meeting.

     

‘Masonic philatelists will meet again’

    

Smithsonian

The first post-pandemic meeting of the George Washington Masonic Stamp Club is scheduled for three weeks from today at the Washington Masonic Memorial in Virginia.

That’s Sunday, February 26. Meeting at 2 p.m., but the brethren gather to socialize at 1:30. If there be anyone in waiting to receive the Master of Philately Degree, it will be conferred. (Contact Secretary John Allen here if you expect to receive the degree.) By 4:30, everyone will head to Theismann’s Restaurant and Bar, near the train station, for a no-host meal.

I wonder if changing up the day’s agenda might spark things for the club. You’d think the proximity to Washington might inspire them to host speakers from the Postal Service or the Postal Museum or a historian or something.

     

‘Jersey research lodge to host Shawn Eyer at Washington Memorial’

    

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 sent a delegation to Princeton Lodge 38 Monday night to demonstrate to the brethren there what a research lodge is and does, and our next meeting as a lodge will be an emergent—out of state!

We have rented a lodge room at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Virginia for a meeting on Sunday, February 19 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the Memorial’s cornerstone centennial and Washington’s Birthday celebrations. Our speaker will be Bro. Shawn Eyer, the Memorial’s Director of Education and the editor of The Philalethes magazine.

Shawn Eyer by Travis Simpkins

He will discuss “Holy Symbols, Infinite Wisdom: Freemasonry’s Mystical Ground Plan in Prestonian Thought.”

Shawn says:

William Preston (1742-1818) and his brethren devoted decades to the cultivation of the Masonic ceremonies and catechisms which underlie the common degree workings as they are now generally performed in English-speaking lodges. Despite the ubiquity of Preston’s work, many know little of Preston himself, nor of the specific characteristics of his style of Freemasonry. The Prestonian concept of Freemasonry will be explored in this talk, providing a new way to appreciate the common Preston-Webb lectures.

If you are a Master Mason in good standing in the area, please come visit and profit from this revealing presentation. (Bring Masonic identification and your apron, and be prepared to work your way inside a tyled Masonic communication.)

“LORE” will continue in the celebrations on Monday the 20th by marching as a unit in the City of Alexandria’s 2023 George Washington Birthday Parade, followed by the Memorial’s cornerstone ceremony re-enactment for its hundredth anniversary. Please feel free to march with us in the parade, and definitely don’t miss the cornerstone ceremony at the Memorial.

Other than that, New Jersey LORE will meet again on our regular schedule on Saturday, March 11 in our new meeting space at Freemasons Hall in North Brunswick, home of Union Lodge 19. Hope to see you at all the above.

     

‘Jersey research lodge to meet in the Washington Memorial’

    

GWMNM photo

Merry New Year! I wish you a 2023 even more positive than your own hopes for it.

Hey, if you will be in or near Alexandria, Virginia on Presidents’ Day and, especially, the day before, please feel free to join us at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. On Sunday, February 19 at 4:30, New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 will hold an Emergent Communication in one of the lodge rooms.

The room is booked and Bro. Shawn Eyer will be our speaker, discussing William Preston (I’ll have the specifics on the topic soon).

I’m inviting the brethren of A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Research 1949, who meet in the Memorial regularly, and George Washington Lodge of Research 1732, from not far Fredericksburg, and other researchers to enjoy the time with us. You should come too!

The next day, President’s Day, the Memorial will host the centenary celebration of its cornerstone laying ceremony. And the City of Alexandria will hold its George Washington Birthday Parade earlier that afternoon; NJLORE is signed up for that as well, so march with us. It’s a public parade with, I expect, many Masonic groups in formation. It’ll be like it’s 1780 again or something.

     

‘Scottish Freemasonry Symposium, Part III’

    

One of many slides, packed with dazzling facts, on the screen.

I’ll wrap up an enjoyable year with this overdue post on the George Washington Masonic National Memorial’s Scottish Freemasonry in America Symposium (the title seems to vary here and there, so I’m going with what’s on the front cover of the program) eight weeks ago. An enjoyable year mostly because of the more-than-the-usual travel, compensating, I guess, for the period of pandemic lockdown. There was Masonic Week in Virginia in February; Royal Arch Grand Chapter in Utica in March; the Railroad Degree in Delaware in April; Masonic Con in New Hampshire in June; and back to Virginia for this conference on November 5—which happened to have been the twenty-fifth anniversary of my Master Mason Degree. That whole weekend was the perfect way to celebrate the milestone.

