Golden Rule Lodge No. 5

This holiday season as we think about ideas of unity and goodwill toward all, we highlight this 1934 photograph of members from Golden Rule Lodge No. 5 on Owl’s Head Mountain in Vermont. Since 1857, members of the lodge, located in Stanstead, Quebec, have hosted this annual gathering. They meet in June at the summit of Owl’s Head Mountain, 2,425 feet above Lake Memphremagog. The lodge, originally founded in 1803 in Derby Line, Vermont, and named Lively Stone Lodge No. 22, included members from both Canada and the United States.

During the War of 1812, local governments prohibited Lively Stone Lodge from meeting, prompting Canadian members of the lodge to establish a new lodge in Stanstead. The new lodge, named Golden Rule Lodge, received its first charter from the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813. In 1856, the lodge received a new charter from the Grand Lodge of Canada. In 1857, the Grand Lodge of Canada granted the group a dispensation to carry out an outdoor Masonic communication at the summit of Owl’s Head Mountain. In 1861 the lodge petitioned the Grand Lodge of Vermont for the charter of Lively Stone, which had surrendered its’ charter in 1826.

In addition to the annual gathering—open to Masons from both countries—Freemasons from three American and Canadian villages in the area—Derby Line, Vermont and Rock Island, and Stanstead, Quebec—have often gathered for parades and other celebrations. This photograph shows a 1903 Masonic parade in Rock Island (below). 

Members of Golden Rule Lodge No. 5 still make the annual trek to Owl’s Head Mountain each June. The excursion is open to all Masons. Each year, a candidate for the Master Mason degree at the meeting on top of the mountain, carries a wicker basket that contains ropes, the flags of Quebec, the United States, and Canada, and Masonic tools, including a Bible, and a square and compasses. This ongoing tradition illustrates the power of brotherhood to transcend political borders and war. Do you know of other border lodges like Golden Rule Lodge No.5? Let us know in the comments below

Captions

Members of Golden Rule Lodge No. 5, 1934. Derick Studio, Orleans, Vermont. Gift of Philip N. Grime, 89.38.

Masonic Parade, Three Villages, 1903, from Matthew Farfan, The Vermont-Quebec Border: Life on the Line( South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 58-59.

References

Matthew Farfan, The Vermont-Quebec Border: Life on the Line (South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2009)

Lee S. Tillotson, Ancient Craft Masonry in Vermont (Montpelier, VT: Capital City Press, 1930).

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Inaugural Medal

In 1933 the United States Inaugural Committee commissioned sculptor Paul Manship (1885-1966) to design this commemorative medal for Franklin Roosevelt’s (1882-1945) first inauguration. The medal, pictured at left, features a relief bust of Roosevelt, along with his name and that of his Vice President, John Nance Garner (1868-1967) and the years of his first presidential term. On the reverse is the U.S.S. Constitution, with an angel, and a verse from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1869 poem, The Building of the Ship. The medal was made in bronze, silver, and gold. 

Manship designed the high relief portrait medal the same year he created the bronze sculpture Prometheus, one of his most famous works, at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Using dies cut by Medallic Art Co. of New York, the United States Mint struck about 1,500 of the bronze medals. Fifty thicker medals were later struck by the Medallic Art Co. Three more inaugural medals, designed by Joseph Anthony Atchison (1895-1967) and Jo Davidson (1883-1952), respectively, were struck in 1937, 1941, and 1945, for Roosevelt's following inaugurations. 

The medal is currently on view in the lobby exhibition “American Masonic Presidents,” in Travis Hall at the Museum & Library. Learn more here: https://www.srmml.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/american-masonic-presidents/ 

 

Caption:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Inaugural Medal, 1933. Paul Manship (1885-1966), United States Mint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Loaned by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.4206.

The Masonic Hall of Fame: Extraordinary Freemasons in American History

The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library presents “The Masonic Hall of Fame: Extraordinary Freemasons in American History,” a new exhibition that showcases inspiring American Freemasons and introduces visitors to the history of Freemasonry in the United States. The exhibition opens to the public on November 1, 2021 and runs through October 2024. 

