Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

The Art of Storytelling

Lantern Slide from "The Spectre Pig," 1895-1925. A. D. Handy Stereopticons and Supplies, Boston, Massachusetts. Gift of Anne R. Berntsen, 2008.023.97.

The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library owns a large collection of magic lanterns and glass lantern slides. The magic lantern, a precursor to the slide projector, was a popular education and entertainment device in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Lantern slides illustrated stories and events from literature, poetry, and history. The nature of slide projection and the ability to simulate the illusion of moving slides created the perfect avenue for visual storytelling. This ability to create “moving pictures” made magic lantern slides, a popular and informative form of entertainment. Below are two examples of how stories were shared using lantern slides.

A. D. Handy Stereopticons and Supplies produced a set of slides based on the 1830 ballad The Spectre Pig by author and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894). The popular ballad described the butchering of a pig, who then comes back from the dead to exact revenge on the butcher who killed him. This set was one of hundreds of lantern story sets produced by lantern manufacturers. 

In 1906 Joseph Boggs Beale (1841-1926) created  a slide set called the Mr. Spurt and his Auto series . The story follows the adventures
of Mr. Spurt as he purchases and drives an automobile. The slide set images were

Lantern Slide from "Mr. Spurt and His Auto," 1906. Joseph  Gift of Anne R. Berntsen, 2008.023.51.

reproduced in Ford Times in June 1946 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company. Beale was one of the most prolific lantern slide illustrators of his time and worked for The C.W. Briggs Company.

Although decades have passed since the use of magic lanterns, slides and even slide projectors, a fascination with the technology, wonderment, and artistry of the lanterns and slides exists today. There are several magic lantern publications, thousands of lanterns and slides in museum collections across the world, and a society dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of magic lanterns. 

To learn more about magic lanterns and to see the slide sets, visit our online exhibition, Illuminating Brotherhood: Magic Lanterns and Slides from the Collection.

 

 

Templars of Honor Membership Badge

Templars of Honor Membership Badge for C. F. Adams, 1850-1900.  United States. Special Acquisitions Fund, 79.3.3a.  Photo by David Bohl.

In 1846, members of the Sons of Temperance formally established a new, but related group, the Templars of Honor and Temperance in New York City.  Members of this group, like the Sons of Temperance, swore an oath “…of abstinence and fraternity.”  They also declared, “our enemy is alcohol; our war one of extermination.”

The Templars of Honor developed, in part, because some members of the Sons of Temperance, founded in 1842, desired a more secret and  elaborate ritual for their ceremonies.  Initially the Templars of Honor's ritual included three degrees: Love, Purity and Fidelity.  In 1851, members adopted three more degrees: Tried, Approved and Select Templar.  In developing all their degrees, the Templars of Honor drew on Masonic and other fraternal rituals for inspiration.  As well, their regalia included aprons and collars and they employed some of the same symbols that as were used in Freemasonry.

Intriguingly, as in the case of the Mark Degree, part of Royal Arch Freemasonry, the Templars of Honor asked members to select a personal, meaningful emblem.  These emblems were engraved onto membership badges that bore symbols related to the group in relief, along with the Templar of Honor’s name.  These round, coin-like badges, because they featured a personal symbol, resemble Masonic mark medals and illustrate another way that the Templars of Honor used Masonic degrees as models for their work. 

Although these badges, or signets, were given to members, surviving personalized examples are uncommon.  One is pictured to the left.  On it, an engraver incised the name of an unknown member, C. F. Adams, and his symbol, a horse’s head, within an equilateral triangle.  His badge hangs from a larger badge made from purple ribbon and silver cut and engraved to resemble an altar with steps above a temple.  It also bears symbols related to the group, such as the emblem of the organization, the nine-pointed Star of Fulfillment enclosed within a triangle, at the center.  Letters on the columns holding up the temple's domed roof refer to virtues valued by the Templars of Honor:  truth, love, purity, and fidelity.  The other side of the round membership badge, pictured below, is not personalized. It bears different symbols important to the group--a lamp, a serpent biting its tail, an altar, and others--in relief.  The Templars made the round signets out of white metal and with silver and gold finishes.

