‘ONYJRW is next month!’

    

UPDATE 9.10.24: Event cancelled.

Buffalo is much closer to Canton, Ohio than it is to New York City. You can’t even compare the two commutes. Canton is about 150 miles nearer to Buffalo. Plus, you could sail most of the way.

Having just learned this, I no longer feel offended by the Buffalo research guys finding partners in Ohio instead of with us in Manhattan, which I’d assumed would have been the obvious choice. That partnership has birthed an event planned for next month that will bring together five research bodies for what they are calling the Ohio-New York Joint Research Weekend. From the publicity:

Call to Assembly

Joint Meeting

September 13-14

Canton Masonic Temple

836 Market Avenue North

Canton, Ohio

The Ohio Chapter of Research, The Ohio Lodge of Research, The Ohio Council for Research and Development are pleased to announce they will host a joint meeting with The Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Research of New York and The Western New York Lodge of Research.

Friday, September 13

Buffet dinner at 6 p.m., with ladies invited, followed by an evening of paper presentations.

Saturday, September 14

Continental breakfast, followed by additional paper presentations.

Call for Papers: Anyone wishing to present a paper should contact Jeff Slattery here with your title and approximate presentation length. Also, advise if you will need any equipment for accompanying audiovisuals. If possible, please email a copy of your presentation prior to the meeting. Questions may be directed there too.

Click here for hotel information and ideas for activities for the ladies.

I’d go, except it’s way too far.

     

‘Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?’

    

Click to enlarge.

Lunch is on me if you are able to research, write, and present an essay on the Brother Freemason mentioned in the newspaper story above.

This offer is open to members in good standing of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786, and the offer expires December 31 of this year. Expected is a biographical accounting of Rev. Sheville within and without Freemasonry. Original writing, thousand words minimum, proper citations as endnotes.

The newspaper clipping comes from the Thursday, August 13, 1873 edition of the Lawrence Daily Journal in Kansas.

After our meetings, we retire to a steak house around the corner for lunch, so a steak meal is on me. If you’re a vegetarian, have chicken or something. I don’t know.

     

‘Masonic Research District meeting’

    

Sunday afternoon brought the long-anticipated Zoom meeting of the Grand Lodge of Virginia’s Masonic Research District hosted by District Deputy Grand Master Shelby Chandler.

Virginia has five lodges of Masonic research (with a sixth on the way), and they were grouped into one district several years ago rather than each remaining an oddball within its geographical district. The purpose of this meeting, very prudently, was to allow the District Deputy to present his DDGM program once to all these lodges to avoid taking time away from their chosen presentations during his individual Official Visits. (My lodge, Civil War Lodge of Research 1865, will receive RW Chandler at our July 13 meeting at Jackson Lodge 19 in Delaware, likely the only lodge meeting I’ll be able to attend this year.)

The Grand Master’s Official Visit to the Masonic Research District will be February 3 at George Washington Lodge of Research 1732 at Fredericksburg.

Chandler’s discussion yesterday consisted of a detailed introduction of MW Jack Kayle Lewis, the new (and 178th) Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, including his very impressive resume of academic and professional achievements, plus his family life and other notable points, including his ambitious plans for his term. If you were wondering about the police badge design of Lewis’ Grand Master pin, it is inspired by his many decades in law enforcement.

Then came the designs upon Chandler’s trestleboard. I won’t cover it all, but here are some of the slides he displayed during his talk:

Click to enlarge.

Sorry for the blur.

I am starting to see the wisdom of us New Yorkers having our own DDGM for our four research lodges. (There is interest in starting a fifth in the Hudson Valley.) It is wise to have an ombudsman representing the research lodges to the Grand Lodge, bringing assistance when needed.

Of course we have our own festivities planned for New York, but if you’re in Virginia, get to this one.

I know it’s far off, but add to your calendars the Grand Lodge of Virginia’s Lafayette Bicentennial Gala on October 5.

     

‘Five Great Sources for Masonic Research’

    

Chris Ruli and Maynard Edwards.

The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, SJ-USA YouTube channel posted a new podcast episode Tuesday in which host Maynard Edwards welcomes Chris Ruli to discuss research techniques.

