Museums Association visits Vienna

The Association of Masonic Museums Libraries and Archives has members from most of the European Grand Lodge Museums and its annual conference is hosted by each in turn. This year to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth it travelled to Vienna and Budapest where major new exhibitions were integrating Freemasonry in what they showed.
    The Albertina in Vienna is the city’s major art gallery and its Mozart exhibition was the nation’s most high profile commemoration. Curated overall by Herbert Lachmeyer it celebrated not only the man but his times and showed that this elegant period was in fact one of the most radical in history. In all the publicity for the exhibition the role of Freemasonry was mentioned. From Vienna the conference participants headed east to Budapest.
    The Hungarian National Museum has had a curator of masonic collections since 1981, a brave decision since masonry was banned in the communist era and collecting of its artefacts forbidden. The core of the collection was from one mason Auer Miklos who presented it to the museum. For 25 years the curator has worked to have masonry accepted as an organic part of Hungarian history. The furniture of a lodge of the late 1800s is on display in the 20th century public gallery. Another display case features early Masonic artefacts and next to it is the small harpsichord used by the infant Mozart.
    In Austria, where masonry is nearly invisible in public life, and in Hungary, where until 25 years ago it was an imprisonable offence, major public collections commemorate its role in the life of their nations. Yet curiously, in Britain no national museum displays its collections.

Inauguration of the District Grand Lodge of Bermuda

History was made in Bermuda recently when the Pro Grand Master, Lord Northampton, inaugurated the District Grand Lodge of Bermuda. Assisted by James Bain, District Grand Master Bahamas and Turks, and Dr. Ishmael Hosein, District Grand Master Trinidad & Tobago, the Pro Grand Master installed Robert William Rego as the first District Grand Master. Previously Bermuda had been an Inspectorate with Robert Rego being the Grand Inspector. Besides the District Grand Masters from the Caribbean there were many distinguished Brethren present from both the United States and the Caribbean and from the Irish and Scottish Constitutions in Bermuda. These included the Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Leslie A. Lewis, the District Grand Master of Bahamas and Turks (Scottish Constitution) Bro. L. Edgar Moxey, the Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bermuda, (Irish Constitution), St.Clair B. Tucker and the Grand Superintendent of the Scottish Lodges in Bermuda, Lawrence M. Davis. After the Inauguration and the Installation of the Officers, the Pro Grand Master honoured Charles W. Kempe, the Past Grand Inspector, with the rank of Past Junior Grand Warden in recognition of the work he had done for Freemasonry in Bermuda across the three Constitutions.

Masonic College Founded in Maine

The recently elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine USA, had a vision of a way to inaugurate masonic education in his jurisdiction. A number of Freemasons in Maine had concerns about the standard of masonic education, and they met to lay out a plan for an educational program that would motivate and stimulate masons both new or veteran, young or old. After several meetings over the course of a few months, these Brethren announced their recommendation that Maine Masonry create a Masonic College, offering a new paradigm of instruction beyond what is available in many masonic jurisdictions throughout the world.
    Past Grand Master Walter M. Macdougall, a university professor and one of the steering group, had written about the need for education in masonry in a presentation to the Maine Lodge of Research nearly thirty years earlier. The group were charged with providing an educational environment for the purpose of inspiring masons to explore the nature and purpose of Freemasonry which would lead to a deeper understanding of the founding principles, tenets, and lessons of the fraternity.
    The first college course was offered early this year with the title ‘Symbols: Who Needs Them?’ taught by a psychiatrist with a specific interest in the topic. District Deputy Grand Master Eric W. Kuntz’s presentation was regarded as perhaps the best program that anyone had attended on this subject. The second course also focused on symbolism and was taught by a mason who is a university instructor, Charles Plummer. Past Grand Master George Macdougall taught the third course on philosophy. Those who attended all three of these courses saw a burgeoning opportunity to learn and grow.

New Zealand Freemasons Active Promotion

Freemasons organised the active promotion of Freemasonry by mounting a display at local Agricultural & Pastoral shows, Highland games at Waipu and field days throughout the north island of New Zealand. This is hugely successful with many prospective candidates being identified who are now members of Lodges.
    ‘We have ample proof that these activities work to the advantage of Freemasonry in the North, boosting our numbers,’ says Peter Packard, Membership Officer for District One. Eighteen months ago Deputy Grand Master Bryan Wiig donated a seventeen foot Liteweight caravan to the District for it to be professionally refurbished and used for the promotion of Freemasonry in the north. This presented a real challenge to the Brethren in Whangarei and an enthusiastic team of willing workers set about the caravan’s refurbishment.
    The Northland District Masonic Trust quickly saw the benefits expanding to include the promotion of the Trust’s objective in providing subsidised housing for the elderly in Northland. Considerable funding was made available for the caravan’s refurbishment from the promotional budgets of three of the Trust’s villages.
    The caravan’s exposure has resulted in bookings from other Districts keen to use the caravan in their areas, which the Northland District Masonic Trust has agreed to.
    The caravan is currently parked at the Maunu Masonic Village, close to the road into Whangarei from Dargaville where it is in full view of the passing public. Many excellent comments are forthcoming from passers by and also from motorists who have seen the caravan on the road.
    With acknowledgement to New Zealand Freemason.

Lexington Museum Celebrates American Revolution

The National Heritage Museum at Lexington, Massachusetts is often described as having two parents, the Scottish Rite on the one hand, and Lexington and its surroundings, where the idea of American liberty was born, on the other. This year those parents are working together to raise $440,000 to create a major exhibition for the institution and a companion curriculum called ‘Seeds of Liberty’.
    The Museum was opened in 1975 as a bicentennial gift to the nation from the Scottish Rite Masons of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Located in the grounds of Supreme Council headquarters it is one of the Rite’s four main charities. The new cornerstone exhibition is designed to explain the battle of Lexington and Concord, the crucial events that led to it, and its evolution into a fullscale revolution, which resulted in a new nation. It also explores the role of Freemasonry in the birth of the United States, through the involvement of such people as George Washington, John Hancock, Paul Revere, James Otis, and Joseph Warren.
    The curriculum, developed in conjunction with the physical displays, will be made available for use in schools throughout the country. This project is a shared involvement between masons and the community.
    Lexington resident Elsa Sullivan, who has agreed to head up the committee of local volunteers, said ‘Like Freedom, this museum is not really free. There may be no admission price, but it takes hard work and commitment, both in time and money, to make it work and to allow it to grow.’
    The new exhibition will tell the story of the beginnings of the American Revolution, events which took place less than a mile from the museum.
    It is anticipated that ‘Seeds of Liberty’ will attract more than a million visitors during its lifetime, expecting to last until 2013.
    With acknowledgement to Northern Light.

Australian Freemasons make a difference in East Timor

More than 5,000 East Timorese have benefitted from the Working Tools For East Timor campaign, and the number grows each year as they and their skilled owners spread throughout the fledgling nation.
    Money for this has been raised by the Grand Lodge of Victoria, Australia. Since the tools were delivered in 2003, Christian Salesian Brothers, a Catholic Order supported by the Grand Lodge of Victoria, have distributed the tools to technical colleges and to villages where they have immediately been put to work.
    Salesian Brother Marcal Lopes, headmaster of the Don Bosco Technical School at Fatumaca, says the tools have been dispatched throughout the country.
    ‘The tools are now being used by students in our school and also in neighbouring villages,’ he said.
    Don Bosco Technical School Fatumaca is a regular school with 270 young men aged 16 to 23 enrolled in a three-year programme specialising in carpentry and cabinet making, metalwork, basic engineering and machine tools, electricity and electronics.
    ‘Overall there are not a lot of job opportunities in East Timor at present. I often see our former students in Dili employed as carpenters, electricians and motor mechanics,’ Bro. Marcal said.
    ‘Having a greater number of hand tools means that each student is now able to access them without having to wait for another person to finish.
    ‘I am especially grateful for the range of tools which was given. We could never have hoped to purchase them.’
    Tools have also been distributed to 5,200 people in eight villages in the Fatumaca and Gariuai regions. ‘Almost three years have passed and the tools are still being used and are in good condition. We have to say these tools - very expensive here in East Timor and beyond the reach of local people - have helped our people raise their standard of life,’ said Bro. Rui Gomes, the Rector of the Fatumaca Salesian Community.
    With acknowledgement to Freemasonry Victoria.