National Heritage Museum

The Boston Globe Interviews Dick Curtis About Masons and Their Secrets

2009-11-11T07:50:00-05:00

Our very own Dick Curtis, a 33rd-degree Mason and former editor of The Northern Light magazine, was featured in The Boston Globe. He was interviewed about the accuracies and inaccuracies regarding Freemasonry in Dan Brown's book, The Lost Symbol.

From the article:
"Curtis and other Freemasons say that the 'secrets' Brown depicts in the novel are inaccurate, but they also say that it properly underscores the importance that Freemasons place in morality, ethics, and striving to become a better person. After all the uncertainties, Curtis said, 'I’m very pleased that he used Freemasonry as a subject for the book.'"

You can read the complete article here.

Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff.

Elizabeth Cole Sheehan, Creator of the Prayer-Rag-Flag Honoring the American Soldier, at the Museum on Veterans Day, November 11

2009-11-10T11:42:05-05:00

Elizabeth Cole Sheehan, creator of the Prayer-Rag-Flag honoring the American soldier, will be at the Museum on Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, from 1-4 pm. She will discuss her inspiration for the project, its construction, and answer visitor questions. Through the Prayer-Rag-Flag, Sheehan seeks express hope for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to honor the fallen. She was inspired by Japanese prayer rags and Tibetan prayer flags. Both of these traditions involve tying fabric outdoors, allowing the prayers they hold to go out into the world on the wind.

In honor of Veterans Day, and to commemorate the 5,189 soldiers whose names appear on the flag today, Museum is displaying the Prayer-Rag-Flag in its lobby throughout the month of November.

Photo by Larry Cotton.

Susan Eisenhower Speaks on Issues in Foreign Policy this Sunday, November 8 at 2 pm. Free.

2009-11-05T15:19:47-05:00

Join us for Susan Eisenhower's lecture, “Challenges in American Foreign Policy from Eisenhower to Obama,” this Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 2 pm. Ms. Eisenhower will also be on hand following her talk to sign copies of her book, Mrs. Ike. The lecture is free.

Susan Eisenhower was a founding director and the first president of the Eisenhower Institute where she became known for her work in the former Soviet Union and in the energy field. She is currently the Eisenhower Institute’s Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs. The lecture is presented in collaboration with the Eisenhower Fellowship Program.

For directions to the Museum, please visit our web site.

Guess what this tray is made from...

2009-11-05T09:00:00-05:00

This tray's colorful design features a central Masonic square and compasses motif. The colors are vibrant, but the texture seems unusual – not paint or ink. Several of the tray’s motifs were made using butterfly wings. The wings form the background and the small beach scenes at the corners. The design is supplemented with black and gold elements that are reverse-painted on the glass that covers the bottom of the tray.

While at first glance this object might seem unusual, butterfly wing collectibles have been sold as travel souvenirs for decades. Jewelry, trays and framed pictures were popular, not just with Masonic symbols, but also with scenic views and figures in traditional costumes. Another butterfly wing picture in the National Heritage Museum collection is marked “Rio de Janeiro,” suggesting both its probable place of origin and its function as a travel keepsake.

Do you own a butterfly wing souvenir? Do you know more about the history of these items? Share your information with us in a comment!

Masonic Tray, 1930-1960. National Heritage Museum, gift of Robert and Edith Zucker, 2008.021.24. Photograph by David Bohl.

William Hogarth: An Interpretation of one of his Masonic Engravings

2009-11-03T09:00:00-05:00

Early Years

William Hogarth (1697-1764) was born in Smithfields, London, the son of Latin teacher Richard Hogarth. At first, Hogarth apprenticed as a silverplate engraver. Later, he met a man who was to prove an inspiration for his future career, artist Sir James Thornhill (ca.1675-1734). Hogarth attended classes at Thornhill's free art academy in Covent Garden, became friends with the artist, and eventually married his daughter, Jane, in 1729. A talented draughtsman, Hogarth took up the ambitious trade of engraving on copper for reproduction. Throughout the 1720s, Hogarth made a living from selling his pictorial advertising cards for shops, billheads, theatre tickets and funerals invitations. He also created book illustrations and satirical engravings, which were sold in bookshops at a shilling per copy.

Joining Freemasonry

A sociable man, Hogarth joined many clubs in London. For him, however, Freemasonry was most important. There were several reasons for this. One was the social connections that the lodge and banquets provided. Another was that Freemasonry stood for equality at this time in English society. Hogarth realized the social prestige that came with membership in a Masonic lodge. He was also introduced to a club, his Masonic lodge, that was interested and active in charitable institutions. Hogarth chose the prestigious life of Freemasonry over an association with the old artist guilds.

