General Grand Lodge Papers and Individual Lodge Papers.             

These papers were first collected and arranged in 1935-8 under the supervision of the Grand Secretary Charles H.Johnson. The Grand Secretary’s Report in the Grand Lodge Proceedings for 1936 describes the scope of the collection as follows:

The older papers upon which we have concentrated our attention in this period include the General Papers of the Grand Lodge and of the old Grand Steward’s Lodge which was abolished in 1854; the papers and returns of some 500 extinct Lodges, most of which went down in the Morgan anti­ Masonic movement of a century ago; and the papers of older living Lodges, including their returns to 1839, when the present numbering of the Lodges was adopted.             [p. 34]

The Proceedings for 1938 report a broadening of the scope of the individual lodge collection, the chief addition being returns from 1839 to “the ·present time.”            [p. 60]

The material was also added to the Grand Lodge papers which now include documents dating up to 1874.

These papers were informally divided into two series, the General Grand Lodge Papers in a sequence of 34 unnumbered volumes, followed by the Individual Lodge Papers (extinct and living lodges interfiled alphabetically) in 127 numbered volumes.

New acquisitions will be added to these series if they predate the established cut-off dates (1874 for series 1 and 1937 for series 2).  Fragile or otherwise valuable materials postdating 1937 may also be added to series 2 (rather than the current Lodge Historical Files at the Librarian’s discretion.

NOTE: SERIES 2: Publicity Lodge No. 1000 Returns 1922-1952 are located in Oversized Box

Lodge Consolidations Files.         

Materials received by the Grand Secretary’s office since about 1954 were appended to the Individual Lodge Papers in numbered volumes 128-187. The original alphabetical arrangement was abandoned in favor of what appears to be a straight chronological arrangement. This still-active grouping has therefore been defined as  Series 3,  to reflect the change in intellectual approach on the part of its creators. The name “Lodge Consolidations Files” is the name currently used by the originating office but may not accurately reflect the content of the series as a whole.

The material in this series has not been surveyed but appears to be primarily composed of documents relative to the creation, merging (consolidation), and dissolution of individual lodges. Beginning in August 1965, transactions filed in this series have been assigned a sequential transaction number and are recorded in the  “Consolidations  Index”. Specific volume numbers are more or less systematically recorded in this index beginning with vol. 153 (January 1978). Notations have also been made for vols. 140 (May 1973) and 143 (May 1974). Copies of this index (which also includes occasional warranting, issuing of charters, and forfeitures) are on file at the  Reference Desk and in the office of the Assistant Grand Secretary.

Grand Secretary’s Papers.           

This number has been assigned for use with papers generated by the Office of the  Grand Secretary. At present, only materials dated after 1853 are being accessioned into this series; earlier materials are incorporated into Series 1.

Subseries have been reserved for Grand Secretaries prior to  1853, however, to allow for the possibility of revision of this policy. These unused subseries are identified by the use of italics and square brackets in the following list of subseries. Dates used in this subseries listing follow the standard Grand Lodge format and represent the years in which an officer was elected. Since the terms of  Grand Lodge officers do not follow the calendar year, actual papers in a series may continue into the year following the “terminal” date. Click here for more details.