This actually is the third in a series of Magpie posts about the events, and there are sidebars also, if you care to scroll through the posts from November. Pardon the poor quality of the photographs. So, here we go.

At the Washington Memorial, introductions, welcomes, and remarks were tendered by Executive Director George Seghers, President Claire Tusch, and Director of Archives and Events Mark Tabbert. The roster of presenters was a balance of Masonic and non-Masonic speakers who gave explanations of how Scots impacted British North America by emigrating to the colonies and bringing their Freemasonry with them. I think it is a neglected subject thanks to our anglocentric understanding of early American history. We think of things “Anglo-American” at the exclusion of the Scottish people, philosophies, religion, and more that also came to the American colonies.

Professor Ned Landsman

Professor Emeritus Ned Landsman, of SUNY-Stony Brook, discussed “Mobility and Stability in Scottish Society and Culture in the Eighteenth Century.” The Scottish influx into North America was not as large as England’s, he explained, mostly because the Scots were as likely to emigrate to Ireland and other destinations, and many who did cross the Atlantic were apt to return home after earning some money. But shifting economic and political fortunes in Scotland prompted enough to make the journey to find work, to trade, and to secure greater freedom. In the eighteenth century, it was Highlanders mostly, representing a “broad segment of intellectual life” (including a number of medical doctors) who established in America societies for sociable, charitable, and convivial pursuits.

Professor Hans Schwartz

Professor Hans Schwartz of Northeastern University in Boston presented “Migration and Scots Freemasonry in America, from the Stamp Act to the Revolution.” Schwartz is a Freemason and, more importantly, he is the liveliest and funniest lecturer I possibly have ever seen. I don’t know his availability to travel to lodges, but if you can book him, you’ll be a hero in your lodge. He explained how Scots lodges in British America were fewer than English lodges, but the Scots were influential beyond their numbers. George Washington’s lodge, Fredericksburg, was a Scottish lodge, as were others in Virginia, such as Port Royal and Blandford. The rolls of their memberships in the 1700s and beyond are filled with Scottish names. In Boston, Lodge of St. Andrew, which met in the Green Dragon Tavern, was the first lodge in British North America chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In only Fredericksburg and St. Andrew, you have George Washington, Hugh Mercer, Paul Revere, Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and a host of lesser known revolutionary patriots and local heroes. And there were Scottish lodges on the length of the Atlantic seaboard, even down into the Caribbean.

Bro. Bob Cooper

Bob Cooper was next, but sadly his talk was cut short. We learned later that he was in pain (his bad knee) and had to get off his feet. From what I can recollect about his talk from eight Saturdays ago, he spoke of the importance of there being a Grand Lodge of Scotland after the union of Scottish and English parliaments as Great Britain in 1707, and that the Grand Lodge served as something of an extension of Scottish nationhood, particularly when it issued warrants to lodges in America.

Next up was Jim Ambuske from the Center for Digital History, Washington’s Library, at Mount Vernon, who brought to light an aspect of American Revolution history unknown to most. He explained the War of Independence as a civil war among Scots living in America. Citing a family named McCall as an example, Ambuske explained how Archibald McCall settled in Virginia in the 1750s and became a successful merchant and farmer. Politically, he sometimes sided with Washington and Jefferson, but he also supported the Stamp Act. When the war started, he placed himself on the side of the Loyalists, and so the rebels deemed him a traitor and eventually seized his properties. McCall appears to have been a supporter of Lord Dunmore who, of Scottish heritage, was colonial governor of Virginia and a very active agent of British policy. (When Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death,” he was speaking at Dunmore.) This was bad enough, but it also put him in the uniquely shameful position of asking the Crown for financial relief due to the loss of his wealth and income. As I understand it, he spent the rest of his life trying to square away these financial disasters, but, in death, he was able to bequeath his daughter two plantations.