Throughout the exhibition, visitors will meet extraordinary Masons who, through their outsized contributions to Freemasonry, government, the arts, and social justice, made a profound impact on their world and ours. Ten Hall of Fame inductees will be featured this year. More will be added in 2022 and 2023. This year’s inductees are:

• Benjamin Franklin
• George Washington
• Prince Hall
• Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
• Mark Twain
• Harry Truman
• John Lejeune
• Irving Berlin
• John Glenn
• John Lewis

Drawing on images and objects from the Museum & Library’s collection, the exhibition also looks at the history of Freemasonry in the United States from its beginnings in the 1700s to the present day. “The Masonic Hall of Fame: Extraordinary Freemasons in American History” illuminates some of the ways that the United States and Freemasonry have grown, thrived, and changed together.

Throughout the exhibition visitors will encounter both remarkable and everyday Freemasons who helped to build communities, establish charitable institutions, and shape American society.

The Museum & Library is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 to 4:00pm. Have questions or comments? Leave a comment below or email [email protected]. 

The Shaving Mason

In 1904, American innovator and Freemason King Camp Gillette (1855-1932), first a member of Adelphi Lodge in Quincy, Massachusetts, who later belonged to Columbian Lodge in Boston, began manufacturing a safety razor with disposable blades. While some form of a safety razor had been in use for decades, Gillette patented the first disposable blades with a double-edged safety razor. This innovation made shaving easier—men no longer needed to sharpen their blades. In the late 1800s and early 1900s tastes and styles in men's facial hair changed. A growing number of men preferred to be clean-shaven and Gillette's new razor dovetailed with this trend. 

In this same period, membership in fraternal societies was at an all-time high. Manufacturers, including the Gillette Company, made products decorated with Masonic and fraternal symbols, appealing to the high number of Masonic and fraternal consumers in the United States. This shaving kit, with a two-piece double-edged razor and a box for disposable blades, features a Masonic emblem at the center—a square and compasses with the letter G.

Other shaving related products gained in popularity with this clean shaven trend, including shaving mugs, soaps, and brushes. Ernest Price (1892-1966), a carpenter from Watertown, Massachusetts, had this standard shaving mug personalized with his name and Masonic symbols. Price, a member of Sydney No. 84 in Nova Scotia, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1920. in 1945 he affiliated with Pequossette Lodge, in Arlington, Massachusetts. The Museum has several examples of personalized fraternal shaving mugs in the collection. These mugs illustrate the connection between consumer goods and fraternalism in the early 1900s.

To see more shaving related material from the collection visit our online collections site here: https://bit.ly/3iSJxfw

Captions:

Shaving Kit, 1920-1950. Gillette, United States. Gift of Richard W. Parker, 2001.072a-g. Photograph by David Bohl.

Shaving Mug, 1920-1950. United States. Gift of Mabel P. Mills, 2016.044.3.

References:

Robert Blake Powell, Occupational & Fraternal Shaving Mugs of the United States Catalog, (Hurst, TX: Publications Company Hurst, 1978).

Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733–1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com. Accessed July 27, 2021.

A Hawaiian Journey

In 1850, William Fessenden Allen (1831-1906), arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Eighteen years old, he had traveled aboard the Eliza Warwick on a 130-day journey from Boston. He had journeyed to Hawaii with his family, when his father, Elisha Hunt Allen (1804-1883), a lawyer, and congressman from Massachusetts, began his term as United States Consul to Hawaii under President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874). Elisha Allen’s U.S. Consul term concluded with the end of Fillmore’s presidency in 1853, but the family, including William, stayed in Hawaii. They later became citizens of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Allen worked in bookkeeping for C.L. Richards & Co., a ship chandler,  before following in his father’s footsteps to work in civil service. He served as the Collector General of Customs for the Kingdom of Hawaii, and in a variety of other government roles for King Kamehameha V (1830-1872) and King Kalakaua (1836-1891). After the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, Allen served on the Advisory Council of the Provisional Government of Hawaii and then as the Executive Council of the Republic of Hawaii.

Allen joined Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 in 1859 and served as master of the lodge in 1865. In 1870 Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 presented this Past Master's jewel to him. Marks on the arc spanning the compass legs and on the inside of the compass show that the jewel is incomplete. It is most likely missing the square and sun visible on this example.

The shape of Allen's Past Master's jewel resembles many made in the United States around the same time. The decoration of the jewel in black enamel, combined with bright gold, shares features with a style of jewelry that became popular with Hawaiian consumers in the late 1800s. This style of jewelry, now called Hawaiian heirloom, emulated the black enameled mourning jewelry of the time that bore black letters and designs.

