Conserving an 1851 Scottish Rite Dispensation to Form a Grand Lodge of Perfection

by Jeffrey Croteau, Director of the Van Gorden-Williams Library and Archives

Every document has a story to tell. The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing access to the rich history of American Freemasonry. To this end, the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives recently had an early Scottish Rite document from the 1850s professionally conserved. Signed by then-Sovereign Grand Commander John James Joseph Gourgas, the document is a dispensation to form a Grand Lodge of Perfection, issued by the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, and dated January 20, 1851.

Bearing two seals and familiar Scottish Rite mottoes in Latin at the top, the document contains densely written text surrounded by a simple border. At 171 years old, the document had started to come apart many years ago and was repaired, likely by its Masonic owners, long before the field of professional paper conservation had been established. Back in the 19th century, after much folding, the document had begun to tear along the seams. It was repaired—maybe in the late 19th or early 20th century—by pasting the pieces to two pieces of cloth using a lot of hide (i.e., animal-based) glue.

The Conservation Process

The Library & Archives hired Bryan Owen, a professional paper conservator, to perform the conservation work. Before beginning the project, Owen determined that all of the different inks used on the document would be unaffected by moderate water contact. Owen then removed the old cloth backing, scraped off the glue, and reassembled the pieces using contemporary—and reversible— conservation techniques. In short, he used strips of Japanese paper and wheat starch paste.

The Importance of the Document

This document is a dispensation, which functions as a provisional charter, granted to a group of Freemasons who are asking to form a new Masonic body. After a certain amount of time— often a year—the group making the request is granted a charter and is no longer operating “under dispensation.” The Supreme Council, 33°, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, issued this particular dispensation to a group of Masons to form a “Grand Lodge of Perfection” as well as a “Grand Council Princes of Jerusalem.” The petitioners, who were granted the dispensation, were all members and officers of New York City’s Empire City Lodge No. 206.

Dispensation to form a Grand Lodge of Perfection, 1851 New York, New York. Collection of Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, A2022/078.

The content of the dispensation reflects an interesting time in American Masonic history. For example, while the York Rite’s Councils of Royal & Select Masters have long been the sole group authorized to work the Select Masons of 27 (i.e., Select Master), Royal Master, and Super Excellent Master degrees, this was not always the case. In the 1840s and 1850s, the Supreme Council, NMJ, gave permission to Scottish Rite Lodges of Perfection to confer these degrees. This 1851 dispensation explicitly states that the Supreme Council further authorizes “the said Brethren to open whenever necessary a Council of Select Masons of 27 and to initiate all Grand Elect Perfect and Sublime Masons (i.e., 14th degree members) who shall petition for the same and are found worthy into said degree of ‘Select Masons of 27’ and the appendant degrees—Royal Master and Super Excellent Master.” This was not an unusual practice; just the year before, the NMJ’s Supreme Council had issued a circular proclaiming its right to confer these degrees. It was not until later in the 19th century that the Scottish Rite’s Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and Southern Jurisdiction eventually relinquished control of those degrees to the York Rite.

Now that this document has been conserved, it can be preserved and made available to researchers seeking to discover more about the Scottish Rite in the mid-19th century.

The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives is located in Lexington, Massachusetts, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library and is open to the public.

Have questions? Drop us a line at library@srmml.org or give us a call at 781-457-4109.