This ain’t the whole thing! Watch the video.

The video runs less than twelve minutes, and it concludes with a most useful pointer.

     

‘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!

     

‘Help wanted: researching the researchers’

    

I never ask Magpie readers for anything—except to join the Masonic Society—but today I’m hoping some of you would complete a very brief questionnaire if you are authorized to speak for a research lodge, or some similar group, or a website, podcast, etc. in service to the Craft.

Bro. Ken Stuczynski, the Grand Lodge of New York’s webmaster, an author, and a brother in Western New York Lodge of Research, is undertaking research to write a book on research lodges. From the publicity:

Masonic author Ken JP Stuczynski is putting together a book on research lodges, societies, and other bodies. To include your organization, contact him here. For more information, visit here.

At the website—click here—we may answer his few questions about our avenues of Masonic learning. Takes one minute.

I’m sharing this link with all my friends who are active in lodges of research, chapters of research, research societies, publishers, magazines, and more. Please do the same (although Ken needs only one respondent per organization). Thanks!

     

‘You snooze, you lose’

    

“You snooze, you lose,” as we say in the Select Master Degree (and its variants), and I definitely feel self-defeated thanks to procrastination, disorganization, and some legit busyness. That which was lost to me, although I probably will get to it eventually, is a paper I have been intending, for more than a year, to write for my research lodges on a revealing story of nineteenth century U.S. Masonic history.

I’m hardly the first to have the idea. Jacob Norton (1814-97) is well known about the apartments of the Temple in Massachusetts. A Jewish man who was made a Mason in England, he emigrated to the United States seeking a better life, like so many. He continued his Masonic labors in a Massachusetts lodge, but his experience in the United Grand Lodge of England did not brace him for the sectarian Christian content of Craft rituals in 1850s Massachusetts.

Norton and several other Jewish Masons wrote the grand master to ask if reforms might be possible to achieve “universal fellowship,” in effect bringing their rituals into accord with English dechristianized rituals. The grand master advised the group to leave Freemasonry.

There are many colorful details about Norton that I believe would make his story far more vital than just some reproachful review of the way things were long ago in the Puritan Commonwealth. For instance, his Masonic penpals included Albert Pike and the founders of Quatuor Coronati 2076.

My paper would have concluded (and, again, still might) with the facts of a successor grand master who made a point of ensuring the Craft of his time was a brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God, thus making the two leaders’ words bookends that shape Norton’s life story within and without Freemasonry.

Anyway, I kind of feel as though I lost out because of a new paper. Israeli scholar Peter Lanchidi has published “Jacob Norton and the Quest for Universal Freemasonry: Jewish Masonic Consciousness in a Christian Fraternity” (Johns Hopkins University Press). You might recognize his name from the Freemasonry on the Frontier collection.

Of course there was no competition; he’s a bona fide historian, and I’m a boneheaded hobbyist, but learning of this paper, which I have not read yet, admonishes me to get busy and resume the work I once somewhat was known for. I’ll start by clearing away the eight pounds of paper and debris from my desk. Tomorrow.

     

‘The ALR next week’

   

The American Lodge of Research will meet again next Tuesday at Masonic Hall. That’s March 29 at 7 p.m. in the Colonial Room on the tenth floor.

Two presentations are scheduled: Worshipful Master Conor will discuss Alexander Hamilton, who was not a Freemason, but had certain connections to the Order. A related historical document, rare and precious, will be on loan to us for this evening. Come check it out.

The next paper will be presented by New Jersey’s Bro. Ron Murad, who will speculate into the ritual significance of Ethiopia.

We ask all planning to attend to make a reservation here, and remember photo ID is required to enter the building.

In lieu of a lodge collation, the brethren will adjourn to a landmark Ukrainian eatery in the East Village for dinner after the meeting.

     

‘Quiet enjoyment of this interesting hobby’

    

Happy New Year! And I insist on making the first edition of The Magpie Mason of 2022 a benign post to ballast the recent news of death and destruction that made last month a grim conclusion to a year that wasn’t all that great to begin with.