Hogarth became a Mason by 1725. He belonged to a lodge that met at the Bear and Harrow tavern on Butcher Row, later called "Corner Stone Lodge". Prominent men such as Theophilus Desaguliers (1683-1744), a founder of English Freemasonry, belonged to this lodge. As well, many aristocrats, such as the Duke of Montagu (1690-1749), were members this lodge and became patrons to artists including Hogarth. Several members of Hogarth's inner circle of friends (actors, artists, lawyers, poets) also joined to this lodge.

Interpreting a Hogarth Engraving

First printed in 1724, Hogarth's engraving, The Mystery of Masonry brought to Light by ye Gormagons was reprinted several times. The copy in the National Heritage Museum collection was not printed until 1755 (see image to the below) by Robert Sayer, a map and printseller in London.

The figures in this engraving may express Hogarth's ambivalence concerning the change in Freemasonry from a stonemasons' guild to a more philosophical organization. In England this change was led by James Anderson (c.1679-1737) and Theophilus Desaguliers. Other historians have interpreted this engraving as Hogarth's expression of social criticism.

A dispute broke out in the Grand Lodge of England. Who would be the next Grand Master in 1724? This dispute ended in compromise with the appointment of Desaguliers as Deputy Grand Master. The next year, the Duke of Wharton lost by one vote, when the Earl of Dalkeith was elected Grand Master. The Duke of Wharton stormed out of the Grand Lodge in anger and threatened to withdraw his supporters from the Grand Lodge. To avoid any problems with the Duke of Wharton, members of the Grand Lodge published an advertisement announcing the formation of the Ancient Noble Order of Gormagons. The Gormagons denounced Freemasonry. The members of the Grand Lodge of England hoped that this publication would, by implication, discredit the Duke of Wharton and any actual competitive actions he might take.

This engraving is pure Hogarth at his best! Starting with this historical incident, Hogarth used caricature to illustrate the tension between the Freemasons and the Gormagons. One can read the figures of the old woman riding the donkey as representive of the ancient craft of Freemasonry and the man on the ladder as James Anderson. The Duke of Wharton stands caricatured as Don Quixote, wearing armour and pointing toward the Chinese sages (or Gormagons). Behind Don Quixote stands Sancho Panza, who could be intended to represent Desaguliers. Some of the people in this engraving wear Masonic aprons, which may be symbolic. Hogarth uses Don Quixote and Sancho Panza not as comic extremes, but to represent the ideal and the real. Don Quixote appears quite dignified despite the chaos of the scene.

The Ancient Noble Order of Gormagons, the new fraternal order, had recently arrived in England from China according to a notice published in a London newspaper in 1724. The text, or rhyme, below the engraving comments on how graceful and wise the Chinese sages look compared to the wild, mad Freemasons. Four Chinese sages lead the procession, which is spilling out of a tavern, the location for many Masonic meetings. Masonic processions had just started to appear in the streets of London, in the 1720s, so this type of gathering was not unknown.

This was William Hogarth's first Masonic engraving, though there would be many more with Masonic themes such as The Free Mason's Surpriz'd, or the Secret Discovered, (1754).

Bibliography

Beresiner, Yasha. "William Hogarth: The Man, The Artist and His Masonic Circle", Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry, 1996-2009. http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/beresiner11.html

Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. "The Gormogons", Anti-Masonry Index, 2004. http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/gormogons.html

Hamilton, John. Material Culture of the American Freemasons. Lexington, Mass.: Museum of Our National Heritage, 1994, p. 31-32.

Paulson, Ronald. Hogarth. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992. v.1, The Modern Moral Subject, 1697-1732, p.95-155, v. 2, High Art and Low, 1732-1750, p.55-64.

"William Hogarth: Portrait of a Mason-Artist", MQ Magazine, issue 7, Oct. 2003. http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-7/p-07.php

Image Captions

Carte-de-visite portrait of William Hogarth, 1850-1900, Gustav Schauer, Berlin, Germany, National Heritage Museum, Gift of Patricia MacMillan, 2003.010.4.

The Mystery of Masonry brought to Light by ye Gormagons, 1755, William Hogarth (1697-1764), National Heritage Museum, Special Acquisitions Fund, 91.035.

