Annual Grand Will Be Held In Philadelphia Monday, December 28 The Ann ual Grand Communication of Grand Lodge w ill be he ld Monday, D ecembe r 28, in Masonic Te mple, One North Broad Street, Philadelphia. The Annual Gra nd is being held 011 December 28 this year because St. Joh n the Evangelist's Day is a Sunday, Decembe r 27.
AN
VOLUME XVII
The .Gra~d Lodge will open a t 10 a_.m., "":Ith htghli gh t of the Communication bemg the installation of the Grand Maste r. and ot her Grand Lodge Officers. All mteres ted M asons a re invited to atte nd. Lunch will be served at approximate ly 1:30 p.m.
Be~inning December 28, 1970. the Ltbrary and Museum will be open from 9 a.m. to i p.m. Mond ay through Friday. except durina J~ly and August when the hour~ will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
OF THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF PENNSYLVANIA
NOVEMBER
e
1970
NUMBER 4
Grand Lodge Library to Mark 1DOth Year T he Library of th e Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is preparing to celebrate its tOOth anniversary nex t year . The Library has one of the most rare collections on
New Hours Announced For Library and Museum ew hours have been announced for visitors to the Library ~nd Museum of the Grand Lodge Ill .t he Mason ic Temple. PhiladelphJa.
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION
December Quarterly Set for Philadelphia The December Quarterly Communicatio n of Grand Lodge w ill be held in Phil adelphia. The Quarterly will open at 10 a.m., Wed nesday, December 2, in Masonic Temple, One North Broad Street.
Three-month Itinerary of GRAND LODGE OFFICERS The sch edule for Grand Lodge Officers the nex t three mon ths includes :
November 7 - Gra nd Master, lOOth Anniv~ rsar y, Le Ray Lodge, No. 471 , Le Ravsvdle, Bradford County. • November 14 - qrand Master, JOOth Anniversmy, Palest me Lodge, No. 471 Philadelphia. ' November 20 Grand Maste r Visitation Caldwell Consis tory, Bloomsburg Colum: The Library and Museum will bw County. ' November 21 - G rand Master, lOOth Annibe closed Satu rdays, Sundays and Bro. Hira m P. Ba ll , Righ t Worshipful versary, Laurel Lodge, No. 467 , White legal holidays. G rand Master, has re minded that this is H aven, Luze rne County. Grand Lodge Officers the Communication a t w hich the election Novembe.r 28 Bro. Frank W. Bobb, Librarian Specia l Communi cat ion , dedicate Lodg~ of Grand Lodge Office rs is conduc ted. a.nd Curator, said special visitaRoo~1, Coraopoli s Lodge, No. 674, CoraAfter a lu nc heon for the Brethre n at opoli s, Allegheny County. tions may be arra nged at other December 2 - Grand Lodge Officers, Decemthan the scheduled hours. 12: 30 P·l!l· in the Temple, the G rand be r: Qu arte rly Communication , Phi ladclLodge ~ Ill resume its la bor at 2 p.m. , ph ra. concludmg at approximately 3:30 p .m . December 3 - G r a nd Lodge Officers, Grand Ch.apter, .Ouar terly Communi cation Philadelphia . ' THE PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON Dec<:mber 4 - 9rand Lodge Officer s, m ee tSecond Class 111¥, Committee on Masonic H omes Distribution Office POSTAGE Elizabethtown. ' MASONIC HOMES Decembe.r 12 Grand Master, Cente nnial PAID AT Elizabethtown, Pa . 17022 Anniversary Ba nquet, U.S. Pre m ier ConElizabethto wn (Se nd FORM 3579 to Above Address) cla~e, Kni~h ts of the R eel Cross of ConPennsylvania statme. Unrversity Club, P ittsburgh . December 28 - Gra nd Lodge Officers, Annu~l G ra nd Communication, Philadelphia. January 16 - Grand Master, Master's Night, sponsored b~ Lu Lu T e mple, A.A .O.N. M.S ., Masonic Temple, Philadelphi a. Janu~ry 22 - Grand Lod ge Officers, meetIn¥, Commi ttee on Mason ic Homes Elizabethtown. ' February. 21-25 Grand Lodge Officers. Cont·e re nce of G rand Masters W ash ing' ton, D.C. Febr~ary 26 - 9 ra nd Lod ge Officers , meetInljl'. Commrttee o n Masonic H omes E lr zabe th town . ' February 27 - G;and Maste rs' Nigh t, sponsor~d by Syna T e mple, A.A.O.N.M.S .. POSTMASTER: Please Include Complete Imprint cf Address on Yo ur Postal Return Clipping. Syn a Mosque, Pi ttsburgh. ·
