A Tiny Restoration, With a Big Impact Pt 2

by Midnight Freemason Contributor 

Bro. Robert Johnson 32°

Trimming off the old stuff.

There it sat, ripped pieces laying around this great piece of art. The next step was to trim off all that old warped white board. So I pulled out my mat cutter and got to work. It was no problem at all, except for, you know, this was the only one, I could only do this once. I could NOT mess this up. 

After the cuts

So I lined up my edges, took special care and cut away. After making my cuts, I set it aside and really looked at it. For the first time since I had been in possession of this lithograph, I could focus on IT instead of the tattered, stained and warped edges. Essentially I had “broke off the rough and superfluous parts” to coin one of our terms. 

Measuring. 

Next was to pick out some colors for the matting. My “Blue” lodge is home to a few Masonic bodies including a Royal Arch chapter. So I decided, not knowing if this belonged to the RAM chapter or one of the Blue lodges, to use the colors of each of them, a blue mat for the inside and a red for the outside. It looked nice mocked up anyway.

The mock-up.

Next was cutting those mats, which is a bit harder than just cutting off the old parts of a curled mat board. I had to measure precisely the opening and what not. It’s not super complicated, but it can be nerve-racking, especially since I was doing this on a Sunday and the store which carries mat board is closed in the event I had a mishap. 

Needless to say it went fine I laid them together, I liked what I saw and now just needed to put it in a frame. The final project was a complete success. When I brought it in the following Monday, the Brothers couldn’t believe what I had done with it. The Worshipful Master of the lodge even gave me some credit in open lodge at that nights stated meeting. It now hangs in the dining hall. 

The finished piece.

It had an impact to most of the brothers there in the sense that the enthusiasm to keep Masonic treasures like these and others well kept is not dead. In fact it is the complete opposite. Many Brothers I know from around the county preserve special pieces from their lodges history by not only just cleaning them but building showcases and the like. It really is part of who we are. 

Next time you see something that you think is special, Masonic or not, make a big deal about it, start a project to restore it and bring back some history. You will be surprised to see the reactions and the new found appreciation that comes alive. 

~RHJ


Sir Knight Robert Johnson, 32° is the editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog.  He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar, and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago.  Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.

A Tiny Restoration With a Big Impact Pt 1

by Midnight Freemason Contributor 

Bro. Robert Johnson 32°

Badly stained.

As is usually the case, sometimes things break in your lodge and you have to fix them. In our case, this time it was a bad piece of drywall in the men’s room. So Brother Bob who is the Senior Warden and I headed into the basement to look and see if we had any extra pieces. Walking under our building is a bit creepy and I think its kind of fun. I never know what I’ll find down there. We cleaned it once before and found an old Masonic lightbulb, a United States flag with only 48 stars on it and an old printing press from way back, when we used to make our own trestle boards and send them out. 

Ripped.

This time, I saw a white curled board under a light sitting on one of our old alters which had come from another lodge which joined with ours some time ago. I walked over to it and was amazed to find an old lithograph portraying the building of King Solomon's Temple. I knew in an instant I had to take this back upstairs and tell the brothers  my plan, which was that I was going to take it home, clean it, cut it,  re-mat and frame it. They didn't seem too enthused or care much. Perhaps maybe they thought it was just another case of an empty promise or broken heart syndrome.

The reveal.

When I got home I laid it down snapped a picture of it and decided to document the process. Needless to say it sat around in my office for a few days. Then on a Sunday afternoon, I did the first steps. I cleaned it off by lightly dusting it. Then next step was to find out if there was more to the picture under the existing mat board which was either glued by chemical or merely the drippings of a leaky basement over the course of God-only-knows how long.

So I carefully peeled a bit away and discovered much to my satisfaction, there was nothing under it. So I began the very delicate process of...well, just tearing it off. There was work to do, and I wasn't finished just yet.

To be continued.

~RHJ


Sir Knight Robert Johnson, 32° is the editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog.  He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar, and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago.  Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.

Teddy Roosevelt "Get on the Horse!"

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.W.B Michael H. Shirley

I’m not much of a shopper, but I’m married to one. My wife and I can go into a store selling nearly anything and I’ll be done looking and ready to go before she’s made it past the first display. But we both love antique malls, and there our styles complement each other: she’ll look at every item, while I’ll do five laps to see if something catches my eye. Sometimes she’ll see something I’ve missed and show it to me as I run past, and sometimes I’ll find something I think she’ll like and go get her to accelerate her shopping experience. It works for us, we have fun, and occasionally we find something we have to have.

Recently, we found ourselves in a consignment and antique shop, and as I was preparing for my customary laps, she pointed at a framed photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and said, “What do you think of this?” It looked like a page cut from a magazine, behind rough glass in a homemade wooden frame, showing a grinning Roosevelt on horseback, looking too alive and vital to just be a record of a moment in 1906. I bought it, took it home, and hung it in my library. 

