‘Exciting program at the Pennsylvania Academy next month’

     
The Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge never disappoints. Its program for the October 17 session features two knowledgeable speakers you will not want to miss. To be clear, Masons from outside Pennsylvania are welcome—I’ve been attending for a number of years—just follow the simple registration, dining, and attire instructions. From the publicity:

The 2015 Fall Session of the Academy of Masonic Knowledge will be held on Saturday, October 17, in the Deike Auditorium of the Freemasons Cultural Center on the campus of the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. Registration will open at 8:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 9:30. A lunch (requested contribution of $10) will be served at noon, and the program will be completed by 3 p.m. All Masons are welcome to attend. Dress is coat and tie.

The program for the day includes:

Professor Kenneth Loiselle will speak on topics from his research and his recently published book Brotherly Love: Freemasonry and Male Friendship in Enlightenment France in a lecture titled “From Enlightenment to Revolution: Masonic Friendship in Eighteenth-Century France.”

Courtesy CUP

Kenneth Loiselle, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history and international studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Loiselle’s research focuses on the relationship between the Enlightenment and the political revolutions that unfolded during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the history of friendship and private life, and French colonialism in the Americas. He now is conducting research on a book with Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire on “Old Regime Freemasonry.”

Karen Kidd will speak on “Co-Freemasonry in North America: Its Beginnings in Pennsylvania, History and Contemporary Practice, and its Relationship to Male-Craft and Female-Craft Freemasonry.”

Magpie file photo

Karen Kidd at ICHF 2011.

Karen Kidd is Right Worshipful Master of Shemesh Lodge No. 13 under the Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry, and is an internationally recognized author on the history of Co-Freemasonry in America. Her published works include On Holy Ground: A History of the Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry and Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women Freemasons. She also has published papers in Heredom, the Transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society.

The great objective in Freemasonry is to gain useful knowledge, and the Academy provides a great opportunity for the Brethren to learn and to understand more about the significance of the Craft. Plan to attend and bring a Brother or two along with you.

Pre-registration is required. Please send your name, address, lodge number, and telephone number by e-mail here. If you do not have access to e-mail, please make your reservation through your lodge secretary.

Please recognize that a cost is incurred to the program for your registration. If you pre-register and subsequently determine that you will be unable to attend, please have the Masonic courtesy to cancel your reservation by the same method and providing the same information.

We look forward to seeing you on October 17.

Click to enlarge.

I am a big fan of the Academy, and I salute its governing committee for this choice of speakers, especially Karen, for the obvious reasons. See you there.