The Impressive Odd Fellow

Unidentified I.O.O.F. Member, 1883-1908, Osborn Company, Binghamton, NY, Museum Purchase, 2016.010. Can you ever have too many badges, ribbons, or medals? Not according to this particularly proud and active Odd Fellow. We recently a...

New to the Collection: IOOF Astoria Lodge No. 38 Apron

Freemasonry is widely recognized as the first fraternal group to organize in America. There are accounts of men meeting together in informal lodges during the 1720s. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was formally established in 1733. As...

Crayon Enlargements: The Original “Digitally Enhanced” Photos

Past Noble Grand, Grand United Order of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 1890-1900. United States. Museum Purchase, 95.067a. Of the many striking portraits to be displayed in the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library’s upcoming exhibi...

The Challenges of Research and Making the Connection

The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library staff gets satisfaction from the rewards of research, the joy of discovering or rediscovering something that brings context to a document--and consequently to lives of others. In fact, in many c...

In Memoriam

In October and November, many people celebrate not only the changing seasons, but the lives of those who have passed before us. We memorialize the dead with different kinds of objects, including obituaries, photographs, grave markers, an...

"Cartomania" and Sitting for a Carte-de-Visite Portrait

Woman and Man Wearing Fraternal Regalia, 1860-1863. Henry R. Cornell (1836-1906). Ligonier, Indiana. Gift in Memory of Jacques Noel Jacobsen, 2008.038.59. The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library holds over two hundred cartes-de-visit...