The 1877 Manual of the Templars of Honor and Temperance featured illustrations and a description of the group’s membership badge.  The author noted how members should use this badge, advising them to “Bear this Signet and Symbol with you.  Wear it next to your heart.... Study well its lines, and angles…figures, and letters, and mystic characters.  It will speak to your heart, and its lessons and talismanic power will, if occasion should require…revive your drooping spirit.”

If you have any comments about this Templars of Honor membership badge, or know of other examples, please let us know below.

 

 

 

References:

Rev. George B. Jocelyn, Manual of the Templars of Honor and Temperance, (New York, NY: J. N. Stearns, 1877).

Albert C. Stevens, The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, (New York, NY: Hamilton Printing and Publishing Company, 1899), 410-412.

“Notes and Queries Temple of Honor Medal,” American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. XIII, July, 1878-July, 1879, October, 1878, 47-48.

 

Detail, Reverse of Templars of Honor Membership Badge for C. F. Adams, 1850-1900.  United States. Special Acquisitions Fund, 79.3.3a.  Photo by David Bohl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Collections Highlight: 1855 Masonic Festival Notice

The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives' Digital Collections website features a rich collection of digitized documents from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library. This week, we highlight a Masonic festival notice from 1855.

Montgomery Lodge, located in Milford, Massachusetts, sent this invitation out to a number of Masonic lodges, inviting them to a St. John's Day celebration that they were planning for Saturday, June 23, 1855. This particular notice was sent to Richard Colton, Master of Harmony Lodge, inviting him, the officers and members of the lodge to the Masonic festival hosted by Montgomery Lodge. A handwritten notice at the bottom of the invitation reads "Fare on B.W.R.R. reduced one half. Please send date of your charter." While it is not clear why Montgomery Lodge was requesting the charter date for lodges that it invited, it is clear that they had arranged for half-fare tickets for those invitees traveling on the Boston & Worcester railroad line.

A detailed, 8-page account of the day's events was published in the August 1855 issue of Freemason's Monthly Magazine. The event was large - "probably between four and five hundred Brethren in the procession" - and the food and drink clearly left a lot to be desired. The article was hardly without editorial comments. While praising the day's events - "We heard but one expression among the audience, — that of hearty approval and gratification" - the writer also had a few choice words about the meal that was served after the church services, while also making it clear that he doesn't usually expect much in the way of good food on "such occasions":

After the Benediction the procession was again formed and marched to the new Town Hall, where the tables were spread with the worst dinner we ever sat down to; and we have often been severely tried in this interesting particular, — albeit we are not usually very fastidious on such occasions. Experience has pretty effectually cured us of all such nonsense; but there is a point at which the gastronomic organs revolt! We give the caterer for this occasion, the credit of having reached that point of physical sufferance!

Making dinner speeches on empty stomachs, and drinking toasts in turpentine water, is a rather hazardous experiment! Nevertheless, some of the Brethren present had the courage to attempt it, and under the able presidency of Col. Thompson, succeeded to great satisfaction, and, probably, to their own astonishment! Among the number was the M. W. Grand Master, Dr. [Winslow] Lewis [Jr.], who, in response to a complimentary toast to the Grand Lodge, spoke substantially as follows...[Curious readers may read Lewis's speech here.]

St. John's Day, the June celebration of the birth of St. John the Baptist, has a long tradition in Freemasonry. As early as 1739, the day was well-known enough that Joseph Green (1706-1780) published a satirical anti-Masonic poem about it. A broadside publication of that poem can also be found on our Digital Collections website.

 

Caption:

Masonic Festival Notice, 1855. Milford, Massachusetts. Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Gift of Maria Rogers, MA 001.392.