The heirloom style first crafted in Hawaii the early 1860s usually included a decoration in the shape of a floral scroll or filigree design accompanied with black enamel old English script lettering on a bright gold band or bracelet. The style purportedly grew in popularity on the Hawaiian Islands in the 1800s after Honolulu jeweler, Christian Eckart (1831-1875), crafted the “Hoomanao Mau” or “Lasting Remembrance” bracelet in 1862 for Lydia Paki (1838-1917), later known as Queen Lili’uokalani. The Queen wore the bracelet, adorned with Hawaiian text and symbols of Hawaiian royalty, throughout her lifetime. The unidentified craftsmen who made Allen's Past Master's jewel may have taken his inspiration from the locally popular Hawaiian heirloom style or from the fashionable mourning jewelry worn during the Victorian era.

An active Freemason throughout his life, Allen took part in the dedication of the newly built Masonic Temple in Honolulu in 1893 and continued to participate in the organization until his death in 1906. His Past Master's jewel is evidence of his involvement in Masonry in his adopted nation of Hawaii.

Do you have any items related to Freemasonry in Hawaii? Have you seen a Past Master's jewel like this?  Leave us a comment below.

Captions

Past Master Jewel for William Fessenden Allen, 1870. Honolulu, Hawaii. Gift of Mrs. Merrill Griswold, 78.56.1.

William Fessenden Allen, Past Master, 1865. Courtesy of Hawaiian Lodge, Honolulu, Hawaii.

References

Ronn Ronck,  "A Jeweled Detective Story: What happened to Lili'uokalani's bracelets?" Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii), April 4, 1993.

Phillip Rickard, Hawaiian Heirloom Jewelry: A Lasting Remembrance (Honolulu, HI: Hawaiian Heirloom Jewelry Press, 1993).

Proceedings of the M.W. Grand Lodge of California, 1858-1859 (California: Grand Lodge of California, 1859).

 

 

Overseas Lodge No. 40

In 1919, in Coblenz, Germany, a group of American military officers serving during World War I, formed the Masonic Club of the Third American Army. Members of the club eventually founded Overseas Lodge No. 40 in Rhode Island.  The club was open to Masons and members of welfare organizations who were wives, daughters, sisters or widows of Masons. Along with regular meetings, the club organized social activities and gatherings, as well as memorial programs for those who died in service. The meetings were held at the German Masonic Temple, the local high school and a German officers club in Coblenz.

A number of Rhode Island Masons had organized the club. They sought to establish a Masonic lodge in Germany and on March 15, 1919, the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island granted dispensation to the group to form Overseas Lodge No. 1. This decree allowed the lodge to “elect, initiate, pass and raise candidates without the usual formalities and requirements of chartered Lodges, provided that such candidates shall be selected only from citizens of the United States serving in the army or navy of the United States, or in any organizations associated with said army or navy.” Between April and July of 1919, the group impressively held eighty meetings and raised 517 candidates. The lodge operated in Germany alongside the Masonic Club until July 31, 1919, when the last American soldiers returned home to the United States.  

The first meeting of the lodge in the United States was held in Freemasons Hall in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 13, 1920. In May of 1920 the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island granted a charter to the lodge, named Overseas Lodge, No. 40, F. & A.M. Members conducted Masonic meetings wearing the uniforms they wore while in service. The photograph above shows officers of the lodge in Cranston, Rhode Island, in 1923. Masonic guests from other lodges in Canada and Britain are also pictured.

This token (at right) is from Overseas Lodge No. 40 and belonged to John A. Marshall (1877-1966). Described as a “devoted and ardent Mason” by his nephew, Marshall belonged to Strafford Lodge No. 29 in Dover, New Hampshire. It is still unknown if Marshall was a member of Overseas Lodge No. 40 or if the token was a gift from a fellow Mason. One side of the token shows Masonic symbols. On the other side is the emblem of the Overseas Lodge which includes an "A" at the center of a circle,  the insignia of the Third United States Army (the United States Army Central).

Overseas Lodge No. 40 is still active today in Rhode Island and is open to military veterans or active duty members. They hold an annual meeting and reunion on Armistice Day. It is the only military lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.

In writing about the formation of the club and Overseas lodge at its close in Germany in 1919, District Deputy Grand Master Lieutenant Colonel Winfield S. Solomon (1876-1954), Past Master of Morning Star Lodge No. 13 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, stated: “These officers and men alike had experienced in practice the meaning of that spirit of brotherhood and equality which we had been taught at home. Through this experience the great truths of Masonry for which our fraternity stands were brought home to us as never before.”