Nevertheless, it was that obituary of Tom Jackson the other day that prompts this post. I had mentioned how Brazil’s postal service issued a stamp several years ago honoring Tom, and that reminded me how, despite many posts on Masonic philately over the years, I never told you about The MPC Magazine.

Originally, in 1976, the Masonic Philatelic Club of Great Britain, and, later, the Masonic Philatelic Club, it today is the publisher of the quarterly magazine. Membership is open to all who seek the “furtherance of Masonic research via the media of postage stamps, the dissemination of knowledge gained, and the quiet enjoyment of this interesting hobby.”

And, really, who couldn’t benefit from quiet enjoyment of just about anything right now?

The January issue is available, and on the cover is none other than Bro. Harry Houdini, a historic Freemason from St. Cecile Lodge 568 in Manhattan. Bro. Howard Thurston (thanks, Brent!), a historic Freemason from Manitou Lodge 106 in Manhattan.

The annual subscription costs £15 for us Americans.

     

‘You think you know something’

    

Not having been inside the French Doric Room of Masonic Hall in a long time, I had forgotten its subdued colors and classical charms. The ALR will be back in the Colonial Room for its next meetings in 2022, but this space actually might be perfect for us for its cozy decor and size.

(Sorry about the uneven point sizes in this edition of The Magpie Mason, but formatting in Blogger is inexplicably difficult. We can put William Shatner into orbit, but can’t have a blogging platform that doesn’t discombobulate over photos, links, and italics.)

Geez, you think you know something about Freemasonry—but then you attend a research lodge meeting.

Not just any research lodge, but The American Lodge of Research. That’s New York City’s Masonic literary society for historical inquiry, and the country’s oldest currently at labor.

While we had met in June for a quick installation of officers, which was necessary to make last night’s meeting possible, we gathered in the French Doric Room of Masonic Hall twenty-four hours ago for what technically was The ALR’s first fully functional regular communication in a number of years.

Of the three presentations scheduled, I went first because I required no projection equipment and it was easy to get me “out of the way,” so to speak. I delivered my “How to Research a Masonic Subject” talk. When I volunteered for this months ago, I pictured a room full of younger Masons who might have profited from a clear explanation of what kind of papers are needed in a research lodge (as opposed to the speculative papers that ought to be read in Craft lodges), plus some tips on how to get started and where to look for reputable source materials. It didn’t turn out that way. The brethren in lodge assembled numbered about twenty-five, and almost all have been around the quarries for some time. Standing at the lectern and relating how to craft a baccalaureate level paper on Masonic history to Piers Vaughan, Angel Millar, and the others reminds you how infinitesimal you are in this universe! But everyone was patient and kind, and kudos to Worshipful Master Conor for deftly opening the Q&A.

(But that wasn’t as bad as my not remembering the simple floorwork of attending at the altar. I’m in the Senior Deacon’s place, where I left off in 2013 and, while I thought I knew something about Freemasonry, I zigged where I should have zagged.)

Next up was Piers, who did need the PowerPoint gear, to reveal his fascinating art history review titled “The Story Behind the Most Famous Image of King Solomon’s Temple.”

Piers took us from the Hebrew Bible’s various descriptions of KST, with Ezekiel’s vision being most relevant to this discussion, forward in time to a number of other renderings culminating in the Georgian Era depiction that coincided with the birth of our trigradal degree system.

A most informative explanation of how understandings of key icons evolve and vary.  Gerhard Schott, John Field, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, and, especially, Juan Bautista Villalpando go where 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles do not.

Next was W. Bro. Michael from Hellenic Plato Lodge 1129 (I withhold his surname because he appears not to be known on the web as a Freemason), who told us about “Filiki Etaireia: A Secret Society Among Secret Societies.” You know Freemasons have been central to fights for national independence around the world, and Greece was no different.

Feliki Etaireia was not a Masonic group, but it featured certain Masonic characteristics because its membership did include Freemasons. For a cover, it purported to be a society for classical studies. Two hundred years ago, this faction risked everything to cleave its homeland from the Ottoman Empire. And they won.

The murals on the walls of the French Doric Room are ideal for Piers’ talk of art and architecture, and Michael’s discussion of Greek history.