Jewels in Blue

Cyanotype of a Past Master's Jewel made for Otis E. Weld, 33°. Probably Boston, Massachusetts. Loaned by The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.10643g.

In 1842, British scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) invented the cyanotype process—a photographic printing method that produces a cyan-blue print, commonly known as a blueprint. Engineers, scientists and photographers used the process as a simple and low-cost way to produce copies of drawings, photographs, and technical and architectural plans, from the 1870s through the 1950s.

Some cyanotype examples are in the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts collection at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library. These particular cyanotypes are photographs of Masonic jewels and likely belonged to Otis Everett Weld, 33°(1840-1897). They are part of a larger group that appear to be documenting jewels owned by Weld. Weld, born in Boston, was head of the Otis E. Weld & Co, wine merchants and director of the Third National Bank and Bolyston Insurance Company.

Initiated in 1866 in the Lodge of Eleusis, he served as Junior Grand Warden and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1880 and 1894, respectively. Weld was also a member of St. Bernard Commandery and St. Andrew’s Chapter, both in Boston, and a trustee and financial benefactor for Masonic organizations.

In the June 1897 Grand Lodge of Massachusetts proceedings Thomas W. Davis (1844-1914) offered these kind words in his memorial, "His advancement in our Order was due not alone to his gifts of popularity, boundless though they seemed; not because he was an appreciative student of the ritual, but because the teachings of the Institution permeated his very being...".

These photographs show the varied ways the cyanotype process could be utilized beyond architectural plans. Have you encountered images using this photographic process? Have you seen jewels similar to Otis E. Welds's? Let us know in the comments section below.

References:

Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, (Boston, Massachusetts: Rockwell & Churchill, 1897) 101.

Cyanotypes, The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes The Getty Conservation Institute,https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_cyanotype.pdf, accessed June 2019.

Cyanotype of Grand Master's Jewel made for Otis E. Weld, 33°. Probably Boston, Massachusetts. Loaned by The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.10643e

A Past Master's Jewel from London

Past Master’s Jewel Made for Robert Scholl, 1819-1820. Probably London, England.  Museum Purchase, 97.025.1.  Photograph by David Bohl.

Last month we posted about a Past Master’s jewel in a style that was distinct to the Boston area.  In the past, we’ve talked about examples of a popular style of Past Master’s jewel that was widespread in New England in the early 1800s. Made around the same time as these jewels--but in a entirely different style--is this jewel (at left), crafted for London Freemason Robert Scholl (ca. 1781-1832).

Listed as a gentlemen in membership records, Scholl worked as a Navy agent, with chambers at Clement’s Inn, in the early 1830s.  He was initiated at the Lodge of Union No. 275 in 1814 and served as Master of his lodge before 1820.  

To thank him for his service in that role, Scholl’s brethren at the Lodge of Union commissioned this gold and enamel jewel.  They had Scholl’s jewel inscribed with a heartfelt message (see below), noting that the elegant badge was, “...a testimony of their fraternal Regard — their Personal attachment and the Sense entertained by them of his exertions for the Benefit of the Lodge.”  Scholl’s jewel is like a watch or locket in that the decoration on the front is protected by a glass bezel.  The bezel covers elements cut from gold in the shape of a square and compasses and a sun. A border of leaves, likely laurel, surrounds the symbols.  All of the gold elements are detailed with engraving to give them depth and definition. The symbols appear to float over a background patterned by machine turning and enameled dark blue.  The deep color contrasts with the bright gold symbols.  An engraver added the inscription on the back of the jewel.  Using the pin on the back, Scholl would have worn this jewel on his coat.  

What extraordinary service Scholl may have undertaken for his lodge is not known, but this handsome jewel suggests how highly this brothers at the Lodge of Union valued his contributions.   

Inscripton on the back of a Past Master’s Jewel Made for Robert Scholl, 1819-1820. Probably London, England.  Museum Purchase, 97.025.1.  Photograph by David Bohl.