The Massachusetts Women's Corps

2009-10-29T09:00:00-04:00

The uniform seen here was originally worn by Anne E. Gedges (1916-2007), a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Corps (MWC) during World War II. As Gedges explained in a letter years later, the MWC offered local women a way to assist the war effort:

“Women wanted to do something to help end the war so we volunteered to serve coffee + doughnuts on the Boston Common, collected money for the U.S.O. at the Boston Garden + other theaters, worked Sundays at the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea…We marched in parades and felt we were better than the National Guard staying in step.”

The uniform includes a red patch on one shoulder that shows a gold-colored coffeepot, reflecting one of the group’s activities. A lapel pin on the jacket includes the motto, Paratus Et Fidelis – Latin for “faithful and ready.” The uniform was donated to the National Heritage Museum in 2007 by Gedges' niece.

The photograph at right shows Gedges with the rest of her local group. She stands at the center of the second row of women, wearing her uniform. The donor also gave a certificate documenting her honorable discharge from this service in 1946 to the Museum with the uniform and the photograph. After the war, Gedges taught in the Waltham school system. She lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, for much of her life.

Massachusetts Women’s Corps Uniform, ca. 1942, Leopold Morselo, Boston, Massachusetts. National Heritage Museum, gift of H. Thaddeus and Ellen Wolosinski, 2007.038a-c. Photograph by David Bohl.

Photograph of Anne Gedges and Massachusetts Women’s Corps Unit, ca. 1942, Boston, Massachusetts. National Heritage Museum, gift of H. Thaddeus and Ellen Wolosinski.

Tempus Fugit

2009-10-22T10:00:00-04:00

Lexington’s own Nathaniel Mulliken (1722–1767) likely trained Benjamin Willard (1743–1803), the maker of this clock--but not for long. Mulliken died in 1767, only a year or so after Willard is thought to have arrived in Lexington. Willard lived in Lexington, perhaps off and on, to make clocks with Mulliken’s teenaged son, Nathaniel, until December 1771.

Analysis of the numbers and locations marked on Benjamin Willard’s surviving clocks—this one is number 80—suggest that he made over 20 clocks per year before colonial tensions with Britain, a weakening market and scarce supplies, particularly metal, disrupted his work. If you are interested in learning more, see the publication Clock Making in New England cited below.

This clock provided Willard's client with a device that measured hours, minutes, and seconds. But this clock did more than tell the time, it also conveyed a moral lesson. Willard decorated its dial with silver colored disk bearing the engraved image of an fierce bird, possibly an eagle, and the Latin motto "Tempus Fugit," loosely translated as “Time Flies.” Perhaps he and the clock’s owner wanted to remind everyone of the importance of using time well.

Willard’s clock is one of almost 100 exhibited in “For All Time: Clocks and Watches from the National Heritage Museum,” on view until February 21, 2010.

Tall Case Clock, 1766–1771. Benjamin Willard (1743–1803), Lexington, Massachusetts. Gift of Robert T. Dann in memory of Dr. James R. and Constance D. Gallagher, 98.028a-g.

References

Philip Zea and Robert C. Cheney, Clock Making in New England, 1725-1825: An Intrepretation of the Old Sturbridge Village Collection, Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1992.

Symposium Keynote Speaker Jessica Harland-Jacobs to Bring New Perspective to the History of American Freemasonry and Fraternalism

2009-10-21T00:27:00-04:00

On Friday, April 9, 2010, the National Heritage Museum will host an academic symposium, “New Perspectives on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism,” presenting the newest research on American fraternal groups from the past to the present day. As the repository of one of the largest collections of American Masonic and fraternal objects, books and manuscripts in the United States, the Museum is proud to foster innovative research on American fraternalism.

Our keynote speaker will be Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida and author of Builders of Empire: Freemasonry and British Imperialism, 1717-1927. Ms. Harland-Jacobs has chosen to speak on “Worlds of Brothers”, emphasizing how many fraternities, and Freemasonry especially, are conceived and operate as global institutions. While fraternalism has, by and large, been investigated from the perspective of the nation state, the talk will demonstrate how framing the history of modern-era Freemasonry on a world scale pays great dividends for our understanding of the phenomenon. In fact, as the speaker will explain, taking a global perspective can benefit contemporary American brotherhoods.

In addition to the keynote speaker, six scholars have been selected to present their research at the symposium. Look for an upcoming blog post that will describe the full program. Mark your calendars for a day of new discoveries and unexpected conclusions about how we interpret the history of American society and culture.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Harland-Jacobs.