Freemasonry in the world today. From its beginning in 1871, when it had nearly 300 Masonic reference volumes on the shelves, the Library's collection today has grown to about 75,000 volumes. Bro. Frank W. Bobb, Librarian and Curator, said the Library's collection no t only contains rare books but manu- munication held December 27 , 1871. scripts, pamphlets and prints. The in- The Proceedings included this report: teresting m anuscripts include the min"Office of T he Library Committee, of utes of ea rl y Lodges, account books and the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Free co rrespondence of famou s Americans. a n d Accepted Masons, Masonic Temple, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, October, Among the Library's many rare books 1871. Brother: The Minutes of the R. W . are Be njamin Frankli n's 1734 p rinting G rand Lodge of Pennsylvania contains of Anderson's " Constitutions," the first Resolutions passed as early as March 26, book on Freemasonry printed in Amer1787, and subsequently on October 7, 1816, and March 17, 1817, showing tha t ica, and "A Pocket Companion for Freeefforts were made to esta blish a Library. Masons," published in D ublin in 1735 . Attention has also been at various times Only one other copy of the Pocket called to the subject in the addresses of Companion is known to be in existence, the R. W. Past G rand Master R ichard Vaux: Nothing appears however to have and that is in the possession of the been accomplished, and the subject was G rand Lod ge of Ireland. permitted to rest, until the Quarterly T he Library a lso has two valuable Communica tion held June 7, 1871 , when the following was unanimously adopted: lette rs of Bro. George Washington ad'WHEREAS, It has for a long time dressed to the G ra nd Lodge of Pennbeen the desire of a large number of the sylvani a. One is his reply to a Grand Brethre n, tha t the Grand Lodge of PennLodge message to him as President of sylvania should possess a Masonic Lithe United Sta tes, January 3, 1792. The brary that w ould reflect credit upen the Fraternity: and, other is his lette r of December 27, 1796, 'W HEREAS, The Building Confmittee beginning, "Fellow Citizens a nd Brothhave with a wise forethought set apart e rs of the Grand Lodge of Pe nnsyla room in the New Masonic Temple for va nia." tha t purpose. Therefore, be it Resolved, Of interest is Wi lliam Birch 's " High T hat a Committee of five be appointed to examine and arrange such material as Street, from the Country Marke t-pl ace may now be in the possession of the Philadelphia: with the procession in Gra nd Lodge, to procure, if practicable, Commemoration of the death of Gene ra l complete sets of the Proceedings of Sister Grand Lodges with which we are in corG eorge Washi ngton, D ecember 26th , respondence, and takes such other steps 1799. " Another valuable print is Max as may be necessary for the formation of Rose nthal 's "Grand Lodge R oom of the a Masonic Library'." New Masonic H all, Chestnut Street, The resolu tion was implemented w ithPhila delphia (1885) ." More familiar, perhaps, are the Li- out delay and on December 5, 1871 , the brary's rare prints by Currie r and l ves Lib ra ry Commi ttee rep orted there were of New York. They include "Washing- nearly 150 volumes of Proceedings of G rand Lodges ready for binding and ton As A Mason" and "The Masonic nearly 300 Masonic reference volum es Chart." Estab lishme n t of the Library is best on the shelves. Today the Libra ry's rare book s . a nd re lated by the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge at the Annua l Q u a rterly Com- manuscrip ts a re available for resea rch
Bro. Andrew R. Golmitz (left) of Philadelphia, Past Master of Independence Lodge, No. 723, a nd a Mason for 35 years, and Bro. Frank W. Bobb, Libraria n and Curator, looking at Benja min Franklin's 1734 printing of Anderson's "Cons titutions," the first book on Freemasonry printed in America.
by q ua lified a nd experienced p e rsons . Bro. Bobb sa id: " It is om hop e that scholars will find in our collections source material for research in those fields in which Freemasons and Freemasonry play a part. "Selected rare and inte resting items from the Library's ho ldings will regularly be on exhi bit in the Grand Lodge Museum . Since refurbishin g of the Library and Musuem du ring July and Augu st, it is gra tifying th at there h as been a marked increase in the use o f the Library by m embers of the Craft a nd by schola rs in gene ral."