 

 

References:

Lane’s Masonic Records, version 1.0. (www.hrionline.ac.uk/lanes, October 2011), Published by HRI Online Publications, ISBN 978-0-955-7876-8-3.

Library and Museum of Freemasonry; London, England. “Freemasonry Membership Registers 1751-1921,” “Register of Admissions: London, B, #275-648.” “Robert Scholl,” Folios 1 and 2, ancestry.com. 

Robson’s London Commercial Directory for 1830, (London, England: Robson, Blades & Co.), Part II, Commercial Directory, SHE-SHU, n.p.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Celebration of the Role of DeMolay International in the Lives of Young Men

In celebration of DeMolay International’s one hundredth anniversary, the staff of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library would like to congratulate the Order and recognize its commitment to shape young men of all nationalities into “leaders of character.” In this week’s post, we highlight this festive 1937 Halloween costume dance invitation addressed to Robert G. Milliken of Denver, Colorado.

Denver Chapter Halloween costume dance invitation (obverse).

Denver Chapter Halloween costume dance invitation (reverse).

While little information has been discovered regarding the costume dance held at Denver’s Scottish Rite Temple, Milliken’s 2011 obituary details a life that exemplifies the seven cardinal virtues or the "basis of good character" taught by the Order.

If you happen to be in the metro Boston area over the summer, please consult our website for more information regarding the museum's current exhibitions, including the Library’s new exhibit that celebrates DeMolay’s storied history.

 

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Captions

Denver Chapter Halloween costume dance invitation, 1937 October 29. Collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, MA 014.

The DeMolay Centennial Anniversary

Crown of Youth, 1953. Mac & Jack, Saugus, Massachusetts. Gift of Middlesex Chapter, Order of DeMolay, Reading, Massachusetts, 2000.034.3.

One hundred years ago, Freemason Frank S. Land (1890-1959) founded the Order of DeMolay in 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of 28. After the initial formation of the youth club, Land and other early members named the group after Jacques DeMolay (1243-1314) and met regularly at the Kansas City Masonic Temple. The Order was open to young men aged 16 to 21.The success and popularity of the original DeMolay group spurred members to set up chapters across the country.

When Land died in 1959, there were 135,000 DeMolay members and 2,097 chapters in 14 countries. Local chapters were and still are sponsored by a Masonic organization. Several objects related to DeMolay history will be on display at the Museum & Library through December 2019 as the organization celebrates its centennial anniversary in more than 15 countries worldwide.

One object on view includes a “Crown of Youth” from Middlesex Chapter in Reading, Massachusetts (at left). In 1953, the Mother’s Club for the Middlesex Chapter in Reading presented the crown to the chapter to commemorate their 30th anniversary. A plaque was later added in memory of “Dad” Herbert K. Miller.

Another object in the collection, a recently donated 1964 panoramic photograph, shows over one hundred DeMolay members and advisers at a Colorado DeMolay leadership camp outside Estes Park, Colorado. The first DeMolay National Leader's Training Camp was held at Bear Lake Lodge, Colorado, in 1924. 

DeMolay Leadership Camp, 1964. Larson Photography Studio, Estes Park, Colorado. Gift of of David A. Glattly, 2017.021.1.

1964 New Jersey Past State Master Councilor Thomas C. Richard gave this photograph to current Sovereign Grand Commander, David Glattly, who then donated it to the Museum.

Visit the Museum & Library to see more DeMolay items from the collection! Do you or a family member have photographs or items related to DeMolay? We want to hear from you. Leave a comment in the section below. 

 

A Distinctive Style of Past Master’s Jewel

Past Master’s Jewel Made for Henry Fowle, 1825. Boston, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.5241. Photograph by David Bohl.

From the late 1700s through the present day, many American Masonic lodges have followed the tradition of acknowledging the contributions of a lodge master by presenting him with a personalized jewel to mark the conclusion of his term.  Over time and place these jewels, called Past Master’s jewels, have been made of different metals and have come in many sizes and shapes, depending on the jurisdiction, local taste and the issuing lodge’s budget.  Historically, the lodge commissioned an engraver to inscribe Past Master’s jewels with the recipient’s name, lodge and the dates of his term. 