Bro. Gordon Michie

The fifth speaker was Gordon Michie, another Mason, who spelled out the migration of Freemasonry to the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. I scribbled some notes, but most of what he told us is well known Masonic history so I won’t transcribe it here. I think the important historical information from Michie’s talk comes from Scottish Masonic Records, 1736-1950 by George Draffen, if you can lay hands on it.

And that was it for Saturday. There was a black tie banquet with a whisky tasting later, but I skipped it, preferring to get downtown for a meal and to duck into John Crouch Tobacconist, Alexandria’s oldest cigar and pipe shop, established 1967. I haven’t been there in ages, and somehow it looks like a smaller shop now that all the floor space is cleared of the Scottish souvenirs and tchotchkes. I bought some pipe tobacco: two ounces of Virginia Currency and, keeping with the Scottish theme, two ounces of Hebrides, a Latakia-heavy mixture that I’m smoking right now.

The conference resumed Sunday morning with Heather Calloway, Executive Director of Indiana University’s Center for Fraternal Collections and Research, who spoke on “Aye, Right Beyond the Haggis Dinners, Old Nessie, and Yonder in America.”

Dr. Heather Calloway

Speaking from not only a Masonic perspective, but from a broader American fraternalism outlook, she told of how Scottish culture was filtered into America through certain fraternal orders, like the Benevolent Order of Scottish Clans, the Daughters of Scotia, and others. (Back in the day, there were more than 300 fraternal societies in this country, with aggregate membership of about 6 million, she said.) Heather shared a few anecdotes, including one of a visit to Federal Lodge 1 in the District of Columbia, which invited her to look at some “cool old stuff.” The lodge didn’t know it had one particular item they found in a closet: the Bible used at George Washington’s funeral.

Bro. Ewan Rutherford

And the final presentation brought to the lectern Ewan Rutherford, Deputy Grand Master of the Royal Order of Scotland, who gave a Scottish history of Freemasonry. Beginning in 1475, with the incorporation of masons in Edinburgh, and continuing through more familiar facts about William Schaw, the Mary’s Chapel minute book, and to the Royal Order of Scotland, Rutherford brought the affair to a tidy conclusion, making clear how Scotland has been central to the identity of Freemasonry.

It was a great event that Claire Tusch, the Memorial Association’s President, said he hoped could be the first of more such conferences. And I agree! (Easy for me to say. I don’t have to do any of the work.) But I’ll be back in Alexandria in February for the Memorial’s centennial anniversary celebration. More on that later.

I’m sorry for the lack of content and detail on the presentations, and, as always, any errors or omissions are attributable to me.

Happy New Year!

     

‘The Plumb of Beauty ornament’

    

I admit to not buying a holiday ornament every year (I don’t need no more Eastern Star paraphernalia!), but I definitely will snag this year’s.

Being in the South of The ALR, the Plumb is my jewel of office, and for 2022, Alexandria-Washington Lodge 22 offers the Plumb of Beauty Holiday Ornament.

Order it online or buy one in the gift shop at the Washington Memorial. The price is still twenty-five bucks. Hasn’t gone up in years.

Click here.

I don’t even have a tree. Sometimes I just wear them on a garish gold chain around my neck.

     

‘Scottish Freemasonry Symposium, Part II'

    

Before delving into the content of the presentations at the Scottish Freemasonry in America Symposium of two weeks ago, I’ll share several dozen photos from the guided tour of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial we attendees enjoyed. (I’m not procrastinating. These Magpie posts take time.)

First, the view of the Memorial from the north windows of the Magpie’s suite. Freemasonry’s origins are lost in the mists of antiquity, and the Memorial was lost in the fog.

The famous statue. Bro. Bryant Baker’s big bronze looms in Memorial Hall.

It was dedicated in 1950 by President Harry Truman.

The Alexandria Washington Lodge 22 meeting room.

This sign was posted at the lodge’s previous meeting hall from 1804 to 1944.

Tracing Board of the EA°.

For the FC°.

And for the Sublime Degree.

Where the magic happens.

In the West. Note the placement of J&B.

The desk often has negative connotations, such as being a place of frustrating inactivity, but I bet the lodge secretary doesn’t mind sitting behind this one.

(‘I really just like to be at a desk.’ — Tom Stoppard.)