Visit our previous blog posts to learn more about other military lodges. Do you have any items related to Overseas Lodge No. 40? Let us know in the comments below.

Captions: 

Officers of Overseas Lodge No. 40, 1923. Cranston, Rhode Island. Museum Purchase, 2001.029.

Overseas Lodge No. 40 Token, 1919-1966. United States. Gift of the Supreme Council, 33º, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U.S.A. from Mr. Clarence Hayfield, SC79.2.

References:

History and Roster of the Masonic Club of the Third American Army and Rhode Island Overseas Lodge (Providence, RI: Press of E. L. Freeman Company, 1919).

Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 1919 (Providence, Rhode Island: Grand Lodge, 1919) 32-35.  

Masonic Souvenirs from Jerusalem

Box with Masonic Wheat, Wine and Oil, ca. 1887. Jerusalem. Gift of Alvin Frank Appel, 85.90.

In Freemasonry, corn or grain, wine, and oil symbolize prosperity, health, and peace. They are considered a Freemason’s “wages” or “wages of nourishment” and are featured in Masonic degrees. Masons often use corn, wine, and oil in building consecration ceremonies. The grain, wine, and oil pictured here are housed in a wooden box.  The box was made in Jerusalem.  It is accompanied by a card of authentication from the U.S. Consulate. The printed card, dated January 19, 1887, is signed by U.S. Consul Henry Gillman (1833-1915) and reads “I certify that the wine and oil forwarded to John Worthington Esq. U.S. Consul at Malta were made in Jerusalem, that the wheat was raised here, and that the leather bottles are such as used here and were made in this country. The wine is known as Jerusalem wine and is seven years old.”

In the late 1800s, souvenirs from the Holy Land--an area important to many faiths that encompasses the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea--enjoyed great popularity. Affluent Americans, taking advantage of steamship travel and few restrictions on foreign travel, embarked on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. These tourists went in search of adventure and to claim both spiritual and physical pieces of the Holy Land for themselves.

The construction of Solomon’s Temple is central to Masonic ritual.  Some Freemasons who traveled to the Holy Land collected stones or

Box, 1860. Boston and Jerusalem. Gift of Hammatt Lodge, Collection of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, GL2004.4583a-b. Photograph by David Bohl.

other objects from sacred sites and boxed them up for their own personal collections or as gifts for their home lodges. One such Mason, Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith (1800-1879) of Boston, broke off a piece of white limestone from Mount Moriah on an 1851 trip to Jerusalem and later presented it to Hammatt Lodge in Boston, of which he was a founding member. According to an inscription engraved on the box’s lid, Smith believed the stone to be part of the “foundation stones on which stood the renowned Temple of Solomon.”

Do you have similar souvenirs from Jerusalem? Let us know in the comments below.

 

 

Square and Compasses in Wax

A square and compasses with a G at the center is one of the most identifiable symbols in Freemasonry. The square and compasses represent reason and faith. The letter G in the center stands for God, geometry, or both. This symbol was and is still used on all types of objects, from furniture and ceramics to textiles and jewelry. Artisans and craftsmen portrayed the symbol from a number of different materials,  including the modeled wax paper flowers illustrated here.

This example in the Museum collection is a wax flower composition crafted in 1890 by Chrissie Taisey Whitehill (1855-1937) of Vermont. Whitehill was married to John F. Whitehill (1844-1912), a member of Pulaski Lodge No. 58 in Wells River, Vermont. She mounted her wax flower creation on black velvet and likely made it to memorialize an–as yet–unidentified member of the fraternity. 

In the Victorian era, wax flowers enjoyed immense popularity as decorative elements included in ornamental household wares, personal accessories, and memorial or mourning pieces. Most often crafted by women, wax flower modelling was "a gendered and class-linked accomplishment, promoted as a welcome activity for women of social standing or pretension to social standing."

 Making wax paper flowers was an intricate process in which makers first disassembled a real flower, tracing each component on paper. They then used those pieces as templates to create paper petals which were carefully cut out, shaped to achieve a realistic look, and glued or wired onto stems. The flowers were often finished by applying wax on each petal. By the 1850s, manufacturers also produced wax flower kits and models with ready-made flower parts that could be shaped and assembled. Do you have a family heirloom made with wax flowers? Let us know in the comments below.

