So what is in your CLOSET |
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CAMB.MASON
Quarryman Joined: December/23/2008 Location: cambridge,mass. Status: Offline Points: 2062 |
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Posted: December/03/2014 at 8:42am |
Dear Brothers: I have posted this before, but being a curator of a Masonic collection, my soap box is always at the ready.
So again I ask you, what is in your closet.
Masonic lodges, and buildings, always have a bunch of junk no one wants to look at, or just overlooked. It sits there for years, decades in drawers, closets, boxes etc. just sitting there waiting for someone to look at it again. It DOES not matter what it is, paperwork, aprons, jewels, books, costumes, etc, just junk sitting there, forgotten. Worst, many lodges and bodies throw it away, its only junk right?
This year alone here in Massachusetts we have lost five Masonic buildings. NO not lodges, WHOLE buildings. Some due to taxes, maintenance, can not afford, size and worst fire.
When ever a lodge merges, it looses its history, relics, items, artifacts, junk. When ever a lodge or building cleans house it looses another piece of its history. When a Temple or building is sold, we all loose our history. Yes my brother, even you from Georgia, or Texas, or Washington State, Canada, even in England, your history is also my history. It is all our history.
So take some time, look around, clean, preserve, document, photo, display, store, and save your history and mine. Clean, Look and Find those artifacts. We loose too much.
My soap box is old, but still works, so Thank you for your time. Maybe one person can save and help, it takes only one brother.
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I remain Fraternally Yours:
Curator & Historian Cambridge Masonic Temple Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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Caution1010
Moderator Bro. Never Give Up Joined: November/16/2010 Location: 127.0.0.1 Status: Offline Points: 2677 |
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My lodge lost its building years ago due to condemnation by the county.
I am not sure what became of the relics of the building. It quite frankly makes me sad
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I: 10/1/10
P: 12/3/10 R: 12/31/10 PHA-AL "You can't trust those fellow-crafts...buncha rogues and murderers!" |
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js584
Quarryman Joined: July/07/2013 Location: indianapolis Status: Offline Points: 67 |
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I am currently working on a project with our county museum. The History of Putnam County Freemasonry will be the main exhibit for six months. I am working with 4 blue Lodges, 3 Eastern Star chapters and a York Rite Lodge. The old and dusty stuff will be seeing daylight for the first time in many many years, I am really looking forward to seeing what is buried in the archives, should be very interesting.
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cemab4y
Quarryman Joined: October/31/2007 Location: Fairfax VA Status: Offline Points: 1267 |
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I would love for lodges to recycle some of their items, that they cannot use anymore. I was in Moscow (Russia) some years ago, and Phoenix lodge #17, did not have a full complement of masonic regalia. They did not even have enough aprons for the officers and visitors.
We need to set up a way to move our unused masonic items to lodges that are not able to obtain their own. How about it? |
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Charles E. Martin
Alexandria, VA Bowling Green Lodge 73, Bowling Green KY (GL of KY, F&AM) Alexandria VA Scottish Rite Bodies (AASR, Southern Jurisdiction, USA) |
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MarkMaster
Quarryman Joined: February/14/2008 Location: Alabama Status: Offline Points: 744 |
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My Mother Lodge went dark some 15 years ago (small town, dying membership, etc.). A few years ago, I got a call from a young man whose father was WM at the time of closing -- he had a garage rack filled with items from the Lodge and asked me if I wanted them. After checking with our GL and getting permission to keep the items, I moved them to my garage, where I began inventorying the lot. Interesting stuff -- from handcarved ritual objects to sashes obviously handsewn from cotton-sacking; a Secretary's safe that weighs around 200 pounds was filled with petitions, inter-Lodge communication letters, attendance registers, et al.
The coolest thing I was able to do as a result of saving this material is to find a petition from 1954 from a Brother I knew well (when he was an older gentleman), which I was able to have framed and presented to his grandson -- a member of our Lodge. |
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"Si apis, sis apis."
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