‘In the midst of Solomon’s Temple there stands a G,
A Letter fair for all to read and see,
But few there be that understands
What means that Letter G.’
— Masonry Dissected

And then there is Ye Olde Lodge Meeting Room.
There is an elegance to the small furniture.

The Three Great Lights of Freemasonry.
The Square must have been a Master’s collar jewel at some time.

The Master’s Pedestal.

Speaking of desks, if your Treasurer or Secretary complains about his, just show him what his ancestors had to work with!

This is described at the Memorial as a scarf. The Museum of Freemasonry in London has something similar, which it calls a snuff handkerchief. As much as you wouldn’t imagine unclogging your honker of GAOTU only knows what into a silk piece decorated with our symbols after indulging in a pinch of snuff, it is true that Masons of old adorned all kinds of items with the images of the Craft.

Don’t sit down.

I feel like Jeremy Cross himself gave direction when this was painted.

Replica of the apron presented to George Washington, after victory at Yorktown in 1781, by two merchants in France in recognition of ‘glorious efforts in support of American liberty.’ Bears some resemblance to the Mt. Nebo Apron, n’est-ce pas?

Replica of the gavel Washington employed in the cornerstone dedication of the U.S. Capitol in 1793. The original is custody of Potomac Lodge 5 in the District of Columbia. New Jersey’s research lodge once possessed a replica too, a gift from MW David A. Chase, who set us to labor. Sadly, someone ‘borrowed’ it years ago when we met in the Trenton Temple.

Various exhibits abound inside the Memorial. Here is a fiftieth anniversary loving cup, and a gorgeous specimen too, from Kane Council 2 of Royal and Select Masters in New Jersey. Kane would have reached its 162nd anniversary next Saturday, but its charter was revoked recently. I’ll be exposing that ugliness in an upcoming edition of The Magpie Mason.

Ceramic pitcher from Liverpool, England.

I’m imagining many servings of punch. Vivat!

I love the porcelain and ceramic and glass pieces of yore.

Masonic material culture today is so chintzy and uninspiring. 

St. Paul’s Lodge 481 commissioned this pipe tobacco humidor to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1911. Beautiful piece, and I’m not just editorializing because of my fondness for the pipe! See photos of an identical jar here. Like the Kane Council cup, this, and a whole lot of other Masonic ceramics, were manufactured in Trenton, New Jersey.

Outstanding.

These punch bowls are found in Masonic museums up and down the East Coast,

and elsewhere, I’m sure. Made in China during the 1790s.

Good fire!

Glass flask.

Scrimshaw carving on bone or ivory was popular among sailors back in the day.

I’ll guess this is an English apron circa 1800. I forgot to take note of the identifying card that surely was next to this.

Aprons made of simple paper are used at meetings that draw large groups to accommodate all those who didn’t bring their own regalia. President Franklin Roosevelt (Holland Lodge 8) had two sons, James and Franklin, Jr., who were raised in Architect Lodge 519. This must have been a wing ding. In attendance were the Grand Master, Mayor LaGuardia, several state Supreme Court judges, and other dignitaries.

Ahiman Rezon originally was the book of constitutions of the ‘Ancients’ Grand Lodge circa 1751. In America, when home grown grand lodges began to organize in the former colonies, some of those identifying with the Ancients chose Ahiman Rezon as the title of their respective constitutions (e.g. Pennsylvania, South Carolina, maybe others). This text is the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s printed in 1783. What does the term mean? You’ll find different explanations in Masonic literature, such as the Hebrew for ‘to help a brother’ or something similar. I’m going with Shawn Eyer’s explanation: ‘Both Ahiman and Rezon are names from the Bible. In fact, the Biblical character Ahiman appears in the Ahiman Rezon, which lets you know immediately that all those who claim it is a mystery what Ahiman means have not bothered to read the book and don’t know their Bible.’

Sigh. Book publishing in the nineteenth century.

This beer can was left in the attic during construction of the Memorial in the 1930s.

There are other statues of Washington about the Memorial. New Yorkers ought

to recognize this one from its gilded twin inside the Hollender Room of Masonic Hall.

In the Louis A. Watres Library, they found space for Mark’s new book.

And, in closing, the ‘view’ that morning from the observation deck.