“Freemasonry: A History Hidden in Plain Sight”

(A Masonic Exhibit – now a  Road Show)

What started out as a small local project celebrating the history of the Masonic fraternity (and its contribution to our country, province and county) is attracting attention from across Canada.     The project, spearheaded by the members of St. Lawrence Masonic Lodge No. 131 in Southampton, Ontario, in celebration of their 150^th Anniversary, grew over time to include all of the 15 Masonic lodges in Bruce County. The Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre acted as host to the project and provided very significant support in the form of artistic design and curatorial assistance. The committee was able to take advantage of funding provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, thus making this project possible in its current form.

The goal was to create an extensive exhibit celebrating the role of Freemasonry in the development of our country, province and county. The purpose was to inform, arouse curiosity and promote the cultural identity of Freemasonry in Canadian communities.

The reception by the public to the exhibit during its term, which ran from April 30^th to July 3, 2011, exceeded all expectations. Despite having a relatively short run and despite being in a shoulder season, the exhibit was visited by several thousand people.  The Bruce County Museum hopes to set up the exhibit again during its peak season within the next five years.

The exhibit itself was quite extensive, taking over the entire 2100 square foot (112 m. squared) Bruce Gallery in the Bruce County Museum. The exhibit traced the development of Freemasonry from medieval time to the present and provided a unique window into a world that is not well understood by the general public, but one that they are eager to learn more about.

A series of very large shadow boxes formed the framework of the exhibit. Each shadow box housed artifacts and information depicting and explaining a single element of the overall theme.  Trade Guilds in Medieval times, The Stonemasons Guild, The Enlightenment, Masonic Charity, Wooden Ships and Iron Men and Freemasonry in Modern Culture are some of the topics covered in this manner. Supporting these large shadow boxes were smaller panels depicting, among other things, the migration of Freemasonry from Great Britain to the “New World” and into the forest and farmlands of Upper Canada.

Among the prized artifacts on display was the Masonic Apron belonging to Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadian who led the troops in the successful taking of Vimy Ridge in World War One and a small inscribed dirk (sword) which was carried by a British officer on the Plains of Abraham under General Wolfe. These artifacts were made available through the kind offices of the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Portraits of famous Masons past and present, Canadian and international, were placed within the exhibit. Crowning the exhibit was a complete and functional Lodge Room set up as it would have been in Victorian times. (Of special note, this lodge room was used to host an actual lodge meeting in the evening hours, after the museum closed for the day, during the period it was on exhibit). Interpreters were provided at all times during the exhibit to answer any questions that the public might have had. Another important aspect of this exhibit was the participation of each of the 15 Lodges within the county. Each Lodge was invited to present their lodge’s history for a period of time during the Exhibit which allowed each Lodge to tell its story and display artifacts unique to their community.

Portions of the exhibit will be on display at the Lennox-Addington Museum in Napanee Ontario beginning on Friday May 25, 2012. Prominent museums from other regions of Ontario as well as Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia have expressed interest in having the exhibit travel to their communities.

For more information on how you can have this outstanding exhibit visit your museum please go to the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre Link below.

http://www.brucemuseum.ca/

To request a DVD video walk-through of the exhibit at our facility to share with colleagues, please contact Anne Frost, Traveling Exhibits Co-ordinator (see below).

Anne Frost,
Tel: 519 797 2080 x 105;
Fax: 519 797 2191
Email (preferred): [email protected]

The History of this huge undertaking

Here is a very brief summary of the process followed and outcome produced by the Masons of Bruce District. The end result of this work is an Exhibit of Masonic history and information entitled “Freemasonry: A History Hidden in plain Sight”. The exhibit has grown legs since it’s conception in 2009 and it is hoped that it travels throughout Canada (and perhaps even south of the border).

Here we go:

• Late in 2008 a decision was made to look into staging a small exhibit of Masonic material at the Bruce County Museum in Southampton as part of the 150^th Anniversary of St. Lawrence lodge No. 131
• Museum staff were very receptive and initial contact was made with our Grand Lodge.
• A small committee was struck and a series of brainstorming sessions were held to try and establish scope for the exhibit.
• The services and expertise of V.W. Bro. Dan Glenney, Grand Historian  were recommended to us. V.W. Bro. Glenney is our Grand Historian and was employed in senior positions at the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian museum of Civilization in Ottawa. This association was to prove to be invaluable!
• It was decided that funding the project was going to be an issue. We requested a $100.00 donation from each Lodge to get us started and one of our committee members took on the task of applying for a provincial Grant. After a lot of paperwork we were successful in getting a Trillium Foundation Grant without which we would have been in desperate need for $$$!
• The concept of a District Exhibit was introduced at the Bruce District Masters and Wardens Meeting and at each of the DDGM’s Official visits. It was decided that because this was going to be staged in a County facility we would invite the Lodges which were outside of our District but within the County to participate. Visits to each of these Lodges, Tiverton, Kincardine and Lucknow took place and all three Lodges happily joined in the project.
• One of the features of our exhibit which proved to be a big hit was to a lot each of the lodges a period of time during the run of the Exhibit to display their history and material (photos, old minute books, etc etc).This was rotated from Lodge to Lodge during the exhibit. Without exception the Lodges saw a resurgence in their own history and pride in showing to the public. Each Lodge manned their exhibit during their term at the Museum and acted a interpreters for the public.
• We visited the Masonic Lodge at Black Creek Village in Toronto to get a closer look at how best to host an exhibit and to look at the program in use at Black Creek which sees hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The coordinator of the program at Black Creek, Mac McAusland also became a valuable resource to us.
• The scope of the project started to come together and it was starting to be clear that we were going to have to ask for a pretty large room to hold this in. The Bruce County Museum staff made the entire 2200 square feet of the Bruce Gallery available to us.
• A decision was made to set up a complete functioning Lodge Room as it would have looked in Victorian times. This became a real hit with the public most of whom had never seen or been in a Lodge Room. The furniture was acquired from a Lodge that had amalgamated with another Lodge so their furniture wasn’t needed. Unfortunately it had all been stored in a garage and had a lot of rodent “presence” dust and dirt. Members set about to refurbish and refinish and at the end we had a very nice clean Lodge Room to show off.
• A number of names for the exhibit were floated but in the end the Grand Master, Raymond S.J. Daniels came up with the one we use today, “Freemasonry. A History Hidden in Plain Sight” .
• Artifacts for the exhibit were “scrounged” from wherever we could get them and our Grand Lodge Museum generously loaned us some very interesting and historically significant items.
• The exhibit basically walks a viewer through the various periods in History from;

o   the very early times – Operative Masons, establishment of Grand Lodges in England , Scotland, Ireland and so on.

o   The migration of Freemasonry to the New World.

o   The renaissance,

o   Freemasonry today,

o   Military Lodges,

o   Concordant bodies

o   Philanthropy and Benevolence

• There is information on the Symbology of Freemasonry
• A collection of Portraits of famous Freemasons through history
• Some very unique and interesting historical artifacts including a “dirk”(small sword) carried by an Officer under General Wolf at the Plains of Abraham inscribed with the Square and Compasses.
• And finally the Lodge room itself. We actually held a full meeting in this space and it was packed 4 deep all around the room. V.W. Glenney made a presentation after the meeting in the Museum Auditorium which was very well received.

So obviously it took a lot of work by a lot of people to put this on but by all accounts it has been a success. During the term of the exhibit from April 30 to July 4 2011 approx. 5000 people visited the Museum! I could go on and on but can’t tonight because I have to get ready for a virtual Lodge meeting….see you then!!

Fraternally,

Rob Schular