Caption:

Square and Compasses, 1890. Chrissie Taisey Whitehill, South Ryegate, Vermont. Gift of the Supreme Council, 33º, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U.S.A., 74.1.53. Photograph by David Bohl.

References:

Elegant Arts for Ladies: Comprising Bead Work, Bead and Bugle Work, Calisthenic Exercises... (London: Ward, Lock and Co., 1856), 184-197.

Ann B. Shteir, "'Fac-Similes of Nature": Victorian Wax Flower Modelling," Victorian Literature and Culture, vol. 35, no. 2, 2007: 649-661.

The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World Jacket, 1952-2011. Mr. Leggs and Fraternal Supplies, Inc., New London, Ohio. Museum Purchase, 2019.013.8. Photograph by Julia Featheringill

Founded in 1897, the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOE of W), is an African American fraternal order that offered leadership training, professional networking opportunities, and social fellowship to members. Modeled on the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), the IBPOE of W operated in the same principles of charity, justice, brotherly love, and fidelity. In addition, founders Arthur James Riggs (1855-1936) and Benjamin Franklin Howard (1860-1918), both members of other fraternal organizations, established the IBPOE of W to advocate for “the expression of ideals, services and leadership in the black struggle for freedom and opportunity.”

In support of that mission, the group formed a number of "departments," including a Civil Liberties Department in 1926, to actively coordinate campaigns against segregation and for equal civil and political rights. In its first thirty years, the IBPOE of W experienced problems with factionalism, copyright, and incorporation issues in various states, as well as a number of legal conflicts with the all white Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Despite this turbulent beginning, the still-active IBPOE of W became one of the largest African American fraternal organizations in North America, with lodges in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World Jacket, 1952-2011. Mr. Leggs and Fraternal Supplies, Inc., New London, Ohio. Museum Purchase, 2019.013.8. Photograph by Julia Featheringill

To show the pride in their association with the IBPOE of W, some members wore street clothes decorated with symbols of their fraternity. Fraternal Supplies, Inc. in New London, Ohio, which operated until 2011, embroidered the jacket pictured here with images and names related to the IBPOE of W, sometime between 1952 and 2011.

The Order’s emblem, the head of an elk within a circle and the words Cervus Alces, the Latin name of the American elk, are on the front of the jacket, along with an elk in a forest. On the back is an embroidered image of an Elks member and the words “Sons of the Forest.”  The Museum acquired the jacket, with original tags, from the former Fraternal Supplies, Inc. factory in Ohio in 2019.  The jacket may have been a sample or an order for an individual that was never delivered or fulfilled. 

Have you or a family member owned a jacket like this one? Have you seen a similar kind of jacket? Let us know in the comments section below.   

References:

Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, and Clarenda M. Phillips, eds. African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision (Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press, 2005), 86-87.

Marshall Ganz, Ariane Liazos, Theda Skocpol. What a Mighty Power We Can be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2006), 16-17.

Alvin Schmidt. Fraternal Organizations (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980), 107-108.

Rooted in Tradition: Aprons from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library

The Museum and Library invites you to explore our newest online exhibition, Rooted in Tradition: Aprons from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library. Since Freemasonry’s early days in England, the apron has been a part of the group’s distinctive symbols and rituals.

Aprons evoke the symbolic association of Freemasonry with working stonemasons—craftsmen who wore aprons to protect their clothing from wear and dust. Decorated aprons may have emerged as a way for non-working, or symbolic, Freemasons to distinguish themselves from working, also called operative, stonemasons and other artisans.  

Rooted in tradition, but also a product of their time and place, Masonic aprons show the influence of the larger society and culture as well as trends within Freemasonry. Apron shape, size, decoration, and method of manufacture reflect the era in which an apron was made. Apron designs also have a close relationship with fashion and decorative arts. The aprons and other objects highlighted in this exhibition explore these ideas and help tell the story of the history, symbolism, and workmanship behind Masonic aprons. Most importantly, they shine a light on the people who made and wore them.

This online exhibition is based on an exhibition that was on view at the Museum and Library in 2016 and 2017.  You can learn more about many of the aprons in this exhibition in the 2016 publication Badge of a Freemason: Aprons from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library. 

Caption

A Meeting of Free Masons for the Admission of Masters – The Master on raising the Candidate gives the Grasp, Embrace, Etc. and declares him duly Elected a Master Mason, 1812. Thomas Palser (active 1799-1843), London, England. Special Acquisitions Fund, 77.10.1f.