It was wonderful being in the Masonic company of these brethren again. Marty, Joel, Gil, MW Sardone, and many more. RW Yves is back in the officer line. Plus it was great meeting Francois, Conrad, Rene, and a couple of brethren I noticed jotting notes during my talk.

Bill Sardone, who safely exited office as our Grand Master on Saturday after a term elongated by a year and a half because of the pandemic, truly deserves the credit for returning The ALR to labor. I am enjoined from ever telling the tale, but holy guacamole. (In journalism, there’s the custom of reporters often saving the best stories for themselves.) His labors on the lodge’s behalf continued through the meeting, even leaving the room in search of a ballot box, because…

We elected three Active Members, including Piers and Michael, and also elected seventeen Corresponding Members. And I’ve been hounding some friends from around the country whose memberships lapsed during our years of “refreshment.” This lodge is on the move once again.

Worshipful Master Conor (whose last name I likewise redact) is working hard. He brought us membership certificates. Elegant and suitable for matting and framing.

They look better with the foil seal and embossed stamp—and without the shadow of my hands and camera!

At The ALR’s first Under Dispensation meeting on April 18, 1931, the brethren were able to borrow from Oxford University Press a 1613 Barker Bible. (Robert Barker was King James I’s printer.) For our revival, Conor procured for us, also from OUP, a reproduction 1611 Barker KJV Bible. (The original 1611 is free of certain errors that sneaked into the 1613.) He also had the officers’ names added inside the cover. In doing so, he accidentally promoted me to Right Worshipful rank! Hey, I’ll take it!

The American Lodge of Research will meet again Tuesday, March 29, 2022 inside the Colonial Room on the tenth floor.

French Doric’s Inner Door.

Until then.

     

‘My Masonic research speech’

     

I had a great day last Saturday: attended the research lodge in the morning and AMD at night, with an intermission at a cigar store that happens to be popular with the brethren. At both Masonic meetings, which fortunately took place in the same room, I dusted off my stock speech on the direction Masonic research lodges should take, with an emphasis on places to find information, whether online or in a building somewhere.

I’ve written and talked about it here and there for many years. Thanks to Mark Tabbert, I gave it more focus at some point. He and I were in a hospitality suite at a Masonic Week long ago chatting about the plight of research lodges when he pointed out how their labors could be simplified by zeroing in on local subject matter. For example, New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 would explore history and biography of the fraternity in that state. It sounds simple and obvious, but somehow that’s not what typically happens in research lodges. Too often, the few who endeavor to write papers are drawn to subjects that either are too broad (e.g., the medieval Knights Templar), are irrelevant (Templars again), or otherwise are beyond the writers’ abilities.

So write about local Masonic history. It’s in your backyard. Grand lodge archives, lodge records, historical societies, libraries, church records, the occasional graveyard, museums, and other local resources exist for you.

To illustrate the point, I pitched numerous names of lodges and Masons from the embryonic period of New Jersey Freemasonry of the last four decades of the eighteenth century that would be ideal for storytelling. I figure a man who was a Freemason during this period most likely had to be “a somebody” in society—a real pezzonovante in government or commerce or religion, etc.

Take the Ogden family. The secretary of St. John’s Lodge in Newark during the 1760s was Lewis Ogden. The brother who made possible George Washington’s St. John’s Day festivities at Morristown in 1779 by getting the lodge’s paraphernalia from Newark to the military lodge there was Moses Ogden.

Ogden is a very prominent name in the state’s history, practically right up to the present day. The first New Jersey Ogdens, the Puritans who settled there in the 1600s, were stone masons. There’s a great story there!

The other speaker at the research lodge that morning was Bro. Erich, a candidate for a doctorate in history who also is our QCCC local secretary. He discussed similar aspects of Masonic learning; because he went first, I had to trim a lot of what I usually would have said.

Between the two meetings, Bro. Byron brought me to a favorite smoke shop. Mane Street Cigars in Woodbridge is a great place to socialize and smoke, and apparently it’s very popular with Masons. We could have opened a lodge! Even without so many of us being on the Square, it is an extremely friendly place. Everyone who enters receives greetings from all, and they themselves make a point of saying hello to everyone. Very cool.