Prayer-Rag-Flag Honoring the American Soldier On View Now Through November 30

2009-10-20T12:01:00-04:00

When artist Elizabeth Cole Sheehan first conceived the Prayer-Rag-Flag, she sought to acknowledge the American soldier and to express hope for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was inspired by Japanese prayer rags and Tibetan prayer flags. Both of these traditions involve tying fabric outdoors, allowing the prayers they hold to go out into the world on the wind. In honor of Veterans Day, and to commemorate the 5,189 soldiers whose names appear on the flag today, the Museum is displaying the Prayer-Rag-Flag in our lobby now through November 30.

To construct the flag, Sheehan tied strips of fabric torn from red, white and blue garments onto a grid of vinyl-coated wire. Friends and members of First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Canton, Massachusetts, assisted her. Each ribbon of fabric bears the name of an American soldier killed in the current wars. The names are taken from several sources, all of which have been confirmed by U.S. Central Command. As more fatalities are reported, the names will be added.

Sheehan completed the flag for Memorial Day 2009, when it graced the First Parish Green in Canton. Said Sheehan, “This project helped all the collaborators who worked on it find common ground in opposing opinions regarding the current wars. It also imparts respect for the deceased soldiers’ effort and sacrifice, and offers comfort by acknowledging grief and presenting an opportunity to release regret. Most of all, it makes the absent soldier tangible, as a public visual aid demonstrating what the number lost looks like.”

The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am-4:30 pm, and Sunday from noon-4:30 pm. Visit our web site for directions.

Anti-Masonry, Catholicism, Communism, and Anti-Semitism

2009-10-20T09:05:00-04:00

The title of the current exhibition in the Library and Archives reading room - Freemasonry Unmasked!: Anti-Masonic Collections in the Van Gorden-Williams Library and Archives - is drawn from the book shown here (and on view in the exhibition): Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism. The cover of this book is an example of how Freemasonry has been blamed as the secret power behind just about everything.

Although published in 1956, the text of this book actually reproduces a lecture that a Catholic priest delivered in Scotland in October, 1884. At that time, the Vatican had just issued Humanum Genus: Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Freemasonry, an official declaration of the Catholic Church’s opposition to Freemasonry. The Vatican's 1884 document claimed that Masons were “planning the destruction of the holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom.”

Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked was published by the Britons Publishing Society, a group that formed in 1923, and which was an off-shoot of the Britons, a group that formed in England in 1919 for the express purpose of disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda. While the name Britons Publishing Society doesn't sound particularly threatening, one historian has called them "one of the most extreme of the post-1918 formations on the radical and far right" in England. A quick search of the British Library's online catalog reveals a number of both anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic titles published by the Britons Publishing Society. One title in particular stands out and is the likely key to the the group's interest in Freemasonry: according to one source, the Society published 85 different editions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion over a forty-year period, including two separate editions during World War II.

Why would the Society's interest in The Protocols point to an interest in anti-Masonry? First published in Russia in 1905, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a notorious work of anti-Semitic propaganda. The book purported to document a secret conference at which the Elders of Zion, a fictitious Jewish group, discuss using Freemasonry to deceive humanity and attain worldwide domination. Both the text and the meeting are complete fabrications. Regardless, the book persists as a popular piece of propaganda even today.

You can learn more about the overlap between anti-Masonry and anti-Semitism here: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007186

Here's a good intro to the history of the relationship between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/RomanCatholics.html

For more on history of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a great online exhibition about this forgery: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007058

If you are interested in any of the topics above, be sure to check out the two bibliographies we've prepared which will point you to helpful resources so that you can learn more about both Freemasonry and anti-Masonry.

Also, be sure to check out Chip Berlet's guest blog post from last week. Berlet, a Senior Analyst with Political Research Associates, will be speaking at the Museum on Saturday, October 24th, 2009, at 2 p.m. in the Farr Conference Center. His talk is in conjunction with Freemasonry Unmasked!: Anti-Masonic Collections at Van Gorden-Williams Library and Archives, on view through May 15, 2010. To learn more about this free public lecture generously funded by the Lowell Institute, click here.

Pictured above:
Dillon, Monsignor George E., D.D. Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked as the Secret Power Behind Communism, Through Discovery of Lost Lectures. London: Britons Publishing Society, 1956.
Call number: 19.41 .D579 1956