History

  • The Royal Arch and Ancient Egyptian Ritual

    A new Video! The Royal Arch and Ancient Egyptian Ritual is an extract from the book ‘History of Royal Arch Masonry (Volume 1)’ by Everett R. Turnbull & Ray V. Denslow. It was first published in 1959.

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  • The Enigma of King Solomon’s Temple

    A new Video! The Enigma of Solomon’s Temple is a lecture by Robert Roman, 32°. I do not know when it was published, but the text refers to the recent discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. The last tranche of scrolls was discovered in 1956. It provides a concise overview of the scope, scale and

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  • Rough and Perfect

    Rough and Perfect

    A new Video! If you’re the sort of person who spends sleepless nights worrying about Tarsel Boards and Broach’d Thurnels, then Rough and Perfect is JUST FOR YOU 😇 It is another anonymous lecture from the Short Talk Bulletin. In this case published in August 1933.

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  • The Morgan Affair

    The Morgan Affair

    A new Video! The ‘Morgan Affair’ was the tremendous controversy that followed the disappearance of William Morgan just prior to his publishing a Masonic expose in the 1820’s. So great was the scandal that it nearly destroyed Freemasonry in the United States, and its impacts are still being felt to this day. This anonymous text

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  • Two Reflections on the Royal Ark Mariner Degree

    A new Video! A compilation of two short presentations given in 1969 on the RAM. One is by A.J.M Stoney and the other by O.A.C Davies. Both were presented to the Queensland Chapter of Research, No. 100. While both address the same topic, I think the difference in approaches is instructive.

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  • Of Order in Architecture

    This video is an extract from William Shaver’s Masonic Monitor of 1907, which is itself based upon Webb’s ‘Freemason’s Monitor’ of 1816. It gives an overview of the features of the 5 Orders of Architecture with a particular focus on our old friends, the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

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  • The Landmarks of Freemasonry

    A new Video! A commentary on and analysis of the 25 “ancient, universal and immutable” landmarks published by Albert Mackey in the American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry in 1858. Although clearly dated, error strewn and contentious to the modern reader, Mackey’s “landmarks” form a fascinating side-road in the histoy of the Craft. The paper “The

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  • The Silver Screen: Masonry in the Movies

    A new Video! The Craft occupies a small, but intriguing niche in the history of cinema. This video explores some of the more notable examples of Freemasonry on the silver screen and will test your filmic knowledge with a particularly challenging quiz at the end!

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  • The Mystery of the Green Dragon Tavern and the Boston Tea Party

    A new Video! For our American brethren, this is a paper by Edward M. Gair which looks at the close Masonic connections with the Boston Tea Party, the event which triggered the American War of Independence. It looks at the crucial role played by the Green Dragon Tavern, lodge building, meeting place and safe house

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  • Masonic blue

    Masonic blue

    A new Video! This anonymous presentation from July 1934 examines why ‘Blue’ is universally recognised as the Masonic colour and comes up with two contradictory theories to explain it!

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  • Golden Sentences

    Golden Sentences

    A new Video! This is a very early address given by De Witt Clinton in 1793 upon the occasion of his Installation. In it he outlines the fundamental tenets of the Craft, which have remained unchanged to this day. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

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  • Mummies!

    Mummies!

    A new Video! Next year is the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter. I had intended to save this video for that anniversary, but I’m going though a bit af an Ancient Egyptian phase at the moment, so here it is. This anonymous lecture was first presented in January

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  • Masonic Timeline – The Royal Arch

    A new video! Owing to work commitments I don’t have time to edit up a full video this week. Instead here is a video of a Zoom presentation I did for the Qld Royal Arch Study Circle recently. It follows on from the Masonic Timeline of the Craft degrees from a few weeks ago. Apologies

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  • The Twelve Original Points of Freemasonry

    A new Video! An interesting little undated and anonymous presentation from some time in the 1940’s or 50’s I believe, which details the ‘12 Original Points‘ of antient freemasonry. I’m not too sure of it’s historical veracity, but it will be of particular interest to Royal Arch masons. I wasn’t aware that any such details

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  • Bronze Castings in Freemasonry

    A new Video! “Bronze Castings in Freemasonry – How they may have been built”, is another meticulously researched paper from Harvey Lovewell (and we know what that means – Maths content ahead!). It was first presented at the ANZMRC Kellerman lectures in 1998. Thanks again to Harvey for permission to reproduce this work.

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  • The Art of Memory and Masonry

    A new Video! The Art of Memory and Masonry is a fascinating and expertly researched talk was written by Clarence A. Anderson. I have tried my best to find a date for the text, but have been unsuccessful. My researches have found that there is a Clarence A. Anderson Jr. currently a member of St

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  • The True Masonic Student

    A new Video! The True Masonic Student is a short presentation by Brother A.T. Hinchcliffe given to the Toowoomba Lodge of Instruction on 2 September 1954. Brother Hinchcliffe examines the meaning of the seven liberal arts and sciences to Freemasonry and identifies the ‘true’ calling for the student of Masonry.

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