Because man cannot live by pipes alone, I chose a La Gloria Serie R Maduro—my first cigar in a really long time—and it was heavenly. One of those smokes you savor all the way up to the head. This was a No. 5, about a Toro shape.

I’ll wrap up this unusually long edition of The Magpie Mason with a reminder that I will present this Masonic research talk again on October 28 at The American Lodge of Research in Manhattan. This time, I’ll have a list of suitable New York Masonic topics to suggest for research. Seven o’clock in the French Doric Room.

     

‘Don’t be like Joey Ramone!’

     

I never imagined these words could pass my lips, but, for this one time, in this unique context, never to be repeated:

Don’t be like Joey Ramone!

Instead, join me in my travels this month to the research lodges in the general area.

New Jersey Lodge

of Masonic Research

and Education 1786

Saturday, June 12

9:30 a.m.

The lodge will allow me some time to speak from the lectern about the Masonic Society. Real research papers are on the agenda also. Then, we will retire downstairs to watch the first half of Terra Masonica. Then, we’ll enjoy a picnic feast to send us into the summer refreshment.

At Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41 (535 North Main Street) in Hightstown.

Pennsylvania

Lodge of Research

Saturday, June 26

10 a.m.

Installation of Officers: My old friend, Senior Warden Yasser Al-Khatib, to be seated in the Solomonic chair. Other old friend Moises Gomez to present his paper “Freemasonry in Cuba.”

At Fritz Lodge 308 (1801 Fayette Street) in Conshohocken.

The American

Lodge of Research

Tuesday, June 29

8 p.m.

Finally something close to home: I think this will be The ALR’s first meeting in several years, and it’ll be the Installation of Officers. I’m told a new leadership team is being chosen to get this historic institution back to labor.

Inside the Colonial Room of palatial Masonic Hall in beleaguered New York City.

And, the following night, live from Maryland Lodge of Masonic Research 239:

Click to enlarge.

     

‘Congress as a Prince Hall research resource’

     

Of course the Library of Congress is a galaxy of opportunity for researchers pursuing any subject, including Freemasonry, but I want to share this note received Monday afternoon by the Masonic Library and Museum Association:

Good morning members of the Masonic Library and Museum Association. I wish to share the link to a LibGuide on Prince Hall Freemasonry:

Prince Hall Freemasonry: A Resource Guide

The Library of Congress’ collections contain a variety of material associated with Prince Hall Freemasonry, the oldest recognized and continuously active organization founded in 1775 by African-Americans, including manuscripts, photographs, and books.
Please note that these are selected resources, and the guide will be updated early next year. (We did not include items where the bibliographic record indicated “missing” or “being processed.” I would be most grateful if you would share with the members of the Masonic Library and Museum Association. Also, if members’ collections contain any manuscripts/collections relevant to Prince Hall Freemasonry, would you please let me know?

Thank you, and my warmest regards. Please remain safe and healthy.

Sibyl E. Moses, Ph.D.
Reference Specialist and Recommending Officer
(African American History and Culture)
Main Reading Room
Researcher and Reference Services Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4660
202-707-0940
     

‘Next year: Freemasonry on the Frontier’

     

Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 will return to the United States next September to host another conference. “Freemasonry on the Frontier” will be hosted at the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in Boston September 18-20, 2020.

Hilary Anderson Stelling

I don’t know how this is possible, and maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like only one presentation will address Freemasonry in New York! On Saturday the 19th, Hilary Anderson Stelling will deliver “Early New York City Mark Medals.” Looking forward to it. (Although I guess Jeff Croteau’s paper on Cerneau will include New York history too.)

Click here for the entire program. Click here for the brochure.

From the publicity:


The Conference, “Freemasonry on the Frontier,” focuses on key individuals and their lives, and broader themes, including the influence of the Irish and Scottish, Prince Hall Freemasonry, and the social and political impact of Freemasonry locally and nationally.

The Conference has been structured to reflect the westward expansion of the frontier from the Atlantic coast in the early eighteenth century, through the Midwest in the late eighteenth century and nineteenth century, to the Pacific coastal states at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth.