Theodore Roosevelt has never been a particular hero of mine, although he’s fascinating to even the most casual observer. I’ve never been particularly taken with his career, although I’m grateful for his championing of national parks. Even among Masonic presidents, he’s not at the top in my personal pantheon (Harry Truman stands there alone). But in that picture he embodies a Masonic quality better than any other public figure of whom I’m aware: doing things with great joy. From his sickly childhood to his early death, Theodore Roosevelt believed in doing things. Whether it was hunting big game, exploring the Amazon, reforming the New York police, organizing a volunteer company to fight in Cuba, using the presidency as a bully pulpit, or just getting on horseback for a vigorous ride, he was never still. He lived each day as if there weren’t enough hours to do all that needed to be done. “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind,” he wrote, “but great actions speak to all mankind.” He was a truly joyful man of action, and his life spoke loudly to anyone who paid attention. As it still does.

So now that picture hangs on my wall, where Brother Roosevelt, still seemingly alive over a century later, reminds every day me that I have things to do, that the opportunity to do them is to be seized, and that I should do it all joyfully. Roosevelt loved all forms of exercise, but it was on horseback that he seemed most fully alive. It might be a metaphor for his remarkable life, and it reminds me daily of his example. That picture tells me to get on the horse, take the reins in my hands, and ride. 



R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley is the Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master for the Eastern Area for the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M.  He is the Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.

Fun Saturday At The Pork and Apple Festival In Clinton, Illinois

It doesn't get much better than this.  Sitting on the ground on a cool Fall afternoon, eating a bowl of beans simmered in cast iron pots over a wood fire, and wearing a goofy hat while listening to bluegrass music played by a group that really knows how to play it.

This was only the second year we visited the Pork and Apple Festival, but it's already one of my favorite festivals--the food wins hands down.  Of all the festival foods, I look forward to those beans most of all.  I don't know what the secret ingredient is, but they are fantastic.  And I must admit, those ham sandwiches are really good too.  I'd have to say, however, the pork chop sandwichs served by the Lion's Club at the Arcola Broomcorn Festival is right towards the top of my list too.

It was a beautiful day to spend out with the family.  I didn't find many Masonic collectibles, but Valerie knocked a huge hole in the craft supply, and Katie particularly enjoyed the petting zoo.  I made a new discovery as well.

We visited the town square before we left, and while Valerie and Katie were shopping, I saw a little coffee shop, and paid it a visit.  You ever have a beverage that was so good you're still thinking about it three days later?  That was my experience there. The coffee shop was called "The Loft" and it was a really neat little place with a gorgeous brass expresso machine. I found them on Facebook later on, and discovered the woman that made me that fantastic Mocha was the owner, Amanda.  That Mocha alone made it worth the hour drive to Clinton for me (of course I got very little of it once Valerie tasted it). 

So I guess after our second fun trip to the festival in Clinton, it's now destined to become a part of our regular fall festival rotation--of course if you eat two bowls of those beans while you're there like I did, you might want to roll the window down on your way home.

~TEC

Famous Canadian Freemason Honored: Oscar Peterson

This piece came from The Watermark which is the newsletter of the Valley of Ottawa Masonic Stamp Club in Canada and used with the permission of its editor, Bro. Larry Burden.  Be sure and visit the link.  The beautifully designed newsletter is full of interesting content not only about stamps, but also about history and Freemasonry.  Take a look.  Hopefully, Bro. Burden will let me share a few more gems from that publication in the the future.

Famous Canadian jazz Pianist and Freemason Oscar Peterson (1925 - 2007) was honoured with a life size statue that sits outside the National Arts Center in the nation's capital.  It was unveiled a year ago by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 

Unlike most statues of famous people that are placed on high pedestals and are out of the reach of the viewer, the Oscar Peterson statue is at ground level on the sidewalk.  There is room on the piano seat for people to sit a spell or pose with Oscar.  In the year that it has been in place it has become on of Ottawa's most popular attractions and you regularly see people from all over the world posing with Oscar.  What a great tribute to an amazing man. 

In 2005, Canada Post produced a 50-cent stamp of him in honour of his 80th birthday.

~The Watermark

Masonic Collectibles: Let The Rummaging Begin

Covered Bridge Festival
Parke County, Indiana.

It seems to come around a little quicker each year--the Fall Festival season.  The Broom Corn Festival in lovely downtown Arcola, Illinois usually kicks it off for us (and that's this weekend), and it wraps up with the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Indiana, which is the largest--and there are many more festivals in between.  My wife loves them, and my only job is to not complain, and to haul all the stuff back to the car (and the rule seems to be the further away the car is parked, the heavier the items are she buys).  One year she bought a tree.  We were at a festival in Indiana, our car was parked in Missouri I think, and she bought a tree.