Past Master jewels presented in America in the early 1800s often featured the Masonic symbols of a sun within compasses with a quadrant connecting the legs of the compasses. These jewels, usually made of silver, were often cut from a flat sheet of metal. We have previously we posted about an example crafted in this manner in 1812 that was owned by a Boston Mason.  Other Past Master jewels were cast or included cast parts, sometimes the central symbol of the sun.  Researchers have observed that this style of Past Master jewel design was likely inspired by jewels used by Scottish Freemasons in the 1700s.

In the 1820s some Boston lodges occasionally issued a different—and distinctive—style of Past Master jewel.  This design (illustrated at left and below) featured the symbols of a compasses and a quadrant at the center and was made as a plaque.  Leafy curves in relief decorate the edges of the plaque.  The plaque was cast, then its surface was textured with different tools. An engraver noted the recipient’s name and other information on cartouche at the center of the jewel.  The contrast between the polished, shiny surface at the center and the darker, mostly matte background and borders of the plaque add to this style of jewel’s visual appeal. St. Andrew’s Lodge presented Henry Fowle (1766-1837)—an active Mason in Boston in the early 1800s—this Past Master's jewel in 1825 (above at left).  Fowle served as Master of the lodge in 1793, from 1810 to 1817 and again from 1818 to 1820.  His brethren honored him with this jewel in 1825. Two years before members of St. Andrews presented a Past Master jewel of the same style as Fowle’s to Henry Purkitt (1755-1846), who held the role of Master from 1804-1805. This jewel is now in the collection of the Bostonian Society.

Past Master’s Jewel Made for George Girdler Smith, 1828. Boston, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.3781. Photograph by David Bohl.

Brethren at Columbian Lodge in Boston honored George Girdler Smith (1795-1878) with a similar Past Master’s jewel in 1828 (at right). Later, after he had served several more terms, the lodge had the back of the 1828 jewel engraved with a message (below) thanking Smith for “the faithful and distinguished services he has rendered the Lodge as Master, during the Years 1828, and 1841 to 1844…..”  The brothers of Union Lodge in Dorchester, Massachusetts, gave Past Master Isaac W. Follansbee (d. 1882) a jewel like Fowle’s and Smith’s, more than a decade later, in 1858.  It is now part of the collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library.  Although many examples of these distinct-to-Boston style jewels survive, there is a lot more to learn about them, such as who made them and what originally inspired their shape and decoration. If you know of more examples of this kind of Past Master jewel or have other observations about them, please let us know in the comments section below.

 

References:

John Hamilton, Material Culture of the American Freemason (Lexington, Massachusetts: Museum of Our National Heritage), 1994, 124-125, 137-138.

Aimee E. Newell, Hilary Anderson Stelling and Catherine Compton Swanson, Curiosities of the Craft: Treasures from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Collection (Boston and Lexington, Massachusetts: Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts and the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library), 2013, 47, 244-5, 151, 195.

Back of Past Master’s Jewel Made for George Girdler Smith, 1828, engraving added 1844. Boston, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.3781. Photograph by David Bohl.

"Bogus Mason Was Locked Up": Masonic Impostor Duncan C. Turner

Long-time readers of our blog will know that every May we return to the topic of our very first blog post: Masonic impostors. This year we focus on a man named Duncan C. Turner (born ca. 1847), who was featured in the 1903 booklet, Album of Masonic Impostors. He was previously published in the Masonic Relief Association's Official Warning Circular No. 147. The Album of Masonic Impostors' description of Turner is brief and to the point:

"Alias McNeill. Acacian Lodge No. 705, Ogdensburg, N.Y. Served time in prison."