Our intention is to make certain that there is adequate time for attendees to question speakers and raise their own points, and to generate a stimulating discussion and debate across the floor. We have a world class line-up including Bob Cooper, Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland; Brent Morris, Editor of Heredom; Mike Kearsley, ANZMRC and Prestonian Lecturer; Ric Berman, the outgoing Master of QC and Prestonian Lecturer; Walter Hunt, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; Andreas Onnerfors, Associate Professor, University of Gothenburg Sweden, the incoming Master of QC; and other leading national and international speakers.


To register, click here.
     

‘Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL’

     
I was wrong. Yesterday’s edition of The Magpie Mason does not close out the month of August. This one does.

Just a few hours ago, Mississippi Lodge of Research held its Called Communication in Jackson. What made this meeting different is the brethren chose to adopt aspects of Observant Masonry.

The research lodge dressed up its meeting with candlelight, music, and incense, according to an update on its Facebook page. For their meal together, the brethren went Festive Board-style. “This will be the standard format of our meetings in the future,” it says.

Courtesy Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL

Makes me wonder if someone there attended the Masonic Restoration Foundation symposium two weeks ago. 

Courtesy Mississippi Lodge of Research DCXL

In other news, this research lodge is part of various programs in the jurisdiction of Mississippi that have educational components, like Deputy School, for example, and the Emerging Leaders Program. Imagine that: The Craft’s leaders being educated on the subject of Freemasonry. I’m in somewhat regular contact with many lodges of research and education around the country, and I cannot name another that is part of such initiatives. Bravo!

The lodge will meet for its quarterly communication on Monday, October 14 at the York Rite building in Jackson.

There also is the Collegium Masonicum, which unites the state’s Craft lodges under a single purpose to educate Masons. Each member of the college is already a member of the research lodge, and serves as a delegate from his mother lodge. The master of the research lodge is the magister of the Collegium Masonicum, and he appoints brethren to the college.

On August 8, Indianola Lodge 450 hosted its quarterly Masonic Education Lecture Series meeting, welcoming the research lodge’s senior warden who discussed the moral applications of the working tools. Indianola Lodge submitted a press release and photo to the local newspaper, which published the news.
     

‘September 14: How to Serve as Lodge Historian’

     
The Magpie Mason closes the month of August with news of events in two weeks. On Saturday, September 14, I will attend the meetings of both my research lodge and my AMD council to present “How to Serve as Lodge Historian.”

This is not something I have written myself, but is useful information I found in an early 20th century Grand Lodge of California book of proceedings. Actually, the original source of this item is an older Grand Lodge of Texas book of proceedings, but I haven’t been able to put my hands on that yet. I never have served as a lodge historian, so this opened my eyes to a few things. Anyway, I also will publish this here on the Magpie in two weeks.

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 meets on the second Saturdays of March, June, September, and December at Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41 (535 North Main Street) in Hightstown. Lodge opens at 9:30 a.m. Master Masons. Attire: suit and tie with regalia (the host lodge supplies aprons in case you don’t have yours). Breakfast and lunch will be served.

On the agenda for our next meeting:

“A Masonic View of Benedict Arnold” by Frank Conway. I haven’t met Frank yet. He is the author of this book.

“How to Serve as Lodge Historian,” as described above.

At eight o’clock that night, J. William Gronning Council 83 of Allied Masonic Degrees will meet in that same lodge room for its quarterly meeting. I do not have the information on the presentations then except for my own, as described above. AMD brethren only. Suit and tie with your regalia. (And preferably, your own suit and tie too!)

In other research lodge news, W. Bro. Jeriel Smith will be among the speakers at the Esoteric-Con next Saturday at San Pedro, California, presenting “The Tarot and Freemasonry.” Definitely interests me, but that’s beyond my customary orbit. Tickets to this Esoteric-Con—they seem to be springing up all over the country these days—can be had, at only $12 each, here, at Keepers of the Word.

Smith is Worshipful Master of Southern California Research Lodge (not to be confused with Northern California Research Lodge), and serves on the editorial board of its wonderful periodical Fraternal Review. SCRL will have a booth at Esoteric-Con where you may purchase its annual books of transactions and copies of the magazine.