Of course, I enjoy it a lot more now that I have something to look for.  I'm always looking to add to my odd collection of Masonic memorabilia.  You just never know what you're going to find, and some of these festivals and flea markets are treasure troves full of Masonic treasures--or trash and trinkets as my wife calls them.  As I've said before, one person's trash is anothers treasure.

Not my door knob, but similar

I've found all kinds of neat things over the years at these festivals.  It's not hard to find the usual items, like tie tacks, cuff links, lapel pins, etc., but I'm always looking for the more unique items.  One of the stranger things I've found was an old brass doorknob a few years ago. 

It's surprising the range of Masonic items that are out there, from Knight's Templar swords, to pocket watches, to Past Master whiskey decanters.  I even found an old meerschaum pipe a few years ago.  Once you find these things, don't let them go.  I still regret not buying that bronze monkey statue in Savannah several years ago (it was wearing a fez).  I cheaped out, and now I'll probably never find another one like that.



I'll share one trick with you.  When you go to these festivals and flea markets, they are often in small towns--don't forget to check out all the permanent shops (especially the antique shops) while you're there.  And always go through the stacks.  I found a really interesting old postcard of the Medinah Shrine in Chicago in a stack of old letters a few years ago.  Very often, these antique shops will be a little more generous in negotiating price with you since they're competing against a huge flea market. 


Masonic Jim Beam whisky decanter

Oddly enough, a couple weeks ago, I was in Chicago, waiting to eat at Pizzeria Due in downtown Chicago with a group of Masons and their wives.  I looked across the street, and you'll never guess what was there.  The original Medinah Shrine looking just as it did in that postcard (except it's a department store now). 

So for those of you, like me, that look at the fall festival season as the beginning of your hunting season for unique collectibles, happy hunting (and if you don't collect, and you happen to stumble on something you think I'd like, remember that Christmas is just around the corner.)

~TEC 

 

Masonic Collectibles: One Man's Trash . . .

One thing I've discovered since I joined the Fraternity, is that there are a lot of collectors of Masonic memorabilia--and I'm one of them.  It's unbelievable how much of this stuff is out there.  You could fill an entire library with just books on the topic of Freemasonry (and many collectors do).  And of course you'll need a few Masonic bookends for that library (and I don't know how many different kinds of Masonic bookends I've run across).

Old Scottish Rite ring (date unknown)

Another highly collectible favorite is antique Masonic jewlery--the quality and styling of some of the old Masonic rings is absolutely stunning.  And there are watches, tie tacks, lapel pins, cuff links, shirt studs.  And you'll find it everywhere.  Garage sales, flea markets, antique stores, thrift shops, estate sales.  You could never collect it all in a lifetime--especially the lapel pins.

Good example of a Royal Arch Penny

Some of the jewelry will run you, but the nice thing about collecting Masonic memorabilia is that you don't have to spend a fortune to build a nice collection.  I only have a modest collection, but I started by collecting Royal Arch Chapter Pennies.  My wife dragged me to the Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana (as she does every year).  It's acres and acres of flea markets.  I got bored and started looking in cases.  I found an old Royal Arch penny in one of the cases.  I bought it, and then I was on a mission from that point forward.  I found four more that day before we left, and never paid more than $3 for one.  And that's how it began.
 

Masonic postcard

Some collectors get pretty specific.  Some only collect items from one Masonic body--like the Scottish Rite or Shrine.  Other's just collect one thing--I know a collector in Ohio that only collects Knights Templar swords.  He won't tell me how many he has, which is a good sign he has a lot.  Another guy I know collects Masonic tableware (that's right, plates, glassware, cutlery, etc.)  Back in the day, and still in many places today, the Freemasons put on very fancy dinners and table lodges.  And there are a lot of Masons that collect Masonic prints, photographs, and postcards.

Another fun part of collecting is finding things for other collectors you know.  It's always fun to run across something that doesn't interest you very much, but you know one of your friends would flip over. I ran across an old Shriners fez not too long ago, and sent a picture with no text attached to a guy I know that collects Shriners memorabilia. I got a two word response--how much?  Boy was he happy when I told him what it was selling for! 

I collect a little bit of everything. One of my favorite pieces is one I got for my birthday a couple years ago from my parents. Could you think of  better gift for a Mason known for writing books about Famous American Freemasons, than an old print featuring a group of famous American Freemasons? 

So next time your wife drags you antiquing, or to the fleas market, why don't you see if you can find any old Masonic stuff amongst the treasurers on display.  You might just find a passion for collecting like many other Masons have, and instead of your wife dragging you to those things, you'll be dragging her! 

Happy collecting!

~TEC