An article published in the Buffalo Courier newspaper on November 14, 1897 makes it clear that the circulars published by the Masonic Relief Association worked. The newspaper recounts how Turner's profile was published in recent issues of the monthly Official Warning Circular - first showing up in the July 1897 issue. The article continues, noting that a "more recent letter announced that he [i.e. Turner] had been arrested in Cleveland and sentenced to the workhouse for sixty days, for working his swindle in that city. He recently regained his liberty and a still later [note in the Association's] circular stated that he was on his way East, all Relief Boards being instructed to keep a sharp lookout for him."

The article also reports how it was that Turner was apprehended in Buffalo by a Mason who had, indeed, kept a sharp lookout for him. After having met a local Mason, Henry Cutting, in town, Turner claimed that he had just arrived in Buffalo and had "fallen into a little ill luck." Cutting gave him the business address of Charles F. Sturm, who ran a furniture store in Buffalo and was the secretary of Buffalo's Masonic Board of Relief, which coordinated Masonic charity in the city. Turner made his way to Sturm's furniture store and "told Mr. Sturm a pitiful tale, which he concluded with an appeal for enough money to take him to New York." The article continues, noting Sturm's reaction to having a known impostor present himself to him: "On hearing the man's name, Mr. Sturm almost leaped from his seat in surprise." The article notes that Sturm called the police, who arrested Turner, "who was charged with being a tramp."

The Buffalo Courier reported about Turner's appearance in court on November 14. At that hearing, it was revealed that Turner had defrauded Masons in Briar Hill, NJ, Toronto, and Cleveland. The judge noted that Turner had already served sixty days in the Cleveland Workhouse for "obtaining money from Masons in that city by fraudulent pretense. The judge in the Buffalo courtroom sentenced Turner to sixty days in the penitentiary. At the sentencing, the judge declared that Turner "was the greatest liar with whom he had come in contact during his career as a dispenser of justice."

Want to read more about Masonic impostors? Be sure to check out all of our previous posts on the topic.

 

Emil Cruz: From the Philippines to Michigan

Emil Cruz, 1965-1980. Probably Michigan. Gift of Patricia Fé Andrews, 2016.070.19.

Emil Cruz (1904-1983), born in Camilng, Tarlac, Philippines, as Emiliano Cruz Quindiaga, emigrated to the United States in 1924 at the age of 19. He settled in San Francisco in 1925 before moving to the Detroit, Michigan, area sometime in the 1930s. It was in Michigan that Cruz started a family and begin his Masonic career. Cruz was a member of Schiller Lodge No. 263 and Damascus Commandery No. 42, both located in Detroit. 

In 1912, twelve years before Cruz set off for the United States, representatives of the three American lodges in the Philippines—Manila 342, Cavite 350 and Corregidor 386—met to organize a Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands. Today there are more than 300 lodges in the Philppine Islands. It is presently unclear if Cruz had any familial relationship with Freemasonry before becoming a Mason in Michigan.

Cruz's daughter recently donated a group of items to the Museum & Library that relate to Cruz's Masonic affiliations. The objects date from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s and include photographs, aprons, ribbons, and certificates. One object in particular, a wooden gavel made in the Philippines, and pictured to the right, illustrated Cruz's pride in both his Filipino heritage and Masonic accomplishments. On the gavel, it reads "Emil Cruz / Schiller Lodge No. 263-F & A.M. 1970 / Made in the Philippines /

Gavel, 1970. Phillipines. Gift of Patricia Fé Andrews, 2016.070.11.

"Philippines Acacia."

Philippine acacia, also known as Formosa acacia, is a perennial tree native to Southeast Asia and is commonly used in boats, furniture, carvings, and jewelry.

Do you have any information or items related to Filipino Americans and Freemasonry? Let us know in the comments section below.

 

References:

Philippine Center for Masonic Studies, "History of Masonry in the Philippines," http://www.philippinemasonry.org/, Accessed April 2019.

Emil Cruz,1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA Year: 1940; Census Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: m-t0627-01881; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 84-1384. Ancestry.com, Accessed April 2019.