SCRL’s next meeting will be Monday, October 21, for its election of officers, at South Pasadena Lodge 290 in South Pasadena.

Closer to home, but still beyond my cabletow, is Civil War Lodge of Research 1865, which will meet Saturday, September 28 (note: NOT the usual first Saturday of October) at Day Lodge 58 in St. Louisa, Virginia. From the publicity:

After our normal business meeting, we will move to the dining room where Worshipful Gregory Hasaflook will give a presentation on Civil War-era carbines. That will be followed by lunch, and then we will tour the Trevilian Station Battlefields. This will be conducted by Worshipful Ed Crebbs. Both of these brothers are members of both CWLR and Day Lodge, and both are experts in Civil War history, particularly that of the local area.

The Battle of Trevilian Station was fought for control of the Virginia Central Railroad and happened over two days in June 1864.

The lodge shares a building with Louisa United Methodist Church. This is a wonderful history that started when the building was constructed in the mid 1800s. It is a beautiful building in its meeting/dining hall, its church sanctuary, and its Masonic lodge room.
     

‘NJ LORE to meet next Saturday’

     
New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 will host its quarterly communication next Saturday with an interesting full agenda.

Worshipful Master Bob has been undertaking a review of the Masonic life of James Anderson, the Presbyterian minister who authored Freemasonry’s first Book of Constitutions, and will report his findings.

Senior Warden Michael will present his analysis of the Scriptural passages employed in the three Craft degrees. In New Jersey, they are Psalm 133, Amos 7, and Ecclesiastes 12. Other jurisdictions use different verses, so I’m curious to see if this talk will cover those also.

Bro. Don will review Margaret Jacobs’ book The Origins of Freemasonry, Facts and Fictions.

Enlightening discussions always ensue, and are worth the price of admission themselves.

Saturday, June 9. We meet at Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41, located at 535 North Main Street in Hightstown, not far from the Turnpike. Opening at 9:30. Wear a suit and tie. Bring your regalia and membership card. All Master Masons are welcome, not just LORE members. We’ll most likely close around 1 p.m.
     

‘2017 World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History’

     
Its full title is World Conference on Fraternalism: Including Ritual, Secrecy, Freemasonry, and Civil Society, and it is scheduled for May 26-27 of next year. Hosted by Policy Studies Organization, this will take place at the National Library in Paris. From the publicity:

Convened by the journal Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society, in cooperation with the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France, the second World Conference on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History: Research in Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society focuses on the study of the lasting influence of the Enlightenment, ritual, secrecy, and civil society vis-à-vis the dynamics of scholarship around the world. The conference explores how civil society, social capital, secrecy, and ritual have been important elements during different episodes of local and world histories, and indeed still are. The WCFFH 2017 is a part of the PSO’s support of research into associations, civility, and the role of non-governmental organizations in democracy.

At the same time in alternate years (2018 and 2020) the PSO hosts a conference in Washington on fraternalism.

Information for Participants

in the 2017 World Conference

A new cafe will be open right by the conference rooms in 2017. During the lunch hour, as in 2015, movies will be shown for those not going out to one of the local cafes. Papers on secret societies depicted in films are welcome, as are papers on the conference musical presentation on Mozart and Freemasonry.

The conference is on Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday and Thursday there is a workshop at the Museum of Freemasonry on the Chevalier Ramsay and his claims for the origin of Masonry. Participation is by application.

Papers on Ramsay are welcome. Since 1717 saw the organization of the first grand lodge of England, papers occasioned by the anniversary are appropriate.

No charge is made for registration for the conference, but registration is requested to plan for catering, headsets, and other conference needs. For information and registration please contact PSO Executive Director Daniel Gutierrez here.

The conference has a general interest in fraternalism and is not confined to Freemasonry, nor is it under the auspices of any lodge. Rather, it is supported by the National Library of France, the Policy Studies Organization, and the American Public University.

Three awards will again be presented in 2017: the Bartholdi Award for Distinguished Scholarship, the Regulus Award for Distinguished Service, and the Kilwinning Award for a long period of distinguished service to the scholarly world.


Click here to RSVP.

Click here to read the amazing preliminary schedule. Lots of names you will recognize.