Yesterday a Masonic Brother and I went to a house, $700 in hand, to purchase a Worshipful Master’s chair.
You see, some time ago, one of our Lodges sold their historic Temple. This particular Temple had some of the most exquisite antique Lodge Room furniture that I’ve ever seen.
Alas though, the large pieces of that furniture were lost. They were lost because no member of the Lodge was either competent enough, or cared enough to remove it prior to the sale being finalized.
Neighboring Lodges would have helped them get the furniture out, but alas, no one from outside of the Lodge knew until it was gone.
The building sold twice in rapid succession. When I found out that the furniture had been left, I contacted the ultimate buyers. Unfortunately, it had been removed by the people who owned it prior. The Brother who went with me yesterday reached out to the first buyers at the same time, but from them he just got the runaround.
That Brother didn’t give up though. He started watching online marketplaces. Sure enough, it surfaced for sale this week. The massive Worshipful Master’s chair anyway. I contacted the lady who was selling it, and off we went with a large trailer to bring it back into the Fraternity.
I wasn’t quite sure what Lodge might need it, but I was confident that someone would. Then, as we were driving, and talking about it, we hit on a home for it. A Lodge that we knew could use it, that it would look great in, and that would care for it.
I’d asked the seller if she had the Warden’s chairs, hopeful that I could get those back into the Fraternity as well, but she did not. Perhaps someday I’ll find them, but probably not. Most likely they are lost to us forever.
My Brother and I arrived at the seller’s house to buy the chair. Unfortunately, we left empty handed.
It had apparently been stored in a barn for a long time, and was badly trashed. It was already a stretch paying so much money for a chair that should have never left the Fraternity, investing an equal amount, or more, to have it rebuilt just wasn’t something that I could justify.
It seems that this piece of material treasure is lost to our Craft forever.
We’ve lost a set of carved antique Lodge furniture of such craftsmanship, that its like could not be afforded by a Lodge today.
Let’s be frank, we lost it because the members of that Lodge were so craven that they couldn’t even bother to call a neighboring Lodge for help. The Fraternity lost it because they just didn’t give a damn.
Remembering just how beautiful that carved furniture was when it was in the Lodge, and seeing it yesterday, pretty much ruined my day.
I thought that would be the end of it. But alas, no.
My daughter came by after work today.
Her news was that she had noticed some ‘Shrine stuff’ at an antique store in town. I figured a fez or the like.
But no. She’d taken a photo to show me.
Big lighted signs. Afifi Shrine, Lewis County Shrine Club.
Well, as far as I know, Afifi Shrine is still going strong. At least that’s what the newsletter I received this week tells me. As far as I know, the Lewis County Shrine Club is doing just fine as well, in fact the Club met tonight.
So how on earth, did Lewis County Shrine Club property make it into the local junk store?
Did the Club formally vote to divest itself of this property by selling it to an antique store? Are there meeting minutes that will back that up?
Or did some man who never understood the meaning of Masonry agree to store it in his garage for the Club, and when his wife had a yard sale he let it go?
Or was it just in a storage locker somewhere that the Club had and didn’t bother to pay the bill?
I’d say it’s a mighty safe bet to say that the Shrine didn’t vote to get rid of it, so in essence, just like the Lodge furniture talked about above, our Fraternity lost these large lighted signs because whomever was in charge of them just didn’t give a damn.
I’ve still got the $700 I took out of the bank for the chair, so tomorrow I’ll go downtown and see about buying these signs. I don’t imagine they will cost very much. But I shouldn’t have to do this. They should already belong to the Fraternity.
It’s what I do though. If I see something Masonic for sale, I buy it to get it back to Brothers who can use it. I know that lots of other Masons do this too. But we shouldn’t have to do this.
Freemasonry is a moral society, so the morality of the situation must be considered.
If there are antiques in a Lodge, that have always been with the Lodge, they do not belong to the current members of the Lodge. At least they do not from a moral perspective.
They were purchased with the (back in those days much harder) hard earned money of Masons who lived generations ago. As the Masons of today, we are given them in trust. It is our moral obligation to protect and preserve these assets, these parts of Freemasonry’s material history, for our children and our children’s children.
Us taking antiques out of our Lodge buildings and selling them outside of the Fraternity is nothing but theft. Theft committed against the Masons of yesteryear.
Us just leaving things behind when we move on is no better. It is another form of theft from those who came before us.
As today’s Masons it is our fundamental responsibility to preserve the treasures our Fraternity holds, so that they are there for tomorrow’s Masons. If we can’t use these things any longer, we need to get them to a Lodge, or a Mason who can.
We can not continue putting fools in charge of Masonic assets.
We can not continue putting men who just don’t care in charge of Masonic assets.
We must be smart, and we must care.
One of the most important aspects that contributed to Freemasonry’s Legendary status in the past is its history. That history will help create and inform Legendary Freemasonry in the future as well. If we don’t let all of our history rot in a barn or junk store.
Some of our Lodges have the exact same problems when it comes to money. I wrote about that previously, you can read it here:
Sorry that today’s post is darker, perhaps more angry than usual. I don’t enjoy having to write these things, but I feel that sometimes I must.
On September 10 we will be having our first ever Emeth BBQ. If you can, join us, it’ll be great fun! Details:
In December we’ll be traveling down to Puerto Vallarta for our second Masonic trip to that beautiful city. We had an amazing time last year, and this one can be even better! Details:
This is a tragic series of circumstances indeed. As I read this, I found myself wondering how these Mason's arrived at the place of diminished regard for the grandeur of these beautiful furnishings and signs. Did this result from incompetence, apathy, disdain for the Craft? The bigger question is did these Mason's always have such a lack of concern for our work? Is this a West Gate issue? Or, has something happened in the meantime to foster this negativity or disenchantment for our institution?
These are the most important questions that we all must ask.
Could these things happen in my Lodge?
I say that yes, they can if we are not careful and do not remain engaged with the health and happiness of our Lodges or allow ourselves to blindly trust those we have entrusted with our assets and property.
This gets to the heart of a larger problem. Many Lodges have libraries and artifacts that are collecting dust and not being used. I know of two Lodges that have materials in an environment that I would generously call fire traps. Somewhere, somehow, the Masonic Library at Grand Lodge should figure out a program to rescue some of these things to keep them from being tossed out or winding up in thrift stores. I've seen wonderful original copies of Masonic History that I know are more than 100 years old and was always afraid to touch them because they are so fragile. I've also seen hundreds of old photographs that tell about our history in this jurisdiction carelessly stashed in old bookcases. The unfortunate crime here is that most brethren don't know these things exist and no one is willing to tell them about it, let alone trying to curate it.