3 minute read
Lucky finds
Treasure trove
Team members from the Museum of Freemasonry pick their favourite treasures from the library and archives
This February we launched a new display at the Museum of Freemasonry to showcase some of the wonderful items in our library and archives. Treasures is a rotating selection of important as well as beautiful books, documents, prints and papers. Two of the team members responsible for Treasures are Assistant Librarian Peter Aitkenhead and Assistant Archivist Louise Pichel. They share with us their personal favourites.
Peter’s favourite is the Irish Royal Arch certificate, dated 1825 What is immediately striking about this certificate is the brightness of the decoration despite the fact that it is nearly 200 years old; even the red ribbon has retained its colour.
All early Irish Royal Arch certificates have their own style, and this is no exception. Many have quite distinctive designs and are crowded with emblems. When looking through the museum’s certificates to select an example for this exhibition I found this to be one of the most striking of the hand-coloured 19th-century items we have. Unlike the mass-produced certificates of today, early examples such as this were produced specially for the recipient, making them unique.
What I found particularly interesting about this certificate is that it makes reference to elements of the Royal Arch ceremonies now no longer in use. The curtains at the top, for instance, are a reference to the Ceremony of the Veils, which disappeared in England after 1835. The text refers to a sequence of degrees once worked in England but now obsolete.
Many elements of the Royal Arch ceremony have since changed, but I noticed that the illustrations include the square, level and plumb line, which are familiar to all Freemasons as representing the Master, Senior Warden and Junior Warden of the lodge. By appearing on this 1825 Royal Arch certificate they emphasise that the relationship between the Craft and Royal Arch was just as important then as it is today.
Louise Pichel, Assistant Archivist
Louise’s selection is the minute book and bylaws book of Royal Denbigh Lodge I love an unexpected discovery. As an archivist, it’s one of the best bits of the job. I’m responsible for sorting and cataloguing records belonging to lodges that have closed down and I’m often surprised by what arrives on my desk.
One of my earliest finds was a lodge rule book, minute book and account book belonging to Royal Denbigh Lodge, dating from 1787. These are beautifully bound leather volumes and, when open, reveal even more stunning frontispieces. The fine illustrations are picked out in gold and are packed with symbolism.
Royal Denbigh Lodge wasn’t around for very long – it stopped meeting after 1811 – so it’s amazing that these volumes have survived for us to enjoy. It was common for lodges to keep books like this to
track all of their activities, but it’s rare for them to be as decorative as this. I’ve certainly never seen anything like these before, or since, and they are a powerful reminder of the people behind the records we store in the archives.
John Owens, the artist behind two of the frontispieces, was clearly very talented. The fact that he applied his skills in service to his lodge makes me wonder about members’ other talents. Although there are registers giving details of members, they often only tell half the story. John Owens is listed simply as an attorney – there’s no mention of his considerable artistic flair, so I’m very glad to have uncovered it in the records.
The museum’s library and archives collection never ceases to surprise me. I hope Treasures inspires others to delve into our collections and find their own unexpected discovery.
Treasures will run throughout 2020 in the library at the Museum of Freemasonry. The library is free to use and open to all if you are keen on delving deeper. Register as a reader during your first visit to discover more about Freemasonry’s history and enjoy